Freight Market Shift: Why RXO’s Scale Wins Big on Insurance & Ops

RXO CEO Drew Wilkerson reveals how recent market shifts and regulatory changes have made financial stability and extensive insurance coverage non-negotiable priorities for shippers. He explains why these factors, alongside continuous innovation and strong client relationships, are positioning RXO to capture outsized market share in both spot and contract freight, even as the market remains dynamic.

RXO’s excess liability coverage exceeding $100 million has become a front-line sales advantage as shippers tighten carrier and broker vetting in the wake of the Montgomery ruling, CEO Drew Wilkerson said in an interview with FreightWaves. Wilkerson said financial stability and insurance coverage now open every enterprise customer conversation — a shift that accelerated sharply over the past few weeks.

“I only know of 2 that have excess liability of $100 million or more” among the top 5 to 10 brokers, Wilkerson said, adding that the field of providers capable of serving large enterprise shippers at scale is narrowing quickly. He noted that the coverage threshold is not something competitors can build overnight.

“We don’t want to just scrape by on this. We don’t want to just scrape by for our customers. We want to make sure that we’ve got more than enough to be there for our customers.” — Drew Wilkerson, CEO, RXO

The liability discussion comes as RXO reported truckload spot mix of 42% of volume, with spot loads rising 900 basis points sequentially and roughly 1,000 basis points quarter over quarter — the kind of flex the company had promised investors since its spin from XPO. Wilkerson attributed the gross profit per load improvement to that spot mix shift, along with a pickup in higher-margin project and mini-bid freight and technology-driven productivity gains. Truckload volume was up 2% year over year in the second quarter, with low-to-mid single-digit year-over-year growth expected in the third quarter.

On the technology side, RXO rolled out a spot-quote agentic email tool that Wilkerson said allowed employees to process five times the number of orders quarter over quarter. He said the best-performing technology investments check all three of the company’s internal criteria: growing volume, increasing margin, and improving productivity. An AI agent now reviews installation photos from independent contract drivers in the last-mile business, though Wilkerson noted that tool primarily addresses productivity rather than margin or volume.

Wilkerson said the company keeps staffing levels calibrated to absorb 15% to 20% volume growth overnight, a posture it has maintained for the past three years heading into peak season. He described the current freight recovery as early-stage, pointing to tender rejections running at 14% to 16% on SONAR — well below the 25% to 30% levels seen in a robust upcycle — while demand remains down year over year according to Cass data. He said the company is two years into integrating the Coyote acquisition and is now focused entirely on innovation rather than integration.

On food and beverage, Wilkerson pushed back slightly on the notion that the sector is a drag, saying RXO saw year-over-year increases with those customers — though he credited market share gains rather than underlying volume growth. He cited two factors weighing on the category broadly: GLP-1 drug adoption reducing consumption and deportations shrinking the U.S. consumer base. RXO’s top customers have been with the company an average of 16 years, Wilkerson noted, a relationship depth he said is central to winning outsized spot and project volume as shippers pare down their provider lists.

• RXO carries excess liability insurance exceeding $100 million, a threshold Wilkerson says only 2 of the top 5 to 10 brokers can match, making it a decisive factor in enterprise shipper conversations post-Montgomery.
• Spot mix hit 42% of truckload volume, up ~1,000 basis points quarter over quarter, with a new agentic spot-quote tool enabling 5x more orders processed per quarter.
• Wilkerson says the freight recovery is early-stage, with tender rejections at 14%-16% on SONAR versus the 25%-30% of a robust cycle, and Q3 truckload volume growth guided to low-to-mid single digits year over year.

This Summary is generated thanks to a transcription of the interview, for the full interview please enjoy the video above.