Trucking

The 2018 King of the Road Survey from Atlas Van Lines shows what drivers feel are the best and worst parts about being on the road.

Its financial metrics were not strong, but management sees recapitalization as key to its future.

GREG ORR, EVP OF U.S. TRUCKLOAD FOR TFI INTERNATIONAL. TFI International (TSX:TFII), the Montreal, Canada-based transport and logistics company, has made two significant personnel announcements this week. David Saperstein has been promoted to chief financial officer of TFI International and Greg Orr, currently president of U.S. Truckload, has been promoted to executive vice president of […]

Lows water levels are seasonal, but this year has been record, impeding low-cost barges and favoring high-cost trucking.

FedEx customers shipping heavy parcels will take it on the chin next year.

TFI International the Montreal, Canada-based transport and logistics company, has made two significant personnel announcements this week, including a new executive vp of U.S. Truckload.

Oil prices fall on the back of a possible supply glut; highly populated cities are fighting back to regulate traffic during peak hours; U.S. companies are finding it hard to continue working in Iran after the now-in-effect trade sanctions.

ZED Connect has announced that it is discontinuing its ZED-ELD product and offering current customers an opportunity to transition to the EZ-ELD from Stoneridge.

It is now clarified that your truck can be laden while driving for personal conveyance.

Rail and truck demand a secondary casualty in trade dispute.

International’s new CV Series of Class 4-5 trucks is designed to help smaller companies scale and give larger fleets the opportunity to expand their businesses with one truck maker.

Also in the pickup: better tools for sleep apnea instruments in sleeper berths; does Buffet care about BNSF’ OR?

The list continues: what will be shown at Demo Day in Dallas this year?

Trump sees path forward with Democrats on infrastructure.

The FreightWaves Research Institute will announce the winners of the Freight.Tech 25 next week at the MarketWaves18 conference at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.

Brakes were also the biggest cited factor in Roadcheck Week earlier in the year.

There’s been a flight to quality that has led some shippers and carriers out of the spot market, Fuller said.

While transportation was not a front-of-the-ticket issue for politicians in the midterm elections, there were some significant developments when it came to funding projects across the country.

Companies need to keep their drivers safe; they also need to retain them and pay them. This white paper discusses how both can be done.

The company is not turning its back on acquisitions forever but thinks it needs to digest the heavy slate of companies it has bought since the middle of 2018.

Expeditors navigates around pricing pressure to post solid Q3 results.

Retention, training, and the capacity crunch are undeniably hot button issues in 2018. In response, SmartDrive and FreightWaves collaborated to distribute a survey to uncover trends in driver incentive programs. The white paper—based on the findings of the survey, which was fielded in Q3 2018—reveals the steps that trucking companies are taking in order to hire and retain qualified drivers and create safer, more profitable organizations.

KeepTruckin has further expanded the utility of its fleet management platform with a new App Marketplace for customers to access solutions that easily integrate with KeepTruckin’s current platforms.

As more delivery companies join Amazon partner program, speculation mounts about the e-giant’s transportation and logistics grab

Higher rates ahead for FedEx shippers.

Intermodal services firm to boost presence in consumer goods sector with acquisition of LTL consolidator and brokerage.

As it continues work toward disrupting the traditional diesel-powered truck market in North America, Nikola Motor Company is eyeing another continent for its hydrogen-electric tractor: Europe.

Tuesdays may not be good days to be on the road; transport firms need to boost analytics usage to match what customers are doing.

Shipper executive takes UPS, Teamsters to task.

If the trucking market is nearing a peak, it isn’t showing up in the order books of truck OEMs.

While most of the new trade deal with Mexico and Canada is an update to NAFTA, there is a paragraph inserted into the agreement that could disrupt cross-border trade via truck.

Fleet Advantage, the truck fleet analytics company has added new features to its ATLAAS solution including customizable dashboards that allows real-time truck visibility and identifying when an assest becomes economically obsolete.

Cameras and “magnetometers” will be used to supply data into a system that will tell drivers whether parking is available.

Majority of the U.S. shale oil producers are showing negative cash flow in 2018; Subaru is recalling 400,000 cars due to faulty engine part; U.S. factory orders increase more than expected in September.

SONAR’s OTVI.LAX is clearly indicating that the strength in the inbound loaded container flow out of the Long Beach/LA port is continuing and gathering momentum.

The driver squeeze forced U.S. Xpress to shift resources from OTR to Dedicated. Still, it posted a healthy increase in its OR.

In celebration of its 60th anniversary this month, Pilot Flying J announced donations totaling $2 million at a Nov. 1 presentation at the company’s headquarters in Knoxville.  More than 20 nonprofit organizations will receive contributions.

The Drivewyze weigh in motion software will come built into Orbcomm devices. Separately, the company will launch a new free data analysis service for their customers.

XPO stock dragged down by soft Q3 results, M&A impatience.

Less-than-truckload carrier plans to rejuvenate fleet and remain focused on price over volume.

UPS will clean out LTL pipeline before Teamster contract votes are counted.

Schneider National (NYSE: SNDR) reported strong third quarter earnings, announcing $1.3 billion in operating revenue, a 15 percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2017.

Wiehoff says demand should stay firm while supply comes on-stream. Firm posts strong Q3 results.

Head of FMCSA and largest U.S. truck trade group say California attempting to preempt federal regulations.

Truck repairs are inevitable, but a new solution from Uptake that utilizes Geotab sensors and artificial intelligence aims to identify problems before they become extended downtime events.

In a novel study, the Seattle Department of Transportation and the UW’s Urban Research Lab are counting and analyzing truck traffic into the downtown core. The objective, said SDOT senior civil engineer Christopher Eaves, “is to get an idea of what our commercial health is downtown.”

The project is expected to allow for easier freight movement in the area, especially for trucks moving eastbound from northern Mississippi.  

LTL carrier says Northeast expansion to continue with new facilities, but segment remains at breakeven results.

FMCSA is allowing concrete pumper operators to work up to 14 hours in a day through a new exemption to the 12-hour workday for short-haul operators.

An advanced “BOSS’ fulfillment model is ready for the holidays.

In a CarrierLists survey of fleets, most respondents expect rates and volumes to remain the same or improve in 2019.

Optimal Dynamics uses AI and machine learning to assist fleets in finding loads a few days into the future, which would help carriers get ahead of their competition, as they could plan their network flow further in advance than usual.

Incoming CEO Rourke brings experience in driver training, account management and truckload services.

Drivers at XPO Logistics, Inc.’s (NYSE:XPO) facility in Cinnaminson, N.J., an eastern suburb of Philadelphia, have agreed to join Teamsters union Local 107, the Teamsters said.

Canada’s largest railroad boosts intermodal and refrigerated service offering with acquisition of major trucking company.

While 60% did say that ELDs were forcing drivers to stop, rest, and run legally, the other 40% of respondents felt that ELDs decreased driver safety, as well as for others on the road.

The divergence on that issue isn’t the only one: not surprisingly, management and drivers see the driver shortage issue through different lenses.

The bill, called the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, directs the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to report to Congress on its progress creating and issuing guidelines for hair testing.

As we approach the holiday retail season, carriers and brokers have shifted their attention to the country’s major ports to capture upward volatility in trucking volumes.

The Teamsters union has said that proposed changes to a tentative contract from UPS Freight, UPS Inc.’s (NYSE:UPS) less-than-truckload unit, fails to address the grievances raised by the rank-and-file, and that the union’s negotiating committee will call a nationwide strike sometime after Nov. 12 if workers reject the company’s offer.

A long list of concerns in the ATA President’s annual speech to his group’s conference, including young drivers and California’s own laws.

The Indian freight industry struggles with issues that most of the developing countries suffer with – like high fuel prices, inadequate infrastructure, lethargic governance, stifled technology adoption, and a general inefficiency in hauling equipment.

International Trucks has introduced a new spec package for its LT Series that it says will increase fuel efficiency by up to 8%.

Peterbilt Motor Company has added two additional ratings to its MX-13 engine family for the 2019 model year, both aimed at increasing uptime and improving fuel economy for truck owners.

Seeking to deliver cost-efficient solutions for fleets and take advantage of the new trend toward openness and convergence, SmartDrive Systems in collaboration with Geotab has introduced a new platform designed to lower costs and create a single point of connectivity.

Spireon has new financial backing and a market that still has a lot of trailers without GPS tracking.

On the agenda for the day: AOBRD transition, personal conveyance, sleeper berth rule and plenty of other issues for FMCSA’s top attorney.

Drayage to be test bed as OTR market remains out of EV reach.

Trucker Path’s acquihire to end 2017 saved FreightTech from a hangover that might have made funding for other trucking startups difficult

Martinez also said the process has begun to look at the overlapping rules regarding agriculture transportation, and he clearly doesn’t favor California’s separate rules on meal breaks.

Some of the stocks that were getting hammered at midday recovered on the back of the broader market rebound by the close. One exception: Ryder.

The new tool will allow machine learning to accept and interpret counteroffers from carriers, and decide if they’re too high or just right.

CH Robinson’s CEO sees a more balanced supply-demand scale next year.

There’s no particular pattern in seeing which stocks have declined significantly more than the drop in the overall S&P 500 index.

Greenbriar Equity invests an undisclosed amount in Spireon, becoming its primary investor in the process. Spireon believes this partnership would help it with operational flexibility and in expanding its network across different verticals in the transportation sector.

It was a better quarter for three companies representing different sectors: 3PL, intermodal and truckload.

Tennessee Tech has acknowledged that the results of its controversial glider kit study were “inaccurate.”

Daimler Trucks sold more vehicles in quarter three than a year ago, but its parent company, Daimler AG saw revenue flat for the third quarter at $45.8 billion (40.2 billion Euros).

A strong quarter all around, but as predicted, the quarter-to-quarter comparisons are showing signs of being weaker just because the trucking bull market is getting to be a year old.

But lead agency for commercial vehicle safety says autonomous trucking will serve drivers well and make industry better.

Knight-Swift Transportation reported strong earnings on Wednesday, and it was immediately met with praise from Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker, who wrote in a note that the company’s stock is a “relative buy, at worst, in our view.”

The UPS Freight 30-day period is coming to an end and rank-and-file angry with the ratification decision in the face of a “no” vote are not sitting quietly.

Even as the trucking industry struggles to identify new drivers, there is a segment of the U.S. population that is facing unemployment rates above 27% that are looking for jobs. Can felons fill the driver gap?

While the index is still showing significant gains over last year, there clearly is a decline from recent highs.

Revenue forecasts were reached only because of a one-time tax event. But by almost any other standard, it was a strong quarter.

It is a significant widening of activities at the TraPac facility.

Also in the pickup: IMO meets with 2020 on the horizon; Rhine levels are causing plants to shut down; C.R. England and its charitable cause

It may mean less now in an era of higher pay, but if total hours don’t exceed the minimum wage, it could be an issue because of this ruling.

Since its launch, Convoy has been innovating with technological solutions aimed at reinventing the way freight moves across the country. To help fulfill that mission, the company is now expanding beyond its Seattle, WA, roots to a second office located in Atlanta.

Venture brings together two of the largest names in U.S. frac sand production to provide integrated delivery solution.

The plant at the heart of the story was acquired by XPO a few years ago. The company reportedly was stunned by the allegations in the article.

The usual signs of an upturn in the trucking sector aren’t there, according to the Wall Street house, and Morgan wonders if a lot of the demand got pushed forward.

SONAR’s Headhaul Index map and the HAUL.JOT Index are both showing that the return to growth in inbound loaded container flow first seen in the Long Beach/LA port is continuing and gathering momentum.

Uber Freight introduces three new features to its app, making it more customizable and intuitive, and helping drivers and carriers better manage their loads and time schedules.

Will the combination of oil prices, refinery cracks and scrubber economics result in easing of fears of tight supplies? Two reports chime in.

Spireon hosted a webinar in collaboration with FreightWaves earlier this week to explore how the DRIVE-Safe Act could affect the driver shortage if it becomes law.

XPO Logistics was named to the Fortune Future 50 list of U.S. public companies while KeepTruckin and Transfix were both honored by Forbes as two companies likely to achieve unicorn status.

In an effort to give our subscriber base input on a hot topic – HOS changes – we decided to conduct a survey during the FMCSA open comment period. Check out what we found!

Uber Inc. has introduced Powerloop, an affiliate company to Uber Freight, which would rent out power-only trailers to carriers looking to grow their business and thereby ease the industry’s capacity crunch.