News

Stord, the cloud supply chain company, has raised $90 million and reached unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation.

DHL Express is one of Atlas Air’s biggest customers. It just renewed leases for 20 planes.

The White House’s recent COVID-19 plan calls on employers and schools to implement frequent testing, which could increase demand. Test manufacturers are speeding up production, but many questions remain.

Container ships named The Brady, The Belichick and The Gronk just sold for six to eight times their purchase price, spurring a nine-figure payday.

August was a record month for the Port of Virginia in Norfolk, and the trend of higher year-over-year volumes could persist through the rest of 2021 as peak season approaches.

FreightWaves has a diverse group of experts to talk about the No. 2 cost for trucking companies.

The Ever Ace is at nearly 24,000 TEUs, but ports may not be able to handle that much capacity.

Nicholas made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in Texas Tuesday morning, bringing high winds and torrential rainfall.

“The Supply Chain Twin enables customers to gain deeper insights into their operations, helping them optimize supply chain functions — from sourcing and planning to distribution and logistics.”

Grand Island Express continues to put drivers first and has been rewarded for those efforts with a nomination to the Best Fleets to Drive For Top 20 for the 10th straight year.

The two companies are partnering on an integrated e-commerce and supply chain management platform.

Excerpt: 3M is a Shipper of Choice because it has strong forecasting tools.

An executive from Pedigree Technologies explains how the North Dakota firm became one of the first ELD providers to successfully get a device certified in Canada. It wasn’t easy.

Locus Robotics announced an additional $50 million investment in the company from Tiger Global Management just eight months after a $150 million Series E round.

Motion Intelligence’s platform limits smartphone use while the vehicle is moving, sharply curtailing a key cause of accidents.

After a period of guilty pleas and no new indictments, the case has now expanded further.

Freight flows will be delayed as Tropical Storm Nicholas floods roads and prompts port closures.

J. J. Keller announced its VideoProtects monitoring platform is available on the Geotab Marketplace, making the safety solution available to more than 2.4 million vehicles.

Delivery drones could be damaged or even grounded by weather, including unseen winds aloft, leaving customers angry at missed deliveries and shippers scrambling.

Embark Trucks will use BYD electric trucks to cover 50 miles of HP printer loads, while its autonomous tractors take the middle segment.

Dry bulk and LNG shipping stocks now at 52-week peaks with container stocks not far from the top.

Agencies across Tennessee will make Samsara’s technology available to all state, municipal and county fleets.

There is still lots of lost crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico from Ida.

A messy leadership change is underway at all-cargo airline Amerijet.

How the industry is stepping up for appreciation week; inside the gig economy with “The Rideshare Guy”; going digital

U.S. agribusiness exporters claim they are poised to lose 22% of sales due to massive increases in container shipping rates.

The three have signed agreements committing to work together on developing advanced locomotive power technologies.

A law firm’s analysis of the Biden administration rule shows several unanswered questions.

Container terminals will cease ingate operations and remain closed through Tuesday morning.

One of the most interesting shifts from the Obama administration to the Biden administration is the higher level of scrutiny the automated technologies are getting.

“Amazon Web Services makes it easy to host web applications for scalable solutions. We are looking to do the same thing for supply chain software by breaking down the data barriers that stop anyone from building the tools they need to offer better services.”

August data from Cass shows freight expenditures extend their torrid pace. Freight demand remains high but a lack of capacity is constraining shipment growth.

Major CN shareholder TCI Fund Management wants CN’s board to have more operational experience. The company is also still pushing for the removal of CN’s current CEO.

Some large buy-now, pay-later providers are dropping fees for late payments, and they could be digging themselves into a hole.

PICKUP CEO Brenda Stoner said that in last-mile big-and-bulky delivery, it’s a combination of people and technology that makes it work.

3PL and e-commerce warehouse customers of Advanced Handling Systems can now choose robotic solutions from Berkshire Grey.

Truckers are likely to hit delays this week from Texas to Louisiana due to Tropical Storm Nicholas. The Coast Guard has set vessel restrictions at one port so far.

Startup Locomation sees huge upside for an autonomous trucking convoy, but it has a long road to meeting its goal of 60,000 trucking pairs by 2025.

The Biden administration set a target to produce 3 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel by 2030. Domestic production currently sits around 4.5 million gallons per year.

Kansas City Southern is returning to its original merger partner after federal regulators rejected CN’s proposed voting trust, which would’ve been used to acquire KCS.

Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Slync.io launches integrated strategy for ocean containers; chip shortage continues to impact Mexico’s commercial truck industry; automotive parts supplier invests $102M in Mexico expansion; and Aeronet Worldwide opens operations in San Antonio.

Two nonprofit groups, Trucks with Room to Spare and CN Supply, are collecting donations, mobilizing to help Hurricane Ida survivors in southwest Louisiana.

Canadian truck driver Robert Mitchell had the misfortune of picking up a load of paint thinner on Sept. 11, 2001, with the intention of transporting it to the U.S.

A FreightWaves poll found that 65% of 1,120 truckers who responded have been vaccined but nearly 73% of the holdouts would quit if forced to “get the jab.”

National Tree Co. tells American Shipper it is warning customers not to sit on their wallets until Black Friday because the items they are coveting might already be sold out.

The past 20 years were the most pivotal in the history of U.S. air cargo security. The next 20 are likely to be just as crucial.

Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow reported tonnage declines worse than its peers for the first two months of the third quarter. The carrier said it currently remains focused on driving yields higher in lieu of volume growth.

Tyler Cole explores the world of renewable diesel fuel on this episode of Net-Zero Carbon.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistelexplains what large CPG companies may face thanks to the new vaccination mandate.

Demand for container ships is so extreme that some operators are paying unprecedented sums to rent them.

Lots of questions remain, but it is clear that OSHA is going to play a big role in shaping the vaccination mandate standards.

How autonomous truck insurance and liability works; Biden’s vax mandate; Deja Su as another ship gets stuck in Suez and more

Two of China’s main ports are preparing for the arrival of Typhoon Chanthu, which could slam Taiwan first.

Private equity takeout allows Echo Global Logistics’ equity value to rise to that of its peers. Management believes its new affiliation with deeper pockets opens up bigger M&A opportunities.

Labor and chassis shortages, as well as congestion in the wider supply chain, have contributed to lower U.S. intermodal traffic compared with a year ago.

Used Airbus A321s are getting a second life in the cargo arena. More companies are jumping in to do the modifications.

UniGroup Logistics’s Meghan Meurer sees shopping from home as the new normal for a growing number of larger products, suggesting that the final-mile delivery experience is now of utmost importance.

The past week in social media images features a large dust devil, softball-size hail, a nighttime earthquake and more.

For this first installment of Drone Disruptors, a series about the movers and shakers in the world of drone startups, Modern Shipper sat down with Flytrex CEO Yariv Bash.

Truck Talk is a FreightWaves weekly newsletter focusing on electrification and autonomy developments in trucking with perspective and context.

Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash are seeking an injunction that would stop New York City from enforcing its commission caps for food delivery apps.

On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, truck driver Russell Vereen reflects on the 205 days spent working at a refrigerated trailer temporary morgue at ground zero.

Container volumes were “strong” in August amid continued retail import volume growth at the Port of Charleston, the South Carolina Ports Authority said.

Alvys levels the playing field through affordable add-scale technology that integrates a variety of management systems into one intuitive dashboard.

UPS is buying Roadie, a same-day delivery firm, as it seeks to expand its package delivery options to customers.

FreightWaves’ Brian Straight was at the big conference for home delivery in the city of brotherly love.

The new owners of Echo have portfolio investments in several other logistics companies.

Hurricane Larry is forecast to make landfall Friday night in eastern Canada, impacting the port city of St. John’s.

On this episode of Medically Necessary, Matt Blois looks at how the health care industry has changed thanks to e-commerce.

On this episode of Cyberly, Blythe Brumleve talks about the hardest part of doing something new: getting started.

It will take assassins accuracy, but Amazon has all the data to make aiming an afterthought.

President Biden has ordered companies of 100 or more employees to require workers to be vaccinated or tested weekly.

Mammoth Freighters has deep pockets and ambitious goals for selling converted passenger planes for cargo operations.

Radiant Logistics announced it closed its fiscal year in record fashion on Thursday. The company will repurchase shares and pursue acquisitions as a means of boosting valuation.

An FMC advisory committee has been formed amid ongoing shipper complaints of carrier market power abuse.

In unprecedented move, CMA CGM unilaterally halts rate increases until February amid rising global supply chain chaos.

Google previously prevented marketing of N95 respirators on its shopping platform due to shortages. Mask makers complained that policy didn’t line up with health guidance and curtailed sales. Now the tech giant has reversed course.

Anthony Smith and Zach Strickland go back and forth on the latest trends in the freight market.

Reliance Partners’ Robert Kaferle says that successful safety cultures empower all employees to voice concerns and offer solutions.

Project44 will continue to add telematics providers to its program in 2022 and plans to start building out a global program over the next year.

The company said it will make many job offers within 30 minutes of receiving an application.

The Port of Long Beach has broken monthly cargo records 13 of the past 14 months.

The financial analysis of Uber Freight does not yet include the impact of Transplace, which the digital brokerage is acquiring.

Insurance accounts for a large portion of fixed costs for trucking companies. There is one thing, however, that can help carriers take control of snowballing rates while still protecting insurance companies: transparency.

Work-related fatalities for trucking and delivery driver jobs increased 4% year-over-year in 2019, when 1,005 drivers were killed on the nation’s streets and highways.

The Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development and OnTrackNorthAmerica have formed the Southwest Supply Chain Coalition as a way to develop a regional approach to supply chain infrastructure investments.

Recent earnings reports from retailers exhibited improved inventory positions compared to a year ago. However, the comps show merchandise levels are still lagging sales by a wide margin.

Zebra is now integrating FourKites’ Dynamic Yard into its MotionWorks Yard solution and selling it to select clients in North America and Europe.

Canada Cartage makes its fourth acquisition of 2021 with the addition of Rapid Delivery, a Canadian carrier specializing in dedicated domestic and cross-border freight.

The 19-day manhunt for a Missouri truck driver is over after he was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday. He was tied to four homicides.

EV growth will sustain its momentum in light- to medium-duty trucks and begin to catch on for the heavy-duty trucks in regional hubs.

“We are expanding our reach by allowing owner-operators to keep their own authority and still have the same CloudTrucks experience.”

E-commerce giant Alibaba unveils dropshipping, delivery tools for U.S. small businesses looking to grow their digital sales.

The Vancouver transload facility will primarily handle fast-moving consumer goods and auto parts.

MacGregor Partners will double in size over the next couple years, pushing its value to the $50 million mark.

Last-mile delivery has become such an important piece of the customer journey, but too many companies don’t listen to the customer and continue to deploy failing strategies.

Drivers may hit more areas of low visibility and potential road closures as wildfires and smoke spread across the West (forecast video included).

In the pandemic era, passenger travel can be especially fickle. Air Wisconsin will try its hand at cargo so it has more revenue opportunities.

“There’s some desperation in some of these people’s voices,” a Minnesota hay farmer said about the current drought’s impact on the community.

Most of the levies will fall within the range of 20 cents to 29 cents per package.