Less than Truckload (LTL)

David Phalen, an airline pricing veteran, shifts to an industry with similar characteristics.

With record inventories building and bottlenecks easing is deflation next?

FreightWaves Founder and CEO Craig Fuller analyzes methods to generate more revenue in a trucking downturn.

FedEx is cutting the wages of the salesforce supporting the small to midsize customer segment.

Old Dominion said Tuesday it has already added capacity at seven locations in its network. The recent expansions trend ahead of its 2022 guidance, which called for growth at eight to 10 terminals.

XPO Logistics announced it has sold its intermodal business to STG Logistics for $710 million in cash. This was a crucial first step on the path to becoming a stand-alone less-than-truckload company.

A noted consultant sees FedEx founder Fred Smith dropping the CEO role to become executive chairman; second-in-command Raj Subramaniam would take Smith’s place.

AskWaves looks at dynamic pricing and how it fits into an increasingly automated LTL complex.

Building geographic scale and expanding a book of business is not the main driver, Muessig says. Instead, it’s access to scarce assets.

EPS comes in below estimates as FedEx Ground’s operating income declines.

Less-than-truckload carrier Roadrunner announced new incentives and an increased pay package for drivers.

Less-than-truckload carrier A. Duie Pyle announced Tuesday that its Northeast and Mid-Atlantic footprint now stretches south to Virginia.

Yellow Corp. announced it has reached a settlement with the Defense Department, which claimed it was overcharged by the less-than-truckload carrier for years.

A Wednesday update from less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp. showed volume trends worsened in February on what was supposed to be an easy year-over-year comp.

He couldn’t pull off the impossible, but he has made shareholders significantly richer in the process.

The company will become a stand-alone LTL carrier in North America.

Brian Thompson shares how SMC3 gets employees ready to take on the market.

ArcBest reported Friday that the favorable revenue trends logged in the fourth quarter have continued through the first two months of the first quarter.

First-quarter updates from Old Dominion and Saia show LTL carriers are off to another strong start.

Less-than-truckload carrier Dayton Freight Lines announced plans to acquire Valley Companies’ cartage operations.

Modern Shipper spoke with Daniel Sokolovsky, founder and former CEO of AxleHire, about his newest delivery venture, Warp.

AskWaves looks into the growing amount of shipment detail needed when submitting an RFP.

Truckload rates have plateaued and may head down in the second half, Miller says. There is more runway for LTL increases, however.

Forward Air head Tom Schmitt was bullish about the company’s prospects on a call with analysts Thursday. Forward is already on track to achieve recently issued 2023 targets ahead of schedule.

The LTL segment remains a work in progress, but analysts are confident that Jacobs & Co. can turn it around.

Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp. adds two driver academies as part of a plan to train 1,000 drivers in 2022.

XPO Logistics has issued 2022 guidance and vows to fully right the LTL segment’s operating ratio by midyear.

TForce Freight pickup and delivery drivers will be driving less and taking on more freight as TFI International pushes efficiency in its U.S. LTL operation, says TFI’s CEO.

The LTL carrier has ambitious plans for growing its footprint over the next two years.

Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp. reported better-than-expected adjusted fourth-quarter results Wednesday after the market closed.

Less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion raised its long-term margin target when it released better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday.

Saia’s operating ratio was up more than 500 basis points in Q4 2021 compared to the final quarter of 2020.

ArcBest raised long-term expectations Tuesday in conjunction with its fourth-quarter results, which were better than expected. The company now eyes doubling its size by 2025.

ArcBest on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter results, which once again outpaced analysts’ expectations.

Difficulty in getting land zoned for trucking is an impediment to terminal expansion, Gantt says.

Knight-Swift Transportation reported another big quarterly result Wednesday. However, it appears the stretch of rapid growth will moderate as the comps have stiffened.

Less-than-truckload carrier Saia announced a 7.5% general rate increase Tuesday. The carrier was the latest to announce rate hikes greater than the normal mid-single-digit increases.

XPO adds two terminals and 50 dock doors to its North American network.

A confluence of critical events will determine if the company can deliver on its margin improvement pledge.

The omicron variant is depleting aircrews at FedEx just as it has among passenger airlines, resulting in customer delays for both industries.

AskWaves looks at the impact general rate increases have on less-than-truckload rates.

The venerable carrier’s shutdown underscores the risk in failing to properly manage costs.

The LTL carrier’s debt at the end of the third quarter was higher than a year earlier, but Moody’s is optimistic in making its upgrade.

Several asset-based carriers changed their course through M&A in 2021.

TForce Freight has rolled back the speed reductions for some trucks based in Houston after drivers complained about running out of hours.

Many LTL carriers have lowered caps from 16 linear feet to 12 linear feet, either denying freight that exceeds those limits or instituting punitive pricing measures that make moving it unaffordable.

RLS Logistics continues to roll up the cold storage market, adding one family operator at a time.

FedEx’s Express and LTL units delivered solid performances, while the bottom may have been hit at its Ground unit.

Volume and yield gains powered the Express and LTL units, while staffing shortages and operating inefficiencies continued to hurt the Ground unit.

In its third pay hike of 2021, Forward Air rolls out its biggest pay package for independent contractors ever.

Old Dominion Freight Line was the latest less-than-truckload carrier to implement a general rate increase ahead of schedule. The 4.9% adjustment is in line with the rate hike it announced earlier in the year.

It has been a wild ride for GlobalTranz, with ownership shifting multiple times in just a few years.

FreightWaves’ Kevin Hill chats about changes in the ways less-than-truckload carriers do business since the onset of the pandemic with Old Dominion’s process and innovation leader Barry Craver.

Analysts, industry insiders and some of Central Freight Lines’ executives and drivers liken the LTL carrier’s demise to a “five-year death spiral” after the company lost a major customer, then acquired two failing companies.

Central Freight Lines says rival LTL carrier Estes Express, based out of Richmond, Virginia, is interested in scooping up some of the Waco, Texas-based 2,100 drivers and employees, after FreightWaves broke the news Saturday that the LTL carrier was ceasing operations.

A source familiar with the 96-year-old company said he is unsure whether CFL will file Chapter 7 or “liquidate outside of bankruptcy,” but that the LTL carrier has no plans to reorganize.

Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp reports the weakest revenue trends out of the public carriers providing fourth-quarter updates.

Forward Air’s initiative to upgrade its freight mix to a heavier class of premium cargo was evident in November results.

A manager’s comments regarding possible closure of the facility if the Teamsters won is cited by an NLRB administrator as a reason for a new vote.

Less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion said share-taking efforts led to revenue growth ahead of its peers during November.

Knight-Swift adds to its less-than-truckload offering with the acquisition of Midwest Motor Express. Investors continue to see the value in owning LTL assets.

Also on the podcast: OPEC+ surprises with more oil in January.

Intraquarter updates from less-than-truckload carriers show record third-quarter operating conditions have continued through the first two months of the fourth quarter.

General rate increases for less-than-truckload shipments not under contract are rolling in ahead of schedule and are a little higher than normal.

One notable number in the report: intermodal brokerage had a tough quarter.

Picking transport stocks in 2022 will not involve a blanket approach, according to Deutsche Bank. However, there are still several companies with significant upside potential.

Yellow Corp. President Darrel Harris has filled the company’s vacant chief operating officer role.

A decisive lead in the east and victories in the central and southern regions set the table for a landslide victory.

The election still needs to be certified by the NLRB.

Electronic bill of lading capabilities in less-than-truckload shipping are growing in favor, according to shipping management platform MyCarrier.

Less-than-truckload carriers report strong October results. But one analyst questions if the stocks have run too far ahead of results.

A rule requiring vaccines for employees, or weekly testing for workers declining vaccination, at companies with staff of 100 or more gets emergency stay.

Yellow Corp. rode a hot freight market and an internal overhaul to positive net income for the first time in several quarters.

The company’s first reporting quarter post-spinoff could have gone better.

Forward Air announced the acquisition of two Minnesota-based intermodal transportation outfits on Wednesday.

Company plans to double LTL trailer capacity and add 900 dock doors.

ArcBest reported record quarterly results on Tuesday, and management sees the possibility of incremental improvement moving forward.

Cowen’s survey, released to the public for the first time, shows a mixed reaction on the question of whether a vaccine mandate will affect carrier business operations.

ArcBest posted record quarterly results for the third time this year on Tuesday. Each of its segments reported double-digit top-line growth.

ArcBest announced Monday that it has closed on the previously announced acquisition of Chicago-based truckload brokerage MoLo Solutions.

A shipper-carrier pledge is needed to restore trust on both sides.

TFI International plans to shut down four terminals at the former UPS Freight operation and the CEO signals more to come as the company targets costs.

TFI International fails to replicate early herculean improvement at ex-UPS Freight as operating ratio weakens slightly in record third-quarter financial results.

Forward Air took an aggressive step Thursday, issuing sizable earnings growth guidance through 2023. Upgrading the freight mix has management confident in the extended outlook.

The CEO of North America’s largest privately held LTL carrier makes a passive investment in the digital freight-matching firm.

The LTL carrier plans on opening 10 to 15 terminals in 2022.

Old Dominion expects the costs of growing at such a fast pace will linger for a while. The company beat third-quarter estimates and doubled down on its share-taking strategy.

Freight broker Echo Global Logistics reports better-than-expected third-quarter results in what is likely its last public quarterly report.

A look at how Knight-Swift Transportation blew past third-quarter expectations and raised its full-year guidance.

The winning attorney doesn’t think the award is big enough to constitute a nuclear verdict.

SPS Commerce is collaborating with C.H. Robinson to open up new LTL capacity to retailers in need of space to move goods this holiday season.

The IT maven segues into an operations-driven role while keeping the CIO job.

The longtime IT executive assumes the role immediately in an “acting” capacity. The move is seen as extremely unusual because tech execs are not viewed as being operations-savvy LTL bosses.

A Democrat-led committee investigating Yellow’s $700 million Treasury loan suggests the Trump administration was involved in the approval process.

Kriska Transportation Group strengthens its cross-border LTL business with the acquisition of Ontario-based Transport N Service.

Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker believes rate expectations of truckload management teams haven’t been reflected in 2022 earnings estimates yet.

ArcBest’s acquisition of truckload broker MoLo Solutions accompanies an announcement of strong third-quarter results for its LTL segment.

The Teamsters allege that TFI’s TForce Freight broke federal law when it reduced the speed limit of its trucks from 68 to 65 mph.

TFI International is working to hire more truck drivers at TForce Freight as it cuts salespeople amid a push to rebuild the UPS legacy operation.

The company didn’t blindside anyone. But it didn’t please that many, either.