Economics

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

Michael Lewis wrote “Moneyball” about the tactics Billy Beane used to improve the Oakland A’s. Read Zach Strickland’s take on using moneyball tactics in the freight market.

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 […]

Mexico became the first country to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) when its Senate approved it by a vote of 114 in favor to 4 against on June 19. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador described the ratification as “very good news.” “We celebrate the approval in the Senate of the [USMCA], to maintain […]

Market expert Donald Broughton explains how the U.S. gross domestic product can be a valuable tool by trucking companies (and others).

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

President suggests he’s willing to impose levies on Canada and Mexico during appearance with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The FreightWaves Intel Group surveyed over 800 carriers, shippers and brokers about the entry of Amazon into online freight brokerage. Read about the survey’s results and what respondents think Amazon will do to their businesses.

A colder than normal spring across northwestern Mexico meant the Mexican table grape export campaign suffered a delay of several weeks, spiking demand in June for reefer trucks out of Arizona and south Texas. Coupled with a record-breaking Hermosillo, Mexico-based table grape crop, this year’s export campaign has been a perfect storm of a late […]

The FreightWaves Freight Intel Group is producing research culled from FreightWaves SONAR and other sources. Read about its first several research papers and how to learn more.

The data that can be gathered from a truck’s telematics has caused a shift from selling trucks as products to selling trucks as solutions to owners’ issues.

Historic flooding in the Midwest and poor demand from electric utilities are stranding coal hoppers west of the Mississippi, pushing up prices for storing railcars. The American Association of Railroads said last week that weekly coal volumes were down 16 percent from a year earlier to 71,526. The week prior number of 70,737 railcars marked […]

Market expert Brian Aoaeh writes about the new Digital Shipping Container Alliance and why standards are important to industry. He also writes about why getting standards written and adopted is particularly difficult.

Trans-border freight totaled $107.2 billion in March, with trucks moving 63 percent of all freight by value with United States trading partners Canada and Mexico, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Trucks carried $67.4 billion of United States freight in March 2019, compared to $66.5 billion […]

In June 2016, a leading group of Laredo carrier companies decided to band together and launch a new association focused on promoting and furthering Laredo as the “trucking capital” of the United States. From their efforts, the Laredo Motor Carriers Association (LMCA) was formed. LMCA recently celebrated its three-year anniversary by adding its 200th member. […]

Retail and industrial activity improved, providing some stability for freight Economic data from the goods side of the economy showed some signs of life in May, as growth in retail sales and industrial production exceeded expectations during the month. This is an encouraging sign that activity may be stabilizing in the second quarter, though details […]

Donald Broughton explains the harm that tariffs can do to the economies of the United States, the country(ies) that tariffs are imposed on and the global economy.

Small carrier profits are about to be pressured by a large government organization and it’s not the FMCSA, DOT, or CVSA.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill directing the Texas Department of Transportation to study the Ports-to-Plains Corridor, a plan that could extend Interstate 27 from Laredo all the way up to the Oklahoma-Texas border. The bill, HB1079, signed June 10, requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to study the feasibility and costs to […]

The McAllen Economic Development Corporation (EDC) recently worked with officials in the Mexican city of Reynosa to build two new maquiladoras (also known as maquilas), in addition to a major expansion of an existing one. The three maquiladoras — Indo-MIM from India, Delphi Technologies from England and Nidec Motor Corp. from Japan — represent around […]