Trucking

CH Robinson’s CEO sees a more balanced supply-demand scale next year.

There’s no particular pattern in seeing which stocks have declined significantly more than the drop in the overall S&P 500 index.

Greenbriar Equity invests an undisclosed amount in Spireon, becoming its primary investor in the process. Spireon believes this partnership would help it with operational flexibility and in expanding its network across different verticals in the transportation sector.

It was a better quarter for three companies representing different sectors: 3PL, intermodal and truckload.

Tennessee Tech has acknowledged that the results of its controversial glider kit study were “inaccurate.”

Daimler Trucks sold more vehicles in quarter three than a year ago, but its parent company, Daimler AG saw revenue flat for the third quarter at $45.8 billion (40.2 billion Euros).

A strong quarter all around, but as predicted, the quarter-to-quarter comparisons are showing signs of being weaker just because the trucking bull market is getting to be a year old.

But lead agency for commercial vehicle safety says autonomous trucking will serve drivers well and make industry better.

Knight-Swift Transportation reported strong earnings on Wednesday, and it was immediately met with praise from Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker, who wrote in a note that the company’s stock is a “relative buy, at worst, in our view.”

The UPS Freight 30-day period is coming to an end and rank-and-file angry with the ratification decision in the face of a “no” vote are not sitting quietly.

Even as the trucking industry struggles to identify new drivers, there is a segment of the U.S. population that is facing unemployment rates above 27% that are looking for jobs. Can felons fill the driver gap?

While the index is still showing significant gains over last year, there clearly is a decline from recent highs.

Revenue forecasts were reached only because of a one-time tax event. But by almost any other standard, it was a strong quarter.

It is a significant widening of activities at the TraPac facility.

Also in the pickup: IMO meets with 2020 on the horizon; Rhine levels are causing plants to shut down; C.R. England and its charitable cause

It may mean less now in an era of higher pay, but if total hours don’t exceed the minimum wage, it could be an issue because of this ruling.

Since its launch, Convoy has been innovating with technological solutions aimed at reinventing the way freight moves across the country. To help fulfill that mission, the company is now expanding beyond its Seattle, WA, roots to a second office located in Atlanta.

Venture brings together two of the largest names in U.S. frac sand production to provide integrated delivery solution.

The plant at the heart of the story was acquired by XPO a few years ago. The company reportedly was stunned by the allegations in the article.

The usual signs of an upturn in the trucking sector aren’t there, according to the Wall Street house, and Morgan wonders if a lot of the demand got pushed forward.

SONAR’s Headhaul Index map and the HAUL.JOT Index are both showing that the return to growth in inbound loaded container flow first seen in the Long Beach/LA port is continuing and gathering momentum.

Uber Freight introduces three new features to its app, making it more customizable and intuitive, and helping drivers and carriers better manage their loads and time schedules.

Will the combination of oil prices, refinery cracks and scrubber economics result in easing of fears of tight supplies? Two reports chime in.

Spireon hosted a webinar in collaboration with FreightWaves earlier this week to explore how the DRIVE-Safe Act could affect the driver shortage if it becomes law.

XPO Logistics was named to the Fortune Future 50 list of U.S. public companies while KeepTruckin and Transfix were both honored by Forbes as two companies likely to achieve unicorn status.

In an effort to give our subscriber base input on a hot topic – HOS changes – we decided to conduct a survey during the FMCSA open comment period. Check out what we found!

Uber Inc. has introduced Powerloop, an affiliate company to Uber Freight, which would rent out power-only trailers to carriers looking to grow their business and thereby ease the industry’s capacity crunch.

One quarter ago, their earnings were feared to have marked a peak. But there’s no signs of that reading the third quarter numbers.

The CEO of Heartland defends the company’s strategy that saw a lot less revenue but a lot more in profits.

Continuing efforts to fight what he says are unfair trade practices, the administration of President Donald Trump announced the U.S. will pull out of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) treaty, which sets how much can be charged for international shipping.

The FreightWaves Research Institute has announced the list of 55 voters who will be choosing the inaugural winners of the Freight.Tech 25 awards, and it’s who’s who of freight leaders.

Also in today’s issue: a beating shows the dangers to truckers, even off the road; an Indian company looks to disrupt that company’s trucking sector.

A significant falloff in revenue went along with the rise in profitability as the operating ratio took a big leap forward.

Lithium is going to be in there, the industry wants cobalt out or lowered, and a few other metals are lining up to take its place in the next generation of batteries.

A significant falloff in revenue went along with the rise in profitability as the operating ratio took a big leap forward.

The number of trucks sold at auction climbed notably in September, and pricing trended lower. Model year 2015 trucks took a particularly hard hit thanks to higher volume and higher average mileage.

Which stops are preferred by truckers? We look at the 2018 King of the Road survey from Atlas Van Lines to find out.

From on-demand trucking to blockchain, loadboards and freight matching, the list of companies bringing innovative technologies to the freight industry is growing by the day, which makes the 100 that have made the cut to be honored by the FreightWaves Research Institute as part of its inaugural Freight.Tech 100 all the more special.

Although some of its individual ORs were less than a year ago, the company said its 14-month record on OR is its best ever.

It started with an open nomination period, and after culling through hundreds of submissions, the FreightWaves Research Institute has announced the inaugural Freight.Tech 100 companies.

Driver iQ’s third quarter recruitment and retention survey found that driver turnover costs the truckload industry over $10.6 billion per year, and over one-third of fleets surveyed expect turnover to increase or remain the same.

Cashflow Corner presented by TriumphPay …Go ahead, whack your tires. Are they properly inflated? Do you really know? The manual way of checking tire pressure may be costing your fleet money.

Groups representing livestock, bee and fish haulers in the nation have asked the Department of Transportation to extend their available driving time up to 15 hours a day, up from the current federally regulated 11 hours.

The reports by FTR and ACT showed the preliminary September numbers way above previous records.

The latest on legislative, regulatory, administrative, and enforcement issues across the industry.

Arkansas-based motor carrier sees driver wages up 18%, but it aims to recoup those costs through new shipper contracts.

Avancargo, a freight logistics startup from Argentina has on-boarded over 18,000 trucks on its platform and is helping them connect with shippers digitally.

The city hopes to use its role as a landlord to help move truck traffic on to barges and to trains.

The Indian trucking ecosystem suffers from a lack of visibility and transparency, which Vaahika is looking to address by digitizing logistics and creating a bridge between carriers and shippers.

Mike Roeth, executive director of NACFE, spoke last week at the Meritor/P.S.I. Fleet Technology Event, telling the audience that one of the lessons he learned from NACFE’s Run on Less program in 2016 was that drivers still have plenty of influence over fuel economy, despite technology advances.

Long known for its automatic tire inflation system (ATIS), P.S.I. adding a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) to its portfolio of solutions to help fleets more effectively manage tire maintenance.

Michigan-based asset-light logistics provider aims to boost western U.S. presence with latest acquisition.

Rail seems to be benefiting from higher diesel prices and capacity constraints with SONAR data suggesting more loads are shifting to intermodal in shorter lengths of haul.

The major east-west highway was closed for less than 48 hours. The biggest impact on trucking may come in the next few weeks, when the crops normally hauled out of Georgia just aren’t there.

Four new inbound truck lanes recently opened at Virginia International Gateway, increasing the capacity at the terminal’s gate complex by 30 percent.

Most of the move has no impact on ecommerce or last mile, but one small change could bring some new demand.

About 80 miles of the major east-west interstate highway were closed eastbound with a smaller amount closed westbound.

Netradyne, a startup that uses computer vision to understand and improve driver behavior, has raised $21 million in its Series B funding, led by Microsoft’s venture arm, M12.

Most of the hit is coming from an arbitration award with BNSF. Its conference call with investors is a change in its normal practice.

Loadsmart, a logistics technology company that uses data analytics to provide instant quotes and capacity, has raised its Series A financing led by Maersk Growth.

Volumes still strong in run-up to tariffs, as retailers ramp up imports.

Gains in rates will moderate in coming quarters, but underlying issues of driver availability will keep market tight.

Norfolk Southern has control over a small connector railroad in the Hampton Roads port area, and CSX says it is using that control to block CSX from launching significant intermodal service there.

It’s a wide range of opinions that are expressed in FMCSA’s call for comments on changes in the HOS rule.

Tri-state Truck Center in Memphis is part of a family-owned dealership chain. The Memphis location has historical significance, as it was built on the site of Martin’s Stadium, home of the Memphis Red Sox Negro League team for decades.

In Today’s Pickup: Michael is headed toward the Gulf, a quote by Hunter Harrison and a not-complimentary look at the job of a truck driver.

The master agreement was ratified with less than 50% of the vote. Now it appears some of the local deals were as well.

High spot market trucking rates have caused more carriers to move to that market, but the majority of carriers in a new Transporeon Group survey have remained loyal to their shippers.

Fatalities in all other types of accidents were down. Crashes involving large trucks were the only one moving the other way.

Differences remain in what is best path for drivers to follow, but all agree that port congestion is a problem that needs fixing.

The rank-and-file rejected the agreement, but the union says it didn’t meet a minimum level to not accept a deal. UPS appears baffled by all of this.

Wolfe Research downgraded several trucking stocks Friday after their analysts revealed concerns over spot rates, according to Seeking Alpha

Intermodal has attracted more freight thanks to tight truck markets, but growth rates will moderate.

FreightWaves reached out to OOIDA for their perspective on the current state of affairs in trucking. We also want to engage in a dialog from the fragmented industry interests, seeking points of agreement, as well as naming points of contention.

It’s been quite a few weeks in the discussions regarding precision railroading vs. not-precision, for lack of a better term. Also: OPEC pumping strong, Bangkok a growing intermodal hub

Indices are clearly signaling that the container volume coming in through the Long Beach/LA port is surging and bodes well for the holiday shopping season.

Venture capital-backed firm incorporates road, weather and hours-of-service data to providing real-time tracking.

In addition to funding the FAA for the next five years, the bill includes language that could be used to further integrate unmanned aircraft systems, like drones, into the commercial landscape.

As part of a wide-ranging DOT initiative to prepare for driverless vehicles, FMCSA will address regulations that could be slowing the development of these technologies in the commercial vehicle space.

SambaSafety, powered by Vigillo, just announced the development of a new CSA scorecard utilizing item response theory methodology.

North American Class 8 net orders came in around 42,800 units in September, falling 19 percent from August’s 53,069 units, according to preliminary data released by ACT Research.

Newly launched venture called Transmission aims to bring low-cost ELD product to drayage and intermodal motor carrier.

Driver churn continues to plague the industry as the turnover rate at large truckload carriers has reached its highest point in five years.

Just weeks after a federal judge sided with the company and decertified a class of about 11,000 current and former drivers who filed suit, J.B. Hunt has reportedly reached a $15 million settlement with the drivers.

Logistics company argues that it has improved conditions at warehouse one year after its purchase.

Rising driver wages and fuel costs pushed up the cost per mile to operate a commercial vehicle in 2017, according to an annual report released by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). The group said it cost $1.69 per mile to operate a truck last year, up 6% from 2016’s cost.

New Prime vs. Oliveira aims to settle who can arbitrate and who is a transportation worker under Federal Arbitration Act.

BNSF will use the CSX system to haul intermodal freight from the LA/Long Beach port, and service on the CSX system will be added from the New York/New Jersey port.

As peak season nears, EnVista’s Senior Project Manager Mark Taylor gave FUEL 2018 attendees his best tips to navigate the sea of surcharges that lies ahead.

Industry veteran Jeffery Barrie has been named CEO of DB Schenker USA, effective Nov. 1, 2018. Barrie will lead all operations in the U.S. and report directly to Philippe Gilbert, Region Americas CEO.

Tired truck drivers? That’s a big concern based on a new survey by the National Safety Council that found 97% of transportation employers are worried about employee fatigue.

In a time when consumers are opting to spend less time in the kitchen, restaurants and grocery stores, convenience is king and grocery delivery services are popping up everywhere.

The depreciating Indian rupee coupled with rising fuel prices have hit the Indian transportation corridor quite hard. The Indian government is now coming up with new regulations and innovative transportation practices to ease pressure.

Cashflow Corner presented by TriumphPay …There are numerous tips available on how truck drivers can save money on the road, and while not all will work for everyone, chances are you can benefit from something on this list.

It’s taken several years, but the eight biggest manufacturers of rear underride equipment now get the top grade from the IIHS.

Tender volumes are taking many by surprise, but not those that understand what is happening with the use of ELD’s by small carriers, especially in the dry van segment.

An annual review of the logistics business gets published; dueling intermodal views; and a startup gets a big chunk of funding.

The annual report by Infosys and others reflects an industry that is largely satisfied with the work that is being done, but with a recognition of areas that need improvement.

A response to an earlier piece discussing railroad attendance at IANA’s recent expo and the benefits of precision railroading.