Trucking News

With plenty of truck capacity still available, US shippers are trying to tamp down rising truck rates without driving off their current truckload carriers.

A handful of companies unveiled new products in the last week intended to enable decision-making based off the visibility data they provide.

The US producer price index shows LTL pricing has been flat since September, but carriers continue to push for annualized increases in service contracts.

Shipper-paid spot truck pricing from major US ports rose faster than the average US rate in late 2024 as importers prepared for a potential longshore strike.

The lack of sustained underlying freight demand is keeping contract truckload rates close to flat, analysts and shippers say, despite a late-year seasonal gain in spot rates.

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

Pitt Ohio’s acquisition of Sutton Transport is the latest in a string of acquisitions rebuilding the LTL sector from the middle out, and more regional acquisitions are expected.

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.

The LTL sector will try to hold its ground on pricing until improvements in US manufacturing lift demand.

Disentangling FedEx’s LTL and parcel units will take time, but it will rearrange the less-than-truckload market — and most likely raise LTL shipping costs.

The largest US less-than-truckload provider is set to become a separate, independent company as FedEx pivots to focus on its parcel delivery business.

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.

DCLI equipping domestic chassis with GPS fills an information gap on when shippers sit on cargo excessively.

The opening of a second span across the Laredo border will benefit CPKC trains to Atlanta and Chicago along with other transport providers such as Union Pacific Railroad and its 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.

The direct sale of 12 terminals to Estes and R+L Carriers accelerates repositioning among the largest LTL carriers ahead of an anticipated increase in demand in 2025.

For-hire trucking companies are adding workers again, but not enough to handle any big surge in freight volumes, as prospective employees look for more local jobs.

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

Daily shipment counts decreased at most large LTL providers early in the quarter as freight demand slowed and carriers remained choosy about what they hauled.

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.

A dispute in Canada has all the hallmarks of a similar case in the US over what qualifies as a chassis made in China.

The selection of Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer is seen as favorable to unions, with the new administration potentially facing the need to intervene if ILA contract talks aren’t settled before Trump takes office.

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

The acquisition of a majority stake in Roadrunner by an investment group sets the stage for further growth at the carrier as the LTL sector readies for expansion in 2025.

General rate increases ranging from 4.9% to 7.9% are setting expectations for higher contract pricing as less-than-truckload carriers attempt to recoup the costs of network expansion.

A dearth of consolidation means there are still plenty of visibility vendors for shippers to choose from, but it also means the market as a whole is on somewhat unsteady ground.

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.

Sean Duffy is the incoming administration’s pick for transportation secretary, with much of his prior legislative focus on issues related to trucking.

Shippers, brokers and trucking executives at a Traffic Club of Chicago forum all said the long freight downturn isn’t finished — but are hopeful it’s nearing an end.

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.

After two years of shipping pricing power, analysts expect spot and contract truckload rates to rise over the course of next year, with the biggest hikes coming in the second half.

The Journal of Commerce Truckload Capacity Index indicates large US carriers pulled back on capacity cuts in the third quarter and are planning for expansion and higher rates.

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