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Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Nuvocargo raises $5.3 million for cross-border freight operations; Nogales importers donate free produce to the community; cargo at Mexico’s seaports decline during the first quarter; CBP seizes 352 pounds of marijuana at Santa Teresa port of entry.

Many expected a worse outcome for carriers in March as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Ironically, the pandemic may have padded some 1Q results.

As a plunge in freight volumes and rates take a toll, Canada’s trucking industry seeks relief on payroll taxes to hold on to precious cash.

Drury Hotels is offering hotel rooms for $59 for truck drivers, including two meals, at its 150 locations during the coronavirus outbreak.

Volumes up slightly week-over-week

Trump signs bill carving out $60 billion in loans specifically for smaller community-based lenders.

Hungry truckers greeted with pizza upon arrival at Chattanooga-area welcome centers.

FAA cuts tower hours for air traffic control, but airports should continue to function smoothly.

IHS Markit’s Paul Bingham predicts sustained 2020 weakness and higher long-term costs.

Dooner and The Dude are talking about the conflict between truckers and brokers as they battle for dollars in a bottoming spot market.

The 12 members of Reopen Jacksonville will advise the Florida city’s mayor on the easing of stay-at-home restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Companies across the Lone Star State have made another wave of job cuts with 3,000 more workers losing their jobs.

It was down session for Trucking Freight Futures as the market fell across the board for the second consecutive day on Thursday with the spot National contract down 0.9% to $1.367 per mile, driven lower by pressure in the East.

Delta Air Lines officials believe they have the reputation for customer service, reliability, and brand experience that will carry them through the pandemic. Now, they are making hard choices about the future.

Triple the number of vessels at anchorage increases risk of oil spill.

After enormous drops, the data is pointing green.

Farms of major row crops like tomatoes or potatoes are usually highly mechanized and could escape the wrath of COVID-19.

Southern California heat wave will keep reefer drivers on their toes this weekend.

“There’s a growing understanding of the importance of them, the agility of them and how they help service communities.”

FreightWaves LIVE @ HOME will still feature the rapid fire demonstrations that FreightWaves events are known for.

Revenue per hundredweight is suffering as a result: CFO

“More work to do” as FMCSA closes in on 900,000 total registrants.

Daimler AG revealed difficult first-quarter results, removing mystery from next week’s earnings report, which shows all segments struggling, including its truck manufacturing business.

“I believe that the speed you were going and how you maneuvered the truck saved my life.”

While suffering a significant drop in cargo volume during the coronavirus pandemic, the seaport stands “ready to help position America’s industries for future success,” says Executive Director Gene Seroka.

Rush Enterprises barely felt the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in its new and used truck business in the first quarter, but it is bracing for a much harder hit to come.

Even as states reopen, there is too much uncertainty ahead to predict boom times returning, but there is finally some optimism appearing.

The western U.S. railroad can deploy additional cost reduction measures, but how much cost savings it can realize from those measures will depend on how much rail volumes fall in the second quarter.

The online auction from Ritchie Bros. attracted 8,600 bidders from 62 countries using the Ritchie Bros. mobile app.

Domestic airlines want to put cargo in passenger seats or stacked on the cabin floor, as some foreign counterparts are already doing. But they first need authorization from U.S. authorities.

Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have always been good for tanker rates and stocks — until now.

On this episode our market experts look at the impact plant shutdowns are having, earnings, Andy Berke of Blue Grace Logistics, more

The shippers are in the strongest pricing power position in the DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index history, but for all the wrong reasons. Volumes are stable, but well below normal levels, and tender rejections are at the lowest level in the index’s 3-year history.

Can the CARES Act help transportation-supply chain companies during the pandemic? Kayla Matthews explains why the answer is “yes.”

Declines in trucking shipments and spend, current and future, highlight the takeaways from U.S. Bank’s first-quarter Freight Payment Index report.

Frayt, a Cincinnati-based tech startup, expands service to address uptick in home deliveries

Trucking Freight Futures were lower across the board on Wednesday as the overall health of the economy weighed on rates with the spot National contract falling $0.012, or 0.9%, to $1.375 per mile.

The 24,000-TEU Algeciras will make maiden voyage from Qingdao, China, on Monday.

Brian Aoaeh interviews CEOs of several supply chain tech startups about their status during the pandemic.

USPS stops services to 111 countries; oil rallies on gulf tensions and output cuts; Uber Freight and BluJay announce partnership.

Landstar has seen volume declines accelerate in recent weeks and management believes that a recovery is unlikely until the automotive and building products segments resume activity.

As the COVID-19 crisis deepens, it is critical for logistics workers to make sure they stay safe as they continue to keep the economy running.

Our host John Kingston also discusses the diesel market.

“We expect that more shippers will shift from just-in-time supply chains to just-in-case supply chains,” U.S. CEO Mark McCullough said.

Severe thunderstorms, flash flooding may delay freight flows across the South.

Delta Air Lines is increasing the number of scheduled cargo flights between Asia and three U.S. cities, using its passenger aircraft as substitutes for freighters.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic the Class I railroads were mothballing freight cars – and locomotives. Jim Blaze examines the issues surrounding the surplus of locomotives.

Other metrics helped the LTL carrier post a new record.

Relaxed regulations and insurance payment relief are certainly helping truckers, but many are also changing their mix of freight to insulate revenue.

Rush Enterprises, the largest seller of new and used trucks in the country, posted solid first quarter results but is concerned about coronavirus-related carnage to come.

Transportation invoice volumes fall 7.5% for payment services provider Cass Information Systems.

Heavy-duty truck maker AB Volvo saw business seize up in mid-March but exited the quarter with lower but still positive sales and profits.

Despite lower revenues, the western U.S. railroad saw its first-quarter net income increase as the company trimmed quarterly expenses by 10%.

Jason Bates will fill the vacant CFO role at Daseke after three years in the same role at USA Truck.

Perry sees slow recovery in volumes but sharp drop-off in available trucks and drivers.

o hedge against rail volume uncertainty in the second quarter, CSX aims to control costs.

The food supply chain is in peril as meat plants close and truck drivers struggle to find good-paying freight amid coronavirus.

Canadian transportation and logistics company says it laid off or furloughed 1,000 employees as it posts first-quarter results.

Daimler Trucks and Volvo Group will work together on hydrogen fuel cell technology for heavy-duty trucks, a pursuit both companies have previously shunned in favor of battery electric propulsion.

Margins widened again in April, but revenue per day is down 12%.

Ike has laid off 14% of its staff

The largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks puts worker protections in place as it tries to make up for production lost to the coronavirus pandemic.

Landstar System calls attention to its variable cost model as first quarter falls short of expectations. No guidance issued for second quarter.

CSX’s (NASDAQ: CSX) first-quarter net profit fell 7.7% amid lower revenues and a record operating ratio. First-quarter 2020 net income was $770 million, or $1 a share, compared with $834 […]

Delta is raising huge amounts of capital and cutting costs by half as it sets the stage for a new world with less travel.

U.S. rail traffic slumps amid pandemic woes, and challenges are likely to persist into the second quarter.

Maersk plans sudden switch from Staten Island to New Jersey. The Staten Island terminal is fighting back.

Final steel floor beam lifted into place two years after assembly of main span got underway.

Even though crude oil prices are collapsing, truckers will see lower prices at the pump, but maybe not historically low prices.

Convoy and FourKites announced new dashboards and emissions-reduction tracking tools to help shippers identify their environmental footprint.

It was a mixed day on Tuesday in the Trucking Freight Futures markets with uncertainty looming as to where rates may head in the near-term.

Cummins says Dynamic Skip Fire for diesel engines is promising in reducing smog-forming emissions in line with CARB and EPA goals to lower nitrous oxide pollution from heavy-duty trucks.

The German shipping line says it has cut CO2 emissions per transported TEU by about 50% since 2008

Container equipment shortage exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic stresses upper-Midwest soybean exporter trying to fill his springtime customer orders to Asia.

Delta is the first of the domestic passenger airlines to release earnings since the coronavirus pandemic spread globally and the picture isn’t pretty.

Knight-Swift’s better than expected quarter yields to further uncertainty as the year progresses.

Aperia has launched a virtual training and support program for its tire inflation system to help fleets continue proper tire maintenance. Plus, diesel prices drop, Werner president talks trucking, and Earth Day brings somber reminders.

Severe storms, flash flooding could delay freight flows across the South next two days.

Precision scheduled railroading and its workforce will help CP get through anticipated challenges in the second quarter, company executives said.

Governments must support vital supply chains. A big part of that is for all branches and levels of government to put aside partisanship and petty bickering and work for the good of the nation and its people.

United Airlines is getting $9.5 billion in U.S. government aid, but it still needs more money to stay afloat so it’s selling stock and borrowing.

Charger Logistics recently became one of the first U.S. companies to install an HW’Intrawash autonomous trailer cleaning unit from Istobal for its facility in Laredo, Texas.

“Everybody in the last-mile delivery business better watch out, because Amazon can make them unnecessary.”

Canada’s largest transportation company reveals cutbacks as it reports a 16% jump in profits during the first quarter.

Daimler Trucks and Volvo Group, two truck makers lukewarm on hydrogen fuel cells, hedge their bets to leverage Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz fuel cell efforts for heavy-duty trucks.

For ULSD, it’s the biggest “peacetime” decline ever.

Manhattan Associates first quarter was well ahead of expectations. Management lowered guidance, but believes that this downturn will be shorter in duration.

Canadian truck driver Nicole Folz learned that she tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks after falling seriously ill during a cross-border run in the US.

The railway’s first-quarter net income slipped on higher income tax expenses. But total revenue rose nearly 16% in the first quarter of 2020 while operating expenses were roughly flat-to-higher.

XPO’s Brad Jacobs says 2020 is most likely a lost year.

How long will a rebound take and what will it look like. FreightWaves market experts explore on today’s Coronavirus Freight Market Update

The airline industry is considered essential to keeping the creaky economy going, but pilots, flight attendants and ground workers don’t always feel they are treated as essential when it comes to protection from the coronavirus.

Here it comes: Ports will soon feel full force of canceled box-ship sailings.

One adviser said he is processing “thousands” of applications.

Market share gains, growing order backlog and record sales of parts buoy truck maker PACCAR despite lower first-quarter revenue and profits

Investigators with the Transportation Safety Board are urging Transport Canada to consider revising track maintenance regulations since broken rail is appearing as a possible cause for two recent crude train derailments.

Prologis reports solid first quarter, but reels in guidance on COVID-19 headwinds. An uptick in demand is not likely until a vaccine is discovered.

Following Monday’s U.S. oil market meltdown, Trucking Freight Futures continued to move lower as the spot National contract fell 0.43% and settled at $1.388 per mile.

Customer service (in many forms) is the key to keeping and/or expanding business during the pandemic.

The Jacksonville, Florida-based ocean carrier finds continued demand for reefers among Central American and Caribbean fruit and produce shippers.