Truckload

The Cass Freight Index suggests the bottom of the trucking market has passed, although the data doesn’t provide a clear picture of when pricing power will flip toward carriers again.

Shippers may find capacity tighter on a carrier-by-carrier, lane-by-lane basis when the final phase of the ELD mandate takes effect Monday.

Truckload spot rates leaped upward in the first week of December, rising 12 cents per mile above their November average according to DAT Solutions as the final holiday retail push got underway.

Although a large carrier, Celadon’s fleet size and revenue are just drops in the US truckload bucket. The biggest impact of its bankruptcy may be in Mexico.

The best shippers have transportation and procurement teams that are in sync with each other, but cheap truck rates make for a difficult balancing act between pricing and loyalty to carriers.

Cass Information Systems is partnering with the University of Tennessee to enhance its benchmark truckload and intermodal pricing indexes, and explore new data opportunities.

Shippers may pay more to move freight in December, as rising retail sales and faster delivery demands begin to tap underutilized capacity.

Both Coyote Logistics and DAT Solutions see spot rates moving into inflationary territory early next year, but the US economy will signal how high rates might climb.

The number of violations issued to drivers for exceeding hours of service limits has dropped significantly since the ELD mandate took effect, but false log violations rose last year.

The divide sharpens between those who see looming recession in freight numbers and those who see sustained, albeit slower, US growth.

A shift to time-based truckload rates will come, eventually, as electronic logging and detention disputes reshape supply chains, a TIA report finds.

Top intermodal providers had few positives in describing the current state of the market with little to no seasonal uptick in container volumes on rail.

Large truckload carriers continue to shed trucks, according to the JOC Truckload Capacity Index. Logistics providers, however, report ample available truck capacity.

US motor carriers blamed “an oversupply of truckload capacity” for greater-than-expected pressure on earnings in the third quarter.

A survey of small businesses shows truckers still looking for growth ahead, despite a tough market in 2019.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services said its intermodal volume was flat in the third quarter, a positive given the 4.5 percent decline in total intermodal volume across the industry.

Shippers are being urged to plan carefully for 2020, as signs begin to indicate the US truck market may swing again next year.

Seven of the top 10 critical issues facing trucking directly involve truck drivers, with pay and detention joining the American Transportation Research Institute’s annual list.

A California-based digital freight marketplace sets a five-year goal to replace its asset-based diesel fleet with alternative power.

A logistics veteran behind the growth of startups eventually bought out by C.H. Robinson and UPS Inc. has been named CEO of a new 3PL formed through a merger between Atomic Transport of Chicago and Cousins Logistics of Boca Raton, Florida.

The 15th-largest US trucking operator will make deep cuts in its dry van truckload business and focus on LTL and logistics as it attempts to get back in the black.

Convoy is releasing a new transportation management system for shippers relying on spreadsheets and emails -- a free software option that provides access to Convoy quotes and booking.

An analysis of pricing in 115 spot truckload lanes by JOC.com indicates a sequential monthly increase in September, with rates rising 4.46 percent on average across those lanes.

Trucking is experiencing slow growth, not a collapse, ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello says, with retail sales and contract business sustaining demand.

What differentiates good shippers from bad ones? A Council of Supply Chain Management Conference panel discussed how the real conversation for shippers is internal, not external.

Trucking executives aren’t as worried about the impact of the IMO 2020 low-sulfur rule as they are about pending US regulatory changes that will more directly affect the sector.

Schneider National says it’s not worried about Amazon purchasing branded 53-foot containers because the intermodal provider believes only a small group of companies have the scale to insource.

The Cass Truckload Linehaul Index has gone negative for the first time since March 2017, a signal that in addition to spot rates, contract rates are starting to suffer as well; intermodal prices are also expected to go negative in October.

J.B. Hunt has informed shippers it will assess peak season surcharges on excess freight out of California and Washington state even though volumes are much weaker than a year ago.

The number of US trucking companies rose by more than 21,000 in the year between June 2018 and this June, even as low spot-market pricing increased pressure on smaller fleets.

Heartland Express has acquired truckload carrier Millis Transfer and the Millis driving school for $150 million, the second major acquisition the Iowa carrier has made in two years.

Coyote Logistics reports its spot market index is down 24.9 percent year over year, but the 3PL believes an inflection point is near when demand will begin to pick up and rates climb again.

One of the few positive indicators in trucking is the ATA Tonnage Index, which rose 7.3 percent in July year over year -- a signal that some don’t believe the industry is in turmoil.

Despite the "doom-and-gloom" predictions of some industry watchers, there are cities where trucking activity has picked up in August, offering a glimmer of hope for the US freight market.

After a rise in domestic US trucking rates in June offered a glimmer of hope, the numbers and commentary show a return to sluggish shipping conditions in the previous 45 days.

Fleet bankruptcies show some capacity is coming out of the market, but it’s unclear whether that will make any significant dent in the oversupply of trucks available in the spot trade.

The long-term outlook for truckers, and their shipper customers, is blurred by the fog of trade wars, but 2020 will bring changes.

Schneider National cut its 2019 earnings guidance, citing an uncertain outlook for trucking and intermodal volumes in the second half of the year.

Schneider National has shut its first and final-mile division only three years after the major acquisitions of Watkins & Shepard and Lodeso, exiting a market where it was unable to make inroads amid a crowd of competitors.

Large US truckload carriers are cutting excess capacity, albeit only slightly, pulling the JOC Truckload Capacity Index down for the first time since 2016.