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Trucking News

The Journal of Commerce’s trucking news and analysis encompasses full truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), private fleet trucking, refrigerated trucking, regulation, drayage, and transloading. Reporting centers on pricing, volume demand, capacity, labor, regulation, and service levels in US and Canadian trucking networks. 

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The latest Trucking News News & Analysis

US truckload market ‘bouncing’ along pricing bottom: analysts

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
The long drop in truckload spot market rates has eased, revealing a soft bottom for pricing, but more demand is needed to fuel any upswing benefiting truckers, observers say.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckload

LTL carrier Roadrunner finds faster network attracts more freight

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
More freight density, a tighter point-to-point network and better data have enabled successive rounds of transit time cuts at Roadrunner, which company executives claim is gaining shipments.
SurfaceLTLTrucking labor

Late US produce season boosting spot reefer truckload rates 

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Pricing for refrigerated truckload service is shooting up along the US-Mexico border and outbound from California, in some cases by more than 20 cents per mile from April’s averages, as fruit and vegetable crops start moving to market.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckload

Pandemic-induced trailer dislocation still hampering US truckload carriers

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Trailer marketplace technology provider vHub estimates a quarter of truckload trailers are out of network for the nation’s carriers, with an abrupt shift in demand exacerbating that dislocation.
TruckloadTrucking NewsLogistics Technology News

US-Mexico cross-border trucking expanding on manufacturing demand, nearshoring 

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Greater demand for manufactured goods, especially automotive parts, is spurring Mexico-to-US cross-border trucking, with more nearshoring of production on the horizon.
SurfaceTrucking News

Uber Freight’s Driegert jumps to Flexport to lead new brokerage unit

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Flexport has lured a key figure in the development of Uber Freight and Coyote Logistics in a move likely to shake up the domestic third-party logistics market.
Truck brokersForwardingLogistics Technology News

Cargo fraud, theft surging in ‘wild west’ US truck market

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Many businesses are being forced to tighten controls over how goods are shipped and who they ship them with, but the technology that helps them may also be used against them, according to industry sources.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruck brokersSupply chain

Capacity oversupply keeps US truckload rates in decline

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor |
Excess capacity is lingering in US freight markets because fewer carriers than expected have gone bankrupt so far this year, analysts say.
Truckload

US trucking adds jobs in April as manufacturing expands

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
US trucking companies added jobs for the second straight month, but the employment wave hasn’t reached package delivery firms or warehouses.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckloadLTLTrucking labor

Drayage rates fall sharply amid downturn in NY-NJ port volumes

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
New York-New Jersey port truckers who worked five days per week last year are now down to about half that amount, sending spot drayage rates well below levels seen in 2021 and 2022.
DrayageNorth American portsTrucking NewsTruck brokersIntermodal providers

TFI targets smaller LTL carriers for acquisition in US, Canada

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Canada’s largest trucking holding company is acquiring smaller LTL operators on both sides of the US border, expanding its network and services via “tuck-ins” in a soft freight market.
SurfaceTrucking NewsLTL

Mexico, Houston port volumes boosting US Southwest trucking: U.S. Bank

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Shippers are moving more freight in the US Southwest, and paying more to do so, despite weak trucking markets elsewhere in the country, according to U.S. Bank.
Trucking NewsNorth American portsTruckloadLTL

Court hands freight broker Convoy procedural win in legal battle with DAT

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Transportation observers believe the dueling complaints could have implications for the US spot truckload market because DAT is a primary source of available loads that brokers and carriers use to fill their pools of owned or third-party capacity.
Truck brokersTrucking NewsTruckloadLogistics Technology News

DHL Express plans US physical expansion, including delayed new hub

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
International air express carrier DHL is building out its US footprint to gain greater density and reach in its largest market, its CEO for the Americas says.
Supply chainTrucking NewsAir Cargo Carriers NewsIndustrial Real Estate News

Truckload appointment standards group adds heavyweights to drive adoption

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Echo Global Logistics, Coyote Logistics and prominent transportation management system vendors Oracle and e2open are among new members adding momentum to a truckload appointment scheduling initiative.
TruckloadTrucking NewsTruck brokersLogistics Technology News

USDOT opens $160 million in funding to cut emissions from port truck idling

Teri Errico Griffis |
Funds will go to projects that focus on reducing emissions from port-related truck idling, particularly in communities adjacent to ports.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Yellow looks to reopen Teamster contract, negotiate consolidation

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Yellow, the largest Teamsters employer in the US less-than-truckload sector, says it is willing to negotiate a new contract a year early as it tries to remove roadblocks to consolidating its network.
Trucking laborTrucking NewsLTL

UPS preps for flagging volumes with cuts in headcount, sort facilities

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Package volumes at the largest US package carrier by revenue fell farther than expected in the first quarter, especially in March, thanks to shifts in spending, UPS executives said. 
SurfaceTrucking NewsAir Cargo

IANA warns against national reclassification of independent contractors

Teri Errico Griffis |
The Intermodal Association of North America is adding its voice to the chorus of opposition against a federal push to reclassify independent workers.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTrucking laborRail NewsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

US truck tonnage rose in March, but lagged expectations

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
An unadjusted 9.3 percent gain in tonnage from February reversed a slide in freight volumes but paled in comparison with increases in 2022 and 2021, data show.
SurfaceTrucking News

NFI, RoadOne expand networks with acquisitions in Canada, US

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Transportation and logistics companies continue to grow by acquiring competitors, and although the wave of acquisitions may have crested there is still plenty of opportunity in a soft market.
SurfaceDrayageTrucking NewsTruckload

US manufacturing data offers mixed bag for truck carriers: analyst

Jason Miller, associate professor of logistics at Michigan State University, and JOC analyst |
Despite negative trends being felt in some parts of the US manufacturing landscape, it’s not all bad news for trucking because other sectors are poised to have volumes at or above 2022 levels, writes analyst Jason Miller.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckloadFlatbed

US truckload carriers look to fill revenue gaps as rates fall

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
With contract rates down as much as 16 percent in March, producer price index data indicates truckload carriers are making more use of accessorial charges.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckloadLTL

Shipper-paid spot US truckload rates still dropping

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
The market bottom remains untouched as the all-inclusive average spot rate paid by US truckload shippers fell again in March, declining in lockstep with other truckload pricing measures.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckload

JOC Rankings: US trucking sector keeps breaking revenue records

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
The 50 largest US trucking companies maintained a two-year double-digit growth streak and may add to that in 2023, despite a slower US economy.
Trucking NewsSurfaceTruckloadLTL

Truckers entering US freight market keeping capacity abundant: DAT

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
The number of for-hire trucking firms entering the US market is nearly as large as the number leaving on a monthly basis, which is helping to keep capacity loose despite the departures.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckload

US trucking market still seeking bottom, but a bounce is expected

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
There is still room for spot rates to fall, but rates and freight demand are likely to turn later in the second half, analysts say. 
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckloadLTL

US trucking firms adding jobs ahead of expected freight demand

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
In preparation for produce season and retail sales, for-hire trucking companies are adding to their payrolls for the first time since October, although warehousing employment is still declining.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckloadLTL

Savannah to open Gate 4 at Garden City Terminal on Sundays: GPA

Teri Errico Griffis |
The move comes less than two months after GPA said it would stop offering evening truck hours at Savannah as volumes moving through the port have slowed significantly in recent months.
Marine terminalsNorth American portsTrucking News

‘One FedEx’ seeks better balance between air, rail, trucking

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
To reduce costs, FedEx’s system-wide network overhaul will create a stronger North American “ground-air” trucking network, including FedEx Freight, and increase its use of US intermodal rail, the company says.
SurfaceTrucking NewsLTLIntermodal providersSupply chain

US regulators digging deeper into truck driver detention data

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
As it studies truck driver detention, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hopes data from electronic logging devices may help pinpoint solutions for drivers, carriers, and shippers.
SurfaceTrucking News

Dispute over restructuring between Yellow, Teamsters gets more strident

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Yellow calls Teamster complaints about its restructuring plans baseless and inaccurate, and urges “serious discussion” as accusations escalate.
SurfaceTrucking NewsLTL

Forwarders raked in record revenues in 2022 despite H2 demand collapse

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Historic highs in global freight volumes and rates in the first half of last year helped insulate third-party logistics providers (3PLs) from a market collapse in the second half.
ForwardingContainer Shipping NewsTruck brokersAir Cargo Forwarder News

Targets for Europe’s modal shift not feasible: rail freight sector

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe |
Far greater ambition will be required by European Commission policy makers if targets to double the market share of rail freight by 2050 are to be achieved, according to rail freight operators.
SurfaceTrucking NewsInternational rail

Teamsters taking more hardline approach toward LTL trucking employers

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
The Teamsters union promises a tougher approach in contract talks with ABF Freight and TForce Freight, and is opposing major network changes proposed by Yellow, its largest freight employer.
SurfaceTrucking NewsLTL

US outlook for second-half rebound of Asia imports darkens

Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor |
US big-box retailers are receiving fewer imports while inventories remain elevated and US consumer confidence teeters, boding poorly for a significant second-half rebound in Asia container imports, writes JOC Executive Mark Szakonyi.
Trans-PacificContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesForwardingMarine terminalsNorth American portsTrucking News

Knight-Swift to buy truckload carrier U.S. Xpress for $808 million 

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Knight-Swift, the largest US truckload provider, will substantially expand its reach and scalability for shippers with the purchase of U.S. Xpress, the country’s ninth-largest truckload carrier.
SurfaceTrucking NewsTruckload

FedEx Freight cuts costs but improves profit as US LTL volumes shrink

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
With ‘every dollar under scrutiny,’ FedEx Freight is squeezing its trucking division, gaining financial improvements that better position the carrier for the next economic rebound. 
SurfaceTrucking NewsLTL

CP-KCS could benefit from rising tide of cross-border freight from Mexico

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
The combined railroad has an opportunity to divert more than 64,000 truck shipments to intermodal rail, according to S&P Global, but that’s only the crest of a wave of US imports from Mexico. 
SurfaceTrucking NewsRail NewsInternational railIntermodal providers

Shipwell arms ‘underserved’ smaller shippers with automated bidding tool

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Shippers that often use spreadsheets and small transportation teams to bid and execute freight shipments are the target of a new software tool from technology provider Shipwell.
Logistics Technology NewsTrucking NewsTruckloadLTLTruck brokers