The most-read FreightWaves stories of 2023

Yellow bankruptcy, freight recession and closures of trucking companies caught readers’ attention

FreightWaves Staff

12 months ago

It should not come as a surprise that 2023 was one of the busiest years for news in the freight industry. Trucking companies large and small shuttered, including the biggest carrier bankruptcy in history. Layoffs continued to pile up amid the ongoing trucking bloodbath. And labor disputes simmered across every mode.

As the year comes to a close, we take a look at some of FreightWaves’ most-read news stories of 2023. It’s just a sample of the thousands of stories FreightWaves’ writers put out this year.

10. Family-owned California trucking company ceasing operations after 95 years

A third-generation family-owned trucking company and brokerage — Certified Freight Logistics, headquartered in Santa Maria, California — ceased operations in October after 95 years. Read more.

9. Texas-based trucking company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Peace Equipment LLC, a company headquartered in Edcouch, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, citing rising operating costs and “reduced income in the trucking industry.” Read more.

8. Teamsters demand Yellow’s previous $11-per-hour offer

A July letter from Teamsters leadership to local unions representing all of Yellow Corp.’s network said emergency negotiations hadn’t yielded an agreement. Read more.

7. Illinois trucking company’s sudden shutdown leaves team drivers stranded, unpaid

Team drivers for Cromex Inc. of Villa Park, Illinois, say things were looking bleak after they were stranded in a Chicago-area hotel for three days more than 1,000 miles from home without a paycheck or a truck until a truckers outreach organization offered to pay their rental car expenses to get them home to Jacksonville, Florida. Read more.

6. Yellow exec tells sales staff company will file bankruptcy Monday

Yellow’s senior vice president of sales informed her staff in July that the less-than-truckload carrier would file bankruptcy. Read more.

5. North Carolina trucking company to shut down after top customer pulls out

A North Carolina trucking company notified over 200 drivers, employees and mechanics it was ceasing operations after 11 years after some of its major customers demanded “massive rate and volume concessions.” Read more.

4. For some owner-operators, it looks like the end of the road

The current market is tough enough for owner-operators that a significant chunk of them are considering leaving it altogether. At least that’s according to a recent FreightWaves Research survey. Asked to select statements that applied to them, 35.2% of self-identified owner-operators checked, “If the market does not rebound materially by the end of 2023, I will leave the industry.” Read more.

3. Trucking bloodbath snares fleets large and small

The number of authorized interstate trucking fleets in the U.S. declined by nearly 9,000 in the first quarter of 2023, according to federal data analyzed by Motive, a fleet management technology company. Several midsize fleets shuttered this year, including Florida’s Flagship Transport and North Carolina’s FreightWorks Transport. And major freight brokerages laid off thousands of employees in 2023 alone. Read more.

2. Freight recession unlike any other in history

While it is possible that freight rates will rise in anticipation of a capacity reset, FreightWaves and many other analysts don’t believe that freight rates will increase until at least the second quarter of 2024, and few predict large increases in rates even then. Therefore, it is likely that the attrition process will continue as the market slowly grinds out the weakest players. Read more.

1. Will truckers answer the call to boycott Florida on Saturday?

In June, hundreds of social media posts called for truck drivers to boycott picking up and delivering freight in Florida over the state’s new law targeting undocumented immigrants. Read more.