Broker Landstar System blew out analysts’ expectations for the first quarter. The company’s earnings almost doubled from the year-ago quarter, which wasn’t materially impacted by COVID. Landstar’s new guidance calls for more of the same.
The bank’s book of business grew at a pace that far exceeded the additional business that came with its acquisition of Covenant’s factoring operation
Canadian Pacific’s revenue for the first quarter of 2021 dipped 4% to CA$1.96 billion.
Heartland Express reported a slight miss on first-quarter earnings expectations Wednesday. The carrier pointed to relative strength in March as it exited the quarter, noting that driver pay will need to be raised again.
CSX has capacity on its network, space on its trains and the workforce and locomotives it needs to handle an anticipated growth in service needs in 2021, according to company executives.
Knight-Swift Transportation posted a large headline earnings beat in the first quarter but it was less impressive by comparison when excluding nonoperating income. The company now sees over-the-road contract rates increasing in the mid-teen percentage range during 2021.
It is difficult to measure the precise size of the impact on retail fuel prices, but there are signs it is in the double digits.
CSX’s first-quarter net income fell 8% to $706 million from $770 million a year ago.
United performed worse in the first quarter than some analysts expected, but the consumer mood has shifted as the economy reopens and United says it can get to breakeven this year on a pretax basis.
Logistics warehouse provider Prologis sees the real estate market tightening further in 2021. Rents are expected to step higher by mid-single digits even as more capacity comes online.
Logistics warehouse provider Prologis reports a beat-and-raise quarter. The company is forecasting occupancy to continue to tick higher even as new properties come online.
One significant difference from traditional hedging: There is no chance of hedging losses, just upfront fees instead.
Kansas City Southern expects to maintain its financial targets for 2021 on a recovering economy and an anticipated volume rebound. It declined to comment on post-merger operational changes.
Also on this week’s podcast: Conflicting info about the US oil upstream that might actually be in sync.
Kansas City Southern’s net income for the first quarter of 2021 rose 0.7% despite a 4% decline in revenue and a 1% drop in carload volumes.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services updated its long-term division margin targets on its first-quarter call Thursday.
The weather-related closure of three Walmart DCs had an outsized impact on the company.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services announced first-quarter results well ahead of analysts’ expectations.
One more quarter taking its pandemic lumps and then Delta says it will steer out of the COVID vortex and start making more money than it loses.
Forward Air’s growth plans net 11 new final-mile terminal locations in the first quarter. While recent activist shareholder interests called into question the company’s capital allocation strategy, it appears the final-mile segment remains part of the plan.
The telematics, ELD and satellite provider is getting sold for a 50% premium. Even that is less than at least one analyst saw as its value.
The lead trucking industry lobby has come together with insurance-focused groups to fight two vexing problems of fraud.
The sale price is $11.50 per share, about 150% more than the closing price on Wednesday.
Zach Strickland, the Sultan of SONAR, talks about what the pandemic did to supply chains.
Railcar manufacturer Greenbrier expects economic conditions and the rail market to improve in the second half of the year and that optimism is starting to be reflected in higher inquiry activity.
One interesting aspect of the report by B Riley: Could TriumphPay and Triumph Capital be headed in different directions?
The supply chain cloud softrware company says revenue for its fiscal 2022 year will align with what it told investors last fall;. The recently completed year also was in line.
It’s not that companies can’t operate without China, it’s just that for now, said companies will not grow as fast as they could with it, and will likely do so with lower margins. In a retail world constantly balancing sales and profit, avoiding China is giving up both for many Western brands.
TriumphPay is acquiring HubTran to integrate machine-learning capabilities for a fully integrated payments network for its customers.
CIO named for soon-to-be-spun-off company
As a federal definition of an independent contractor moves toward resolution, ongoing litigation could be affected by what the Biden administration finally announces.
The loan size shrinking across the board but the amount of money going to transportation and warehousing sector grew more than $1 billion last week.
Volatility in trucking markets has prompted shippers to assess different ways of securing reliable capacity. For DG, that means more reliance on in-house transportation, but that’s certainly not the only option. Some retailers are looking to diversify their transportation partners to avoid delays and secure truck space. Others are debating streamlining their transportation needs by signing over their private fleets to logistics specialists.
Add Nike (NYSE: NKE) to the growing list of retailers being severely hampered by port congestion and supply chain bottlenecks. The congestion at West Coast ports in particular strained Nike’s supply chain and negatively impacted revenue, which declined 11% yoy in the quarter ending Feb. 28.
An anticipated increase in North American rail traffic, coupled with FreightCar America’s move of its manufacturing to Mexico, should provide support to the company in 2021, executives said.
Refrigerated carriers Leonard’s Express and Holman Transportation join forces in latest truckload acquisition.
Roadrunner announced it has raised $50 million in equity through a private placement led by GlobalTranz and Emerge founder Andrew Leto. The company continues to advance its focus on the less-than-truckload market following a major restructuring.
One of the four family members involved in the founding of the company, he was gone by the time it merged with Swift.
The capital will drive volume growth and help Baton expand to new markets.
MyCarrier is scaling a white-labeled LTL TMS with a unique distribution model.
Ocean carrier ZIM just released record results and confirmed huge gains for contract rates. So why did its stock sink?
Less-than-truckload carrier Saia announces the addition of its 20th facility in the Northeast in just the last four years. The LTL market continues to garner incremental investment dollars as demand rises.
Two bullish equity research reports this week on transportation stocks both highlight expectations around consumer spending and what that means for freight demand.
The company moves to broaden its footprint and introduce services as it posts stellar fiscal 2021 third-quarter results.
Smith sees no let-up in the demand for the company’s services.
February freight data from Cass shows a deceleration in the growth rates of shipments and expenditures. Recent weather events have only “coiled the spring” for a continuation of high demand and rising rates.
“2020 has been exceptional, with stellar performance in the industry,” says Hapag-Lloyd CFO Mark Frese.
No details disclosed, but Fourshore generally looks at companies valued at $10 million to $75 million
After raising pay earlier in the year, Cargo Transporters has implemented a flexible pay package, allowing company drivers to earn paid time off and bonus payments on a prorated basis.
Reports of problems in the application process are widespread, but the PPP loans given out total more than $160 billion.
The fragmented industrial service facilities segment could become the apple of the eyes of big-money investors.
While the less-than-truckload market is experiencing a boom, it’s not without growing pains, according to Recon Logistics’ pricing and analytics expert Curtis Garrett.
Activist investor Ancora Advisors gains two seats on Forward Air’s board and endorses three others. The company’s former CFO has been brought on in a consulting role.
West Coast carrier Cheema Freightlines announces a pay bump for drivers and plans to expand its fleet in 2021.
After a fresh round of pay increases at the beginning of the year, some carriers are continuing to raise rates further. Bay & Bay Transportation announced effective immediately it has raised pay for independent contractors by 20 cents per mile.
The lending given out so far in the third version of the Paycheck Protection Program is not on track to exhaust the funds that have been authorized.
Retailers are stuck between playing the waiting game and risking delays that wreck quarterly results or ponying up and taking to the skies. The goods will arrive quickly, but at what cost?
Cold storage provider Lineage Logistics announced Thursday that it completed a $1.9 billion equity raise to fund new developments, M&A and technology initiatives.
Fluid Truck specializes in box trucks and cargo vans and focuses on last mile
Flatbed carrier Daseke announced Wednesday it has reduced debt and refinanced the bulk of its remaining debt. The transaction, which will lower annual interest payments, is the latest in the company’s efforts to improve margins and financial returns.
Venture capital in oil and gas pales by comparison to climate technology investment, but there are potential unicorns out there.
Canadian trucking and logistics firm Titanium Transportation Group had a very good fourth quarter on the strength of its U.S brokerage business. But 2021 is set to be even bigger with its recent acquisition of ITS.
The German logistics giant forecasts more than $7 billion in operating profit as far out as 2023.
Booming sales, thin inventories and more stimulus on the way provide the backdrop for potentially setting a new record for retail container imports in 2021. The National Retail Federation raised its outlook again for loaded containers landing at U.S. ports in the first half of the year.
Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp., like other LTLs, reports a weather-related falloff in February trends. However, industrial data continues to suggest this LTL freight recovery has legs.
Wells Fargo transportation research analyst Allison Poliniak-Cusic raises expectations for intermodal providers in a new report. Favorable catalysts for the mode are expected to carry into 2022.
This week, President Biden announced we will have enough vaccinations for every American by the end of May. For the American people, this is fantastic news. For apparel retailers, it’s euphoric news that complicates an already extremely uncertain environment. In this edition of Point of Sale, we’ll take a look at apparel inventory management through the lens of Nordstrom’s recent woes.
J.B. Hunt believes recent winter storms will negatively impact first-quarter operating income by $15 million to $20 million. The company said it had been successful advancing its intermodal service initiatives prior to the storms.
Several of the nation’s largest retailers say inventory positions are improving. However, retail sales continue to outpace efforts to stock up, suggesting trucking demand could stay elevated well into 2021.
Supply chain software provider Descartes Systems Group has “sold more stuff than we’ve ever sold before” in recent quarters, its CEO says as revenue and profits soar.
Flatbed transportation and logistics provider PS Logistics remains on the acquisition trail, purchasing the assets of Indiana carrier Jason Jones Trucking. The tuck-in deal allows JJT to keep operating under its own name.
Less-than-truckload carrier Saia reported a small decline in volumes during February, reversing the more than 5% increase recorded in January. Excluding inclement weather, the carrier said trends remain consistent with January.
HSBC global economist James Pomeroy says we won’t be buying all the one-off big-ticket items we did during the pandemic’s first year.
Carrier Averitt Express said it was raising pay for its newly hired regional truckload and flatbed drivers. The company becomes the latest to increase driver pay as the industry struggles to seat tractors.
The company’s 2020 sales gains were higher than in the past 11 years combined.
The bankruptcy filing by Hertz threatened to dump a glut of trucks and cars onto the used vehicle market if the company did not find a way to survive.
Less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion reported Tuesday that February results were impacted as inclement weather took hold on parts of its network during the month. However, the carrier noted that the deceleration from January’s robust growth rate lasted for only one week.
Logistics provider ArcBest Corp. reported that the positive trends in its asset-based segment during January were derailed by poor weather in February. Overall, less-than-truckload fundamentals “remain generally positive,” according to one analyst.
Lower fuel expenses helped privately held BNSF’s net income grow by 5% in the fourth quarter of 2020.
In a wide-ranging keynote during the FreightWaves Global Supply Chain Week, former U.S. Senator Bob Corker expressed concern for America’s global status.
There is no definitive end for this freight bull market in sight. Consumers continue to spend on goods, driving freight and diminishing already depleted inventories. Even if consumer spending diverged from its current trajectory (which I see as unlikely, especially given the additional stimulus, accelerating vaccine rollout and strong consumer balance sheet), the mass inventory restocking ahead will be sufficient to keep freight flowing from a consumer perspective.
Nikola reports a lower-than-expected loss in Q4 as it drops its Powersports division to focus on Class 8 electric trucks and hydrogen fueling stations. Federal probes ongoing.
The truckstop operator, in the midst of a makeover, saw its diesel sales far exceed any recent quarter.
Revolution Acceleration Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, combines with Berkshire Grey to tap into the red-hot industrial robotics market.
Earlier debt concerns raised by ratings agencies should be eased by the 3PL paying back all the revolving funds pulled down at the start of the pandemic.
Although market conditions are improving for Trinity Industries (NYSE: TRN), the railcar lessor and rail equipment manufacturer anticipates persistent headwinds through the first half of 2021 as prospective customers take […]
The Rochelle Park, New Jersey-based company posted revenue of $63.8 million during the fourth quarter, an 8% decline from the same period last year.
Fuel card provider WEX Inc. continues to see gradual sequential improvement but at a pace below analysts’ expectations. The company’s fourth-quarter result was slightly below expectations and its first-quarter revenue guidance disappoints. Shares are off 4% in early trading.
Write-offs for the quarter are better than even the strong freight market of 2018.
There has been a consumer flight to reliability throughout COVID, and Walmart benefited from this shift as much as any retailer. But with the end of the pandemic now in sight and Americans poised for the reopening of services, Walmart is expecting growth to moderate considerably. Walmart announced plans to invest heavily in its supply chain, namely fulfillment capacity and automation, to front-run the deceleration and claw toward e-commerce profitability.
One of the largest players in public LNG shipping, GasLog Ltd., plans to give up its NYSE listing. Will more shipowners opt to go private?
Loans so far in PPP round two that go to the trucking and warehouse sector are about the same percentage of all loans as in the first round.
A $250 million e-commerce- and transportation-focused SPAC was filed Friday. Logistics industry veteran Dick Metzler is behind the deal.
Ryder CEO Robert Sanchez gets two opportunities to talk about the company’s outlook, in an earnings call and at a Citi conference.
Cold storage operator Americold saw occupancy dip year-over-year during the fourth quarter as food manufacturers struggled to keep proteins in stock.
Prospective North American and international customers are inquiring about Wabtec’s battery electric, heavy-haul locomotive, which is undergoing advanced tests with BNSF. The company reported its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.
Star Bulk and Golden Ocean have recently acquired almost $1 billion in ships between them as they seek more exposure to the dry bulk market.
Cass freight data released Thursday shows a huge surge in freight spending with solid growth in shipments. The report indicated that 2021 is unlikely to produce the “rate relief” to shippers that 2019 provided.
Walmart shares drop hard as investors focus on lower-than-expected fiscal year 2021 fourth-quarter results and uninspiring FY 22 guidance.
The Container Store’s (NYSE: TCS) most recent earnings call details the reality of shifting to a greater mix of e-commerce sales at a time when transportation capacity is extremely tight.
