Newsletters

In this edition: Port roundup and the Teamsters are holding strong.

In addition to key issues in lawsuit, parties at odds over scope and time frame.

In this edition: DHL grows again, flowers for a sweetheart, and Taco Bell’s latest craze.

Quiet and zero tailpipe emissions battery-electric trucks are gaining popularity across the industry for parts shipment to assembly plants.

Canadian transport and logistics provider TFI International plans to spin off Daseke as a separate company sometime in 2025.

In this edition: Mergers and acquisitions in 2024 and RXO finally shows its human side.

In this edition: Misfits Market moves to fulfillment, Interstate Cold Chain gets new equipment, and avocados are the Super Bowl winners.

Governmental order could place safety burdens on e-commerce giant.

Positive developments in the hydrogen space glossed over some tough underlying issues like sky-high hydrogen prices.

In this issue of the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? newsletter: XPO and Saia stock skyrocket; Super Bowl logistics; wait times; and more.

Werner recorded a Q4 earnings miss as low rates, excess capacity and lower truckload demand weigh down its one-way truckload business. Dedicated remained a bright spot with management looking to grow in the coming months.

In this edition: The Super Bowl and logistics, capacity begins to tighten and big jumps in the final-mile space.

In this edition: New vials that are good for ultracold temps, an acquisition in the food space and frozen foods’ deep dive

The arcade game Whac-A-Mole describes state-by-state approach to rules of the driverless road while 50-state solution appears far off.

Inside the newsletter, does your dock need a valet service; rise of Zyn shipments and more

Activist pressure and focus on OR are at odds with optimal service levels.

In this edition: The evolution of ghost jobs that are hiring but really aren’t, and a deal finally closes and moves forward.

In this edition: Grip heads for the fulfillment game, warm Georgia gets cold storage, and Ben & Jerry’s might have unlocked the best flavor of ice cream.

WattEV continues to roll up a lion’s share of federal infrastructure grants as it plots electric charging corridors

Insurance woes weigh down Knight-Swift earnings. Reading tea leaves with Covenant Logistics’ Q4 results; evolution of cybersecurity in the supply chain with Antwan Banks

In this edition: A partnership formed to fight freight fraud; what is the future of e-commerce?; And cross-border freight gets a tech infusion.

Multimodal carrier considers volume a leading indicator and price a lagging one.

In this edition: The annual Freezer Challenge kicks off, imported fruit season has arrived, and Spain is the home of organ transplants.

Could electric trucks find a new power source in decommissioned power plants. Zeem Solutions plans to find out.

On Wednesday, autonomous trucking startup TuSimple went private after voluntarily delisting from Nasdaq following two years of stock and boardroom drama. FreightWaves’ Alan Adler writes, “TuSimple was the first autonomous trucking company to demonstrate driverless operations on an open highway. One of its trucks traveled 80 miles with no human on board from Tucson, Arizona, to Phoenix in December 2021.”

In this edition: The FMCSA has a first; Mexico holds the top spot; and freight audit and payment hits center stage.

In this edition: Major success in organ transplants, new capacity from insurers, and frozen snacks expand.

Hydrogen was a big topic through the mobility and transportation space at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The freight recession may ease earlier than expected, according to recent comments from Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker. In a call to clients on Monday, Shanker said, “Shippers continue to remain on reorder ‘strike’ while they wait for stronger signals or more favorable conditions on macro but while destocking at the same time, which could lead to everyone wanting to restock at the same time, when the coast clears (or they run out of inventory).”

Tension between stores and suppliers has intensified amid commodity fluctuations.

In this edition: The Supreme Court rejected hearing another case on broker liability; spot rates on the decline in Phoenix; and the settlement heard round the world.

In this edition: More states take advantage of food-resiliency grants; thermal energy storage as a service hits the market; and KFC has a wrap for everyone.

Nikola is finally putting its fuel cell electric truck in the hands of retail customers like Bill Hall of Coyote Container.

CPG giant sees no impact from Red Sea drama, but consumer pressures remain evident.

In December, a federal appeals court ruled that company team drivers’ time spent in sleeper berths after eight hours can be compensated under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case involved a former CRST trainee who sued CRST in 2016 alleging that the team-based driver training program violated the FLSA based on the carrier’s compensation policy.

In this edition: Stopping freight fraud in 2024 and all eyes on Mexico in the new year.

The National Transportation Institute (NTI) recently released Q4 2023 driver pay data that shows driver earnings continue to climb in spite of the freight market undergoing a correction. Drivers’ base mileage pay brackets saw a shift, with the 40-to-50-cents-per-mile pay bracket falling 5.2% year over year as fleets raised wages to attract and retain drivers. The 50-to-60-cents-per-mile bracket saw a 6.1% y/y increase.

In this edition: There are some big advancements across the pond in rail and carbon emissions reduction, and Oklahoma invests in supply chain reliability.

In this edition: 2024 predictions coming in hot; new TRAC Market Dashboard debuts; and TFI is on the prowl again.

Frictionless commerce tops list of retail trends.

A report released Monday by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) examines the costs and potential impacts associated with California’s push for zero-emission vehicles. This report is a companion to a December 2022 ATRI report titled “Charging Infrastructure Challenges for the U.S. Electric Vehicle Fleet.

In this edition: Reno gets a new cold storage facility, communities recognize the importance of cold storage and more food options come to the grocery stores.

In this edition: looking back at 2023 predictions and one more labor dispute to close out the year.

In this edition: The Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act makes it to the next phase and Blue Apron gets in the prepared food game.

Cummins’ aggressive scaling of electrolyzers will need other players to meet expected midcentury hydrogen demand.

Inside the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? newsletter: Your top-5 episodes of the year; FourKites cuts 15%; speed limiter push back

On Wednesday, FreightWaves hosted the Domestic Supply Chain Summit, a virtual event with RXO Chief Strategy Officer Jared Weisfeld as the keynote speaker. The interview, conducted by enterprise trucking carrier expert Thomas Wasson, included an outlook for 2024 and highlighted the biggest supply chain challenges and opportunities.

In this edition: Carriers are left with empty promises of payment; Yellow passes on a lifeline; and putting a book into action.

In this edition: RealCold makes acquisition moves; Lineage commits to slightly warmer frozen food; and McDonald’s tries something new.

The financial freezeout of startups by investors may be thawing as FOMU — the fear of messing up — begins to subside.

Payments network is seeing only modest levels of freight capacity exiting the market.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Monday published a notice in the Federal Register that the state of Florida is seeking an exemption to the CDL testing regulation pertaining to skills testing.

In this edition: Three intermodal companies form an alliance; DAT has zero tolerance; and Yellow’s legacy lives on.

In this edition: Lineage seeks an impressive IPO offering, pharma packaging gets a new present, and slightly less frozen may help frozen food.

The electric grid holds more potential for electric truck charging than utilities currently allow. A big rethink is under way.

On Wednesday the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released a report that examined causes and impacts of predatory heavy-duty towing. The report defined predatory towing in which “a T&R [towing and recovery] company egregiously overcharges, illegally seizes assets, damages assets by use of improper equipment, or illegitimately withholds release of a truck, trailer, and/or cargo.”

Consumers remain remarkably spendy in the face of rising debt balances.

In this issue of the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? newsletter: White House takes credit for the state of supply chains; Operation Santa needs you; and more.

In this edition: The Supreme Court is petitioned to rule on freight brokers and F4A, and it’s been a rough year for brokerages.

Israeli tech startups count on losing some employees to military reserve duty. Many more are called during wartime.

Holiday sports offer welcome reprieve from discouraging newsfeed.

FreightWaves’ Rachel Premack wrote an article on Wednesday outlining her experience attending a truck driver training conference in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the National Association of Publicly-Funded Truck Driving Schools (NAPFTDS). Premack sought to get more information on a fundamental disagreement in trucking that involves driver turnover and whether there is an ongoing driver shortage.

In this issue of the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? newsletter: will truckers pull their horns for a grown man; Thanksgiving costs; reefers rise; and more.

In this edition: Fraud takes no breaks for the holidays, it takes a lot of semi-trucks to move Thanksgiving, and lots of businesses can profit from the parcel rate wars.

In this edition: Hosting Thanksgiving gets a lil cheaper, the importance of thawing turkeys and the home of the best frozen rolls.

In this edition: New cold storage facilities across the country and needleless vaccine technology takes off

The changing freight media landscape was on full display at the F3: Future of Freight Festival last week in Chattanooga Tennessee, as influencers, salespeople, presenters and executives intermingled during and after the events.

In this issue, freight meme wars; what imports say about holiday retail; and skipping the line in Panama.

In this edition: Cargo theft is on the rise; the Panama Canal is out, Suez is in; and Congress is a fan of the truck driver.

In this edition: A new cold storage warehouse is on the horizon, ice cream gets warmer and plant-based frozen food options expand.

Uber Freight has more than 100 shipper companies lined up to run autonomous freight, but the capacity just doesn’t exist yet.

On Thursday FreightWaves presented the FreightTech 25 awards, which were chosen independently by a panel of CEOs, industry leaders, academics and investors who scored the companies. Chattanooga, Tennessee-based accounting and auditing firm HHM administered the vote. The awards recognize the most innovative and disruptive companies in the freight technology sector.

In this edition: The rise of bankruptcy in brokerages, the first day of F3 and pilots find new homes.

DSI Assignments, which is overseeing the auction, is seeking a buyer for all of Slync’s platform assets.

In this edition: New cold storage facilities in Cleveland and Houston, and a full Thanksgiving dinner in one bite.

Who is leading, following, emerging or out of the game in autonomous trucking? Here’s an assessment of shifts among the players.

Largest retailer joyously provides best reason yet for Walmart Plus.

The Convoy saga has taken another turn as venture-backed freight forwarder Flexport announced Wednesday that it has acquired Convoy’s technology stack for an undisclosed sum. This comes after Convoy, which was valued at $3.8 billion from its final funding round 18 months ago, shuttered operations on Oct. 19.

In this edition: The numbers behind spooky season, the UAW comes out on top and XPO comes out on top.

In this edition: There’s a new massive warehouse in Lebanon, Indiana; drone tech aids pharma; and Flavortown in your freezer.

Cartograh and TRAC Intermodal CEOs to be featured next week.

A review of the state of SPAC-sponsored and other electrification startup shows a less-than-pretty picture.

Shooting spree in Maine has drivers in the area on edge

On Wednesday the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released its latest Cost of Congestion study showing U.S. highway traffic congestion added $94.6 billion in costs to the trucking industry.

In this edition: breaking down what the future for freight brokers looks like, which markets are claiming top spot and how LTL carriers performed. 

In this edition: RealCold gets its start, recycling energy and TGI Fridays adds to its lineup. 

Carriers expect muted peak season with few spot opportunities.

Can Hyliion pivot to make stationary generators the base of its business as it decides whether to pursue the Hypertruck ERX?

Seattle-based digital freight broker Convoy on Wednesday canceled all shipments from its marketplace and company representatives promised more details of a business transition were forthcoming. By Thursday, company employees were told in a meeting that Convoy was “closing down its core business operations.”

Welcome to the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? Newsletter presented by AIT. In this issue, ATA revises driver shortage numbers; CEVA gets robots; and record out-of-service orders. ATA gets it wrong on […]

In this edition: Laredo comes out on top; out of service is on the rise; and GRI season is here.

In this edition: Walmart expands south, developments in the Northeast and meatloaf in minutes. 

An electric vehicle charger without data intelligence on when it is available and operating is like a hot dog without a bun.

A Q3 shipper survey by Morgan Stanley suggests the freight industry has moved “deeper into limbo” as completion of an excess inventory purge now leads to uncertainty as there is no immediate need to restock.

GLP-1 drug use and wariness of ultraprocessed foods could hit sales.

In this issue of the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? newsletter: Lego as an investment; Tesla Semi back in black; Prime Day’s real value; and more.

In this edition: The art of cold outreach; the ongoing autoworkers strike; and when will the next cyberattack come?

Your latest info on all things cold chain

Can Outrider hold onto its healthy lead in distribution yard autonomy as competition begins to form?

FreightWaves on Tuesday interviewed Angela Acocella, postdoctoral researcher at Tilburg University and researcher with the MIT Center of Transportation and Logistics looking at the impact of ghost lanes on shipper and carrier networks.