November contracts from Los Angeles to Dallas traded at $2.103/mile as positive consumer confidence numbers were released.

eBay’s Managed Delivery will outsource warehousing, transport, and packaging services.

Companies that build a dedicated M&A program return more value to shareholders.

Negligent hiring and vicarious liability lawsuits have been around, but there are emerging risks as well.

Denser shipments and higher prices combined for a 6.9 percent improvement in revenue per LTL shipment.

Flexport’s customers have seen average landed unit costs rise by 30 percent due to tariffs.

Near-shoring staff in Colombia has become a big trend for U.S. transport and logistics companies.

ECHO faced a tough quarter with soft spot volumes and unexpected tightness in June.

SunteckTTS, a top 10 brokerage, is reportedly looking for a 10x EBITDA multiple.

Chicago to Atlanta should jump in September, LA to Dallas peaks in November, and Seattle to LA hits a high in December.

Capacity has returned to freight markets and spot rates are falling against “contract.”

A five percent drop in licenses contributed to a modest disappointment, but management is excited about Qualtrics.

The Chattanooga brokerage is on pace to double revenue in 2019.

Jordan Alliger rated UPS, FedEx, and J.B. Hunt ‘Buy’; XPO and C.H. Robinson ‘Neutral’; and Expeditors ‘Sell.’

All of the carriers on Transplace’s platform will integrate with Descartes MacroPoint by January 2020.

Bascome Majors says contract rates will be under downward pressure for the rest of the year, but spot rates may have already turned up.

GTZamp automates multi-movement routes, offering loads to drivers based on an ever-growing number of attributes.

Although volumes are down across modes, rails don’t need top-line growth to improve cash flows.

Executives from C.H. Robinson discussed increasingly strict retail compliance programs and how to exceed expectations.

The November 2019 contract is being bid at $2.01/mile and falling.

This morning (July 8) Morgan Stanley’s transports equities analysts cut their 12-month price targets for most of the companies they cover, but said that following the release of second quarter earnings it may be time to invest in the cyclical stocks again. The analyst team, led by Ravi Shanker, expects second quarter results for transportation […]

In partnership with Slync… data integration layers are crucial for managing and adapting to new risks to supply chains.

Halliburton, Schlumberger Limited, and Basic Energy Services have seen their stock prices decimated by weak demand and a fierce price war.

Uber Freight moved 1,500 loads for Ocean Spray last year, and the shipper says the relationship will continue to grow.

We caught up with Gary Saykaly, who is running a new Trucking & Freight Derivatives Group at Lakefront Futures & Options.

In March and April, Amazon handled 45 percent of its own packages.

Generic corn and wheat futures are up nearly 30% since May 10 on depressed yields and constrained transportation in the Midwest.

In partnership with Carggo… small freight brokers now have a white-label solution for automated load matching.

No single country can absorb the trade flow from China to the U.S., and likely contenders are already growing faster than capacity.

Brokers said there are lingering trouble spots from Road Check week, but markets are already softening.

2019 is shaping up to be the worst year for trucking in the past five years.

Although some Chinese economic indicators are flashing warning signals, Yunda, STO, YTO, and ZTO are still on fire.

The Trump administration is considering levying tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese exports to the United States so far unaffected by duties. Freight Intel, FreightWaves’ proprietary research group, has just published a study warning that such a move would disrupt trade flows far beyond what has occurred so far. Freight Intel Group research […]

In partnership with Slync… data from across the supply chain must be integrated and automatically pushed to decision-makers.

It appears that Chinese retail investors are moving capital out of the country in response to the devaluation of the yuan.

A few months after launching the Facility Ratings feature in its app, Uber Freight has published its first Facility Insights Report, a compendium and analysis of carriers’ ratings of shipper facilities that will be released on a regular cadence. Digital freight brokerage apps continue to roll out new features and services to drive carrier engagement. […]

BP imagines a scenario where a plastics ban crushes demand for petchem feedstocks.

We’ve heard reports that Vista is having trouble getting buyers at its $2 billion price tag for Omnitracs.

Freight brokers report upward pressure on spot rates and still expect robust summer volumes.

The good news is that Evan Armstrong of Armstrong & Associates thinks that U.S. third-party logistics providers’ (3PLs) revenues will grow at a 7.7 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years, and brokers will become more productive as artificial intelligence automates up to 50 percent of their repetitive tasks. The bad […]

We look at the trucking futures forward curve, Morgan Stanley’s index, the Coyote Curve, and projections from Susquehanna.

Transfix, the venture capital-backed digital freight marketplace based in New York City, announced that Ahmad El-Dardiry joined the company as its new chief revenue officer. El-Dardiry comes to Transfix from a 19-year stint at Intel Corporation, where most recently he managed cloud computing, memory and storage enterprise sales in the Americas, Asia and global industry […]

In partnership with Slync… AWR products enable supplier and retailer networks that react as one.

Executives from Redwood Logistics, Forager Logistics, and Transplace discussed the risks posed by new tariffs on Mexican imports.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is simply not investing enough cash back into its business in the form of capital expenditures to construct the production lines and build out the service infrastructure necessary for the large-scale manufacturing of commercial vehicles. The Palo Alto-based automaker has a history of over-promising and under-delivering on new vehicle deliveries, production schedules, […]

To gain insight into the shifting landscape of freight brokerage, sometimes it’s best to follow the money, not the shiny new technology. The freight brokerage industry is undergoing a wave of rapid transformation. Incumbent asset-based carriers are aggressively growing their logistics offerings in pursuit of counter-cyclical margin and new digital entrants are redefining the upper […]

Freight brokerage in the United States is mostly made up of small companies that have trouble scaling their businesses beyond certain revenue thresholds due to unstructured processes, under-utilization of technology, and ad-hoc recruiting and training. Highly concentrated customer bases and revenue-generating employees wasting their time on administrative tasks eventually become constraints on growth. At a […]

Commentary As digital freight brokerage apps learn to concentrate on driving user engagement and building dynamic marketplaces that adapt to user behavior, they will start to resemble social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Tinder. Apps like Uber Freight, Convoy, Transfix, J.B. Hunt 360, C.H. Robinson’s Navisphere and EchoShip/Drive were designed to cover loads […]

Making carriers more productive is good business for Arrive Logistics.

Two of the most-anticipated initial public offerings (IPOs) of the year have not gone exactly as planned, but what does that mean for other marketplace-style startups in the freight and mobility tech space? Ride-hailing companies Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) and Uber (NYSE: UBER), both high-growth and high-loss, turned to public markets to raise equity capital and […]

Expedited carriers and brokers discuss the reasons for weakness in expedited spot markets.

Agoric CEO Dean Tribble explained how smart contracts use cases in logistics are interdependent and build on each other.

According to IBM research, transport execs are keen to adopt blockchain and understand its use cases.

Eminent, founded in 2003, is made up of 37 consultants.

On stage at Transparency19, FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller unveiled SONAR 4.0 (video included).

On Monday afternoon at Transparency19, Addison Armstrong, executive director of trucking freight futures at FreightWaves, moderated a conversation between Nodal Exchange, where freight futures are traded, DAT, whose rate indexes the futures contracts are settled against, and K-Ratio, a commodities trading advisor based in Chicago advising carriers and shippers on hedging strategies.  Danny Gomez, senior […]

Presented by Slync… smart investments in supply chain tech is crucial to competing.

During the morning session at Transparency19 on May 6, Stifel investment banker John Larkin moderated a discussion about mergers and acquisitions between Renee Krug, CEO of GlobalTranz; Doug Waggoner, CEO of Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ: ECHO); and Mark Yeager, CEO of Redwood Logistics. Themes of the conversation included the differences between public and private investors’ […]

J.B. Hunt is transforming into a truly mode-agnostic capacity provider.

FreightWaves has also observed downward pressure on contract rates and the beginning of a capacity bleed-off.

C.H. Robinson officials said their business model and technology has allowed the company to adapt through multiple cycles.

Widening margins in NAST, especially truckload brokerage, led the way for Robinson.

CEO Eric Meek and COO Danny Williams — who pleaded guilty to securities fraud last week — are no longer with the freight payments company.

But Ryder’s 3PL division, Supply Chain Solutions, is expected to go into negative year-over-year growth next quarter.

Amazon could build a zero-margin equivalent of C.H. Robinson inside the ‘shipping costs’ line on its P&L without anyone noticing.

Amazon could build a zero-margin equivalent of C.H. Robinson inside the ‘shipping costs’ line on its P&L without anyone noticing.

WTI’s recovery this quarter should accelerate production in the Permian Basin, driving further truckload demand.

In partnership with Slync… Supply chain exceptions are being automatically moved toward resolution and visibility into the problem provided to all relevant partners.

This is the year when ALK expects Virgin America merger synergies to ramp up, but they’re still adding back costs associated with the deal.

CEO Gantt lowered capex guidance by $10 million to $480 million, likely reflecting top line headwinds, but we’re waiting to hear updated revenue guidance in the conference call.

Despite a crash in truckload spot prices (approximately 50% of ECHO revenue), the freight brokerage beat analyst expectations.

SAP posted impressive growth in cloud revenue while avoiding a concomitant drop in licenses.

Green shoots: reefer capacity is tightening in south Florida, south Texas, and southern California.

Wintrust’s working capital lines of credit leave brokerages with more control than equity raises and have lower cost-of-capital than factoring.

Broberg wants to drive operational excellence throughout the company as it accelerates product development.

Sumeru Equity specializes in middle market technology companies.

P&S Transportation added Celadon Logistics to TA Services, its asset-light brokerage.

Better talent at a lower cost improves brokers’ cash flows.

Have a strategy that you believe in and don’t forget to price in volatility, Feig said.

Inexpensive cloud-based technology is leveling the playing field between small, mid-sized, and large 3PLs.

Transfix is betting that its carriers care more about asset utilization than rate per mile.

The technology company will focus on appointment-making, track-and-trace, and eliminating paperwork.

The Chicago-based freight brokerage is operating at a $100 million run rate.

Insurgent digital brokerage apps are increasing their share of downloads while load boards are largely stagnant.

Burris Logistics, a $3.5 billion revenue 3PL, and Trinity Logistics, a $550 million revenue brokerage, are tying the knot.

Another fast-growth brokerage in Freight Alley pops up.

This morning Truckstop.com announced that ICONIQ Capital, a leading Silicon Valley growth equity firm, has made a majority investment in the online freight matching and load board solution.

Even if the border remains open to freight, shutting out the ~500k workers, students, shoppers, and tourists who legally cross each day would still have a major economic impact.

GlobalTranz more than doubled EBITDA in less than a year.

In partnership with Slync… retailers are shifting to omnichannel strategies to survive disruptions from e-commerce, but implementing omnichannel requires sophisticated supply chain data analytics.

Circle 8 is GlobalTranz’s ninth acquisition since January 2017.

Scott Hagen, the Corporate Controller, will be the interim CFO, and Robinson Fresh will be lumped in with ‘Other’ services in CHRW’s financial reporting.

In partnership with Redwood Logistics… we spoke to Michael Johnson, the architect of Strive Logistics’ LoadRunner matching and pricing engine.

J.B. Hunt wants to make freight marketplaces more efficient by making information more transparent.

Guests at FreightWaves headquarters enjoyed a cocktail reception, dinner, and talks from industry luminaries.

Port container volumes, railroad volumes, and truckload volumes are all down year-over-year.

Private equity and venture capital are major forces consolidating transport & logistics and bringing technology into the industry.

Southwest surfed the volatility in petroleum markets and maintained a strong financial position by aggressively hedging jet fuel.

Southwest surfed the volatility in petroleum markets and maintained a strong financial position by aggressively hedging jet fuel.

The feature is intended to save carriers time and money that they would spend searching for and booking loads.