They say you should plan your next trip before the last one ends. While the Future of Supply Chain ended a month ago, we have just the thing for that post-trip hangover: discounts on F3 tickets! Subscribers to Check Call have a special discount code for F3 registration. This is going to be one of the best deals on F3 tickets. Use the code CheckCallF324 or go to this link, and the discount will be applied. We all know the party is better in Chattanooga anyway. This is not one to miss.
In the first quarter of 2024, CargoNet documented 925 incidents of cargo theft – a 46% increase from the same period in 2023. That number isn’t anticipated to go down anytime soon. In recent days, at least 22 freight brokerages have come forward with claims that Agility Express, a carrier based in Mundelein, Illinois, has held some of their freight hostage.
Agility seemingly passed all background vetting checks for carriers. It was incorporated in 2017 as a one-driver, one-tractor business, but its MCS-150 was updated June 24 to five drivers and five power units. The slightly unusual thing about this effort is that most carriers that hold high-value loads hostage make it worth something. Not in this instance. Loads full of cardboard, plastic items and dry food products were affected.
Agility is acting as a debt collector on behalf of its affiliates. According to Clarissa Hawes’ article, “The company claims the targeted brokerages short-paid the motor carriers for loads they hauled or deducted fees from their pay for failing to arrive at their scheduled appointment times or for cases of product that were missing from loads.”
The result? Some brokers have agreed to pay to retrieve their freight and others have chosen not to and notified customers of the losses. Those that did pay say they were forced to sign a settlement and release agreement which includes highlights such as, “not to file any insurance claims once deliveries are made or any reports to Carrier 411, Carrier Assure, Truck Stop or any similar entities, etc. about Agility or any Agility affiliate.”
What better time than now to have a refresher course for shippers in the event a load is held hostage. Here’s something to start with.
You’ll know something is afoot either from a driver/carrier ghosting your or making straight-up demands of “This shipment will be mine if you don’t give me XYZ.” If that happens, immediately get claims involved, figure out if it’s just the driver, the dispatcher, both, the entire company etc. Report the incident to the police so that a report can be filed for the insurance company. File claims on Carrier411 and similar sites. Most importantly, though, contact the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and report the theft so that the motor carrier number can be revoked.
This is about more than just a delay or even a driver throwing a fit and not wanting to deliver to a facility. It’s about the clear intent to never surrender the freight until the driver or carrier gets what it wants. Having a plan already in place when this happens is beyond crucial: The last thing a situation like this needs is panic.
TRAC Tuesday. This week’s TRAC lane goes from the home of corn, Des Moines, Iowa, to a city in the Land of Enchantment, Sante Fe, New Mexico. This 950-mile trip traverses the mountain peaks and valleys, much like spot rates on this lane. Outbound tender rejections in Des Moines sank following the Fourth of July but are on the rise again, hitting 12.25%. Santa Fe, on the other hand, has an OTRI of 0.6%, which is amazing for shippers’ routing guide and carrier compliance scores but not so great for carriers.
Spot rates on this lane are higher than the National Truck Load Index by about 21 cents per mile. That gap is shortening as the NTI is on the rise and rates on this lane are beginning to fall. An all-in rate of $2,500 before margin should secure this load with ease.
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Who’s with whom? In this specific instance, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was with TQL, and no, it wasn’t for the reason the company is in court all the time. This case was actually a huge win for the 3PL/freight broker community. TQL was found not liable for a fatal accident that happened in 2020 with a carrier it had hired.
The context for the lawsuit: “The fatal collision took place in May 2020 on a Georgia state road and resulted in Peter Gauthier, who was driving a car, being killed. According to the lawsuit, a driver for Hard to Stop made what the plaintiff — Gauthier’s widow Katia — said in a brief with the appellate court was a ‘negligent, reckless and illegal U-turn in the middle of the road that he could not successfully complete.’”
A lower federal court had already ruled in favor of TQL not being held liable. The appellate court’s upholding of the decision sustains a legal precedent protecting brokers in accidents.
The core of these lawsuits is the safety component of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA). John Kingston’s article notes that the court in the Gauthier case cites its precedent in Aspen versus Landstar declaring that the safety exemption from FAAAA “requires that the relevant state law ‘have a direct relationship to motor vehicles.’ But the court found, as others have, that a broker can not be considered a motor vehicle under the safety exemption.”
The more you know
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