Truck brokers

US importers and their Mexican logistics and customs partners are experiencing longer wait times when northbound shipments arrive at border towns, and that’s inevitably raising transportation costs and leading to supply chain disruptions.

Cargo theft in trucking and on the rails has been a problem for years, but it’s getting harder to combat as criminals become more sophisticated in their tactics.

AFS Logistics and TD Cowen are forecasting a decline in truckload pricing and moderation in the LTL market as shippers and carriers alike navigate a new trade reality.

The $12 million investment in Cargado will be used to expand the load board with other tools for freight brokers to tap into cross-border freight growth.

The partnership will see SMC3 provide less-than-truckload rating, booking and tracking data into Turvo’s transportation management system, which primarily serves US freight brokers and third-party logistics providers.

As shippers race to get goods from Mexico and Canada into the US before full implementation of 25% tariffs Wednesday, they’re beginning to rethink supply chains.

In a move to better utilize its leased pool of trailers, Uber Freight has partnered with software vendor Optimal Dynamics to bundle loads for drivers across 10 trailer pool locations.

Acquisitions continue in the domestic freight market, with Descartes buying 3GTMS to continue a decade-long spree of purchases.

Groups representing transportation providers, retailers and manufacturers are calling for Congress to create a cargo theft task force blending the resources of multiple agencies as cargo crime spreads.

Acquisition activity in the truckload space continues, with price benchmarking vendor Greenscreens.ai the latest to sell.

project44 is the latest established software provider to release a suite of artificial intelligence agents amid a torrent of startups building tools for logistics providers and shippers.

The largest US freight broker expects the first quarter of 2025 to be weak for trucking as the freight recession remains in place, but it is converting more customers to use its services for ocean freight.

The acquisition is part of a surge in logistics M&A transactions aimed at simplifying access to systems and services for shippers and brokers.

More uptake of transactional pricing in the less-than-truckload market is a sign that some carriers are targeting smaller or more infrequent LTL shippers.

Shippers must weigh the merits of a single-source relationship on drayage through key ports over splitting volume among regional and national carriers, or even brokers.

Acquisitions, new product releases and fresh investment among companies catering to truckload brokers speak to an industry wrestling with the need to make things easier for customers.

The acquisition of Trucker Tools will give DAT access to carrier positioning data to arm its truckload broker customers.

While US customers are importing more than usual, C.H. Robinson Worldwide’s CEO Dave Bozeman doesn’t see a ‘major material’ pull-forward of goods in the last weeks before a potential US longshore strike.

A lawsuit filed Thursday in US District Court alleges the fourth-largest US freight broker e Worldwide Express engaged in a campaign of retaliation with a former agent.

A 30% increase in the total value of transportation and logistics acquisitions over the last six months signals a stronger market for M&A emerging in 2025, PwC says in a market report.

A partnership between C.H. Robinson Worldwide and Highway seeks to push carrier ID systems deeper into truck brokerage networks as shippers demand action to prevent cargo theft by fraudsters.

Generative AI is changing the nature of core freight brokerage processes, potentially impacting the amount brokers earn and how employees get paid.

Freight brokers large and small are testing software, including the tools developed by Vooma, that automate core functions such as quoting, load building and tracking.

The $390 million deal for Cowan will boost Schneider’s dedicated trucking segment to 8,400 tractors, representing 70% of its total fleet.

Brokers would have to make transaction records, including shipper rates, available to trucking companies electronically and the requirements could supersede non-disclosure agreements, according to a proposed rule from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

GenLogs, founded by an ex-counterterrorism expert, is offering shippers and brokers a way to track lost trailers and trucks as cargo theft booms in the US.

The company sees its new Broker Access product as another channel for brokers to find capacity outside of contracts with truckload carriers and posting spot freight on a load board.

Customers of automated freight procurement tool Keelvar will get access to more than $1 trillion in truckload pricing data as part of a new arrangement with DAT Freight & Analytics.

Cross-border supply chains need to become more integrated and efficient to increase capacity on both sides of a constricted border, logistics executives say.

Some freight brokers are increasing the number of loads they can book per day with software that automates repetitive components of the booking process.

Freight marketplaces report a new storm-related surge in spot volume, lifting transactional pricing as trucking heads toward its peak holiday season.

The truckload spot market is cooling after a surge in rates and volume, but seasonality is expected to give it another boost as year-end holidays approach.

As damage from Helene and Milton is being tallied, logistics experts say the storms won’t do much to accelerate spot and contract truckload pricing in the long term.

Following Hurricane Helene by less than two weeks, Milton will draw more truck capacity to the Southeast, upsetting market balance and pushing spot prices higher.

GenLogs, a technology provider aiming to help US brokers track trucks, uses a network of roadside sensors to passively collect truckload carrier locations.

Brokers looking to tap into the booming US-Mexico trade now have a tool to serve shipper requests to handle cross-border truckload moves.

Investors have put $6.3 million into a startup aiming to provide a procurement and transportation management software alternative to enterprise-focused solutions.

The BlueGrace Logistics Confidence Index shows an uptick in negative sentiment about revenue and orders in late 2024, despite gains in freight volume this summer.

Some non-asset logistics providers are adding LTL volume and revenue as truckload brokerage keeps declining. 

The company believes shippers will benefit from a payments network it has created to help brokers and carriers bill shippers accurately before an invoice is sent out.