$760K fuel-card fraud scheme tied to impersonated Michigan trucking company
Two Georgia men face federal charges in a $760,000 fuel-card fraud scheme involving a legitimate Michigan trucking company. Prosecutors accuse Mario Bailey and Zachary Walker of obtaining eight fuel cards through a fraudulent credit application. Fuel purchases spanned 23 states, contributing to an unpaid balance that included accrued interest. Federal court records identify Coyne Oil & Propane as the company that extended the credit. FreightWaves previously reported a separate $510,000 fuel-card fraud case involving fictitious fueling stations and fraudulent transactions.
The scheme began with an apartment rental in Detroit during July 2025, according to a federal indictment. Walker allegedly rented the apartment using an altered driver’s license bearing his real name and photograph. The indictment does not specify how the license was altered. The apartment later served as the delivery address for the fuel cards.
On Aug. 13, Bailey allegedly impersonated the owner of Voyager Express Inc., a Detroit-based interstate motor carrier. He submitted a credit application to Coyne Oil using an unauthorized Gmail address associated with the trucking company’s name. Voyager Express neither knew about nor approved the application, according to prosecutors. The request sought access to commercial fuel credit under the carrier’s identity. A separate $12 million cargo theft investigation also involved suspects accused of exploiting legitimate trucking company identities.
Eight fuel cards and 23 states
Coyne Oil approved the application and issued eight Pacific Pride fuel cards. The company mailed them to Walker’s rented Detroit apartment on Sept. 3, 2025. Walker subsequently arranged for Bailey to access the residence. Bailey retrieved the cards on Sept. 13, ten days after their mailing.
The cards generated $760,320.19 in unpaid fuel purchases and accrued interest. Transactions occurred across 23 states between September 2025 and January 2026. Coyne Oil received no payment for the resulting balance, according to prosecutors. Count One accuses Bailey and Walker of obtaining the cards with the intent to transfer them to others.
Some fuel-card fraud schemes involve selling discounted fuel to truck drivers. However, prosecutors have not established whether Bailey and Walker used that approach. The indictment does not identify who purchased the fuel or which vehicles received it. Prosecutors do not identify who purchased the fuel, which vehicles received it or whether anyone resold it. In another case, a California trucking company owner pleaded guilty to a $2.1 million identity theft scheme involving fraudulent credit card accounts.
Federal charges and court proceedings
A federal grand jury indicted Bailey and Walker on Sept. 23, 2026, in Michigan’s Eastern District. Both defendants face charges involving unauthorized access devices, wire fraud and mail fraud. The access-device charge carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence for a first offense. Wire fraud and mail fraud each carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison. The court unsealed the indictment on Oct. 21.
The wire fraud charge centers on an electronic credit application transmitted from Atlanta to Mount Pleasant. Prosecutors identify the mailed fuel cards as the basis for the separate mail fraud count. The access-device charge concerns the defendants’ purported trafficking of fraudulently obtained cards. Federal authorities also seek forfeiture of proceeds traceable to the scheme if the defendants receive convictions.
Walker pleaded not guilty during his Nov. 3 appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia T. Morris. The court released him on a $10,000 unsecured bond. U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson scheduled his jury trial for Dec. 29 in Bay City, Michigan. The available court records do not establish Bailey’s plea or trial date. Bailey and Walker remain presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Why it matters
Carrier identity impersonation can expose fuel providers to substantial financial losses through fraudulent commercial credit applications. Independent verification of ownership and applicant authorization helps businesses identify suspicious requests before extending credit.
Kearney, MIT put US driverless truck cost parity at 2028
Kearney and the MIT Mobility Initiative project that autonomous trucks will match the per-mile cost of trucks with drivers in the US around 2028, according to a report released Nov. 5. Their model puts a driverless truck at $4 a mile in 2026, against $2.50 for a conventional truck, with the two crossing at roughly $2.60 in 2028.
The forecast adds a date to the cost case for long-haul fleets, where about half of a US truck’s cost per mile goes to the driver, according to the report. Commercial deployment is still narrow and geographically concentrated, the authors write, though Aurora’s trucks have logged more than 500,000 driverless miles on public roads.
The US crosses first, two years before Europe and four before the Middle East, because its drivers cost the most. A fully loaded US long-haul driver, including roughly 30% in benefits, costs about $10,000 a month, about twice the European cost and four times the Middle East cost, the report says.
The model assumes a $200,000 Class 8 truck with a five-year useful life, running 185,000 miles a year with two drivers who each cover 92,500 miles. Its $4-a-mile driverless cost for 2026 sits well above what some developers have published. Aurora’s own Fort Worth-to-Phoenix case study put its virtual driver cost at $1.84 a mile, against $1.99 for a human driver.
Goldman Sachs Research reached the same crossover year from a much higher starting cost. In an April 30 analysis, analyst Mark Delaney projected that autonomous trucks would become cost-competitive with human-driven trucks in the US in 2028. Goldman put the all-in autonomous cost, excluding corporate operating expenses, at about $8.56 a mile in 2025, falling to about $2.03 by 2035.
The authors built the Kearney model from more than 25 interviews with autonomous vehicle developers, truck makers, carriers, brokers, and investors.
Fleet size sets the timing
Kearney projects the driverless cost will fall to about $2 a mile by 2035, a 49% decline. Most of that drop comes from spreading the cost of building the virtual driver across more trucks. The model amortizes $750 million a year in global R&D spending over five years and assumes the fleet reaches 40,000 trucks by 2035, while remote operators go from one per 10 trucks to one per 20.
The 2028 date depends on that fleet size. If autonomous fleets reach only 10,000 trucks by 2035, US parity could slip to as late as 2032, the report says.
Regulation and liability are also unsettled. Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Georgia permit fully driverless operation, according to the report, while cross-border and many interstate routes still require a human, with no answer yet on how to certify a virtual driver. The authors also leave open how claims get split among the carrier, the truck maker, and the virtual-driver provider after an incident.
Four business models for driverless trucks
The report sorts the market into four business models: an OEM-led platform such as Volvo’s VNL Autonomous, a purpose-built vehicle such as Humble’s, an autonomous carrier such as Bot Auto, and a virtual-driver-only model such as Waabi and Aurora. The value pool all four chase is the human driver, which the report prices at $1.26 a mile.
Private truckload fleets are one of three priority segments the report names, a market of about $450 billion with an estimated $180 billion in driver costs. For-hire truckload and LTL are the other two.
“What remains to be seen is which business model captures the most value when the economics close and which players build the ecosystem position to collect it,” the authors write.
Why it matters: As AI in the physical world continues to improve, autonomous trucks and their virtual drivers are gaining greater attention from fleets and the consulting and management firms that help them make decisions. With a cost parity estimated around 2028 this supports recent bullish news from OEMs and AV developers who hope to have commercialization in place to capture that projected demand.
ACT Expo 2027 agenda leads with diesel and fleet costs
ACT Expo opened registrations for next year’s show with an agenda that leads with cutting fleets’ fuel and operating costs, starting with diesel technology. ACT Expo will take place May 17-20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The cost-first pitch is new for a show whose 2026 event saw Rivian and Mack Trucks leaders on the keynote stage under a banner of digital and clean fleet technology. ACT Expo’s release places diesel prices “at the top of fleet concerns.” Fleets heading to Las Vegas in May will find the program opening on fuel efficiency.
“This isn’t just a sustainability conversation anymore; it’s a business imperative,” Erik Neandross, founder of ACT Expo, said in the release.
How the 2027 agenda differs from 2026
The updated agenda reflects a changing fleet landscape. ACT Expo announced its 2026 agenda in November 2025. That release said the program built on the show’s “long-standing leadership in clean transportation” while adding AI, autonomy, connectivity and software-defined vehicles. Diesel appeared in one listed session, on diesel and hybrid efficiency, and the release did not mention fuel prices.
The 2027 release opens its program list with reducing fuel and operating costs through diesel technology, aerodynamics, right-sizing, telematics and AI-enabled fleet management. Electric, hybrid, hydrogen and natural gas stay on the program, grouped under matching “the right technologies for the right applications.” EV infrastructure, including megawatt charging, keeps its own spot on the list.
The change is also being noted in the makeup of vehicles that will be present at the event. Last year’s announcement promised more than 200 “low- and zero-emission vehicles” on display. For 2027, the count is more than 200 “advanced commercial vehicles.”
Early bird rates run through Dec. 11. ACT Expo added two registration offers for fleets and shippers. A team package adds complimentary passes for qualifying team members when a company buys two, and qualifying first-time fleet and shipper attendees may be eligible for a free pass.
Continuing education credit returns for a second year. In 2026, more than 25 sessions and 10 workshops were approved for credit through NAFA Fleet Management Association and Green Business Certification Inc.
The exhibit hall opens May 18-19. Presenting sponsors are Daimler Truck North America, Penske Transportation Solutions and Geotab. WSP produces the show.
ACT Expo’s Fleet Planning Committee, whose members collectively manage hundreds of thousands of commercial vehicles, shaped an agenda built around the investment decisions that matter most to fleets, according to the release.
“Every investment decision matters, and understanding which technologies can deliver real savings and operational improvements has never been more critical,” Neandross said.
Why it matters: Fleet buyers setting 2027 equipment budgets can weigh diesel efficiency upgrades against electric, natural gas and hydrogen trucks on one show floor in May. While the conference themes have changed, the focus on fleet efficiency regardless of powertrain remains.
Lineage sees cold storage inventories stabilize after capacity reductions
Cold storage facility operator Lineage said customer inventories have stabilized, though some accounts are holding lower stock levels. The Novi, Michigan-based company said Tuesday on its third-quarter call that it continues to shutter underutilized facilities in efforts to tighten supply and reduce debt leverage.
Lineage (NASDAQ: LINE) noted that it and Americold (NYSE: COLD), the top two operators in the space, have reduced overall capacity by 4% (9 million square feet) over the past two years. Lineage has idled 16 locations since the start of 2025, representing 2.6 million square feet and 212,000 pallet positions.
The company reported a third-quarter net loss of $173 million, or 68 cents per share. Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) were 73 cents per share, down 12 cents year over year. (AFFO excludes depreciation, acquisition costs, restructuring expenses and other non-recurring items.)
Consolidated net revenue of $1.36 billion was down 1% y/y and just shy of the $1.37-billion consensus estimate.
An 8% y/y decline in food-related container volumes dragged revenue lower. The company pointed to weakness in the seafood sector as higher fuel costs forced fishermen to curtail their trips. Elevated diesel prices also pushed Lineage’s third-party transportation costs higher in the quarter.
However, facility occupancy is improving across the portfolio.
Table: Lineage’s key performance indicators
On a same-warehouse comparison, Lineage’s physical occupancy was 76.2% in the quarter, 110 basis points higher y/y, and 40 bps better than the second quarter. (Physical occupancy was 76.4% in the first quarter.)
Pallet throughput declined 1% y/y, with storage revenue per pallet down 2%. Both metrics were up less than 1% sequentially.
“Our core business trends continued to stabilize in the third quarter, with same-store occupancy growing year-over-year for the second consecutive quarter, further confirmation that customer inventory levels have normalized,” said Lineage President and CEO Greg Lehmkuhl in a news release.
Adjusted EBITDA of $317 million was 7% lower y/y, with the adjusted EBITDA margin falling 150 bps to 23.3%.
The company lowered its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance by 1% at the midpoint of the new range of $1.25 billion to $1.27 billion. A fire at a California facility is expected to be a $20-million headwind. (Lineage reported $1.3 billion in adjusted EBITDA in 2025.)
The AFFO guidance range was tightened to $2.86 to $2.98 per share.
It has 17 facilities currently under construction, which will add $141 million in net operating income, $11 million of which has already been achieved.
Lineage ended the third quarter with net debt at 6.4 times last 12 months’ adjusted EBITDA. It said that proceeds from asset dispositions and insurance recoveries should lower its leverage to a target range of 5 to 5.5x, with meaningful progress occurring in the 2027 first half.
Lineage manages 497 facilities with 3.1 billion cubic feet of space across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It also provides freight forwarding, customs brokerage, drayage and truck transportation.
Shares of LINE were down 9.6% in early trading on Tuesday compared to the S&P 500, which was off 0.6%.
Why it matters? Lineage is one of only two publicly traded cold storage providers. Its quarterly results provide a look at macro trends across the temperature-controlled warehousing and transportation markets.
Sportswear company ASICS is recovering misplaced products nearly 60% faster at its Byhalia, Mississippi, distribution center since it began conducting nightly flights of high-risk storage areas with autonomous inventory drones.
The drones, manufactured by Corvus Robotics, have increased counting frequency six-fold compared to the normal practice of counting inventory twice a year. The data collected each night is aggregated and now analyzed on a monthly basis, allowing orders to ship on time and at full price. The new system has saved about 200 hours of monthly counting labor, which ASICS has redirected into inventory research and exception management, the companies said Tuesday.
The ASICS facility holds close to 3 million items — 2.3 million pairs of footwear and 700,000 pieces of apparel and accessories — across roughly 44,000 stock keeping units, all managed in a Manhattan Associates warehouse management system. It fills e-commerce orders and ships to wholesale accounts, along with ASICS full price and outlet retail stores.
Corvus drones provide surveillance in the areas that tend to produce the most discrepancies — the singles area, where returned and single pair products get stored and picked, and case reserve. Both were counted twice a year under ASICS cycle count policy.
In one three-month stretch the drones surfaced 26 misplaced cases holding more than 200 pairs of shoes, products that would otherwise have stayed unavailable to customers until the next scheduled physical count.
“If a unit went missing, we might not find it for six months,” said Kyle Koestler, senior director of distribution and transportation at ASICS America Corp., in a news release. “That could be the last pair in the building for an order we’ve already taken, and then the customer gets a cancellation. With Corvus One, we’re cycle counting on a monthly basis so we can surface any errors sooner and ensure customer orders are delivered on time.”
The inventory control team is putting the 200 hours in time savings towards inventory reconciliation in the packing operation, root cause research and special projects for the wholesale business.
In both areas the drone does two jobs on the same pass, reading every Universal Product Code and counting the boxes in each location. In the singles area, returns mean the same SKU can show up several times in one location, so a UPC read on its own can get attached to the wrong box. Counting the boxes gives ASICS a physical total to check the scans against. If the drone counts 10 boxes, it should come back with 10 UPC reads, according to Corvus.
ASICS schedules seven flights a night, starting around 7 p.m. The aisles the drones fly in are less than six feet wide. The Corvus One drone flies using onboard computer vision and spatial reasoning, with no additional infrastructure anywhere in the building. Each morning an inventory associate reviews each flight and resolves most discrepancies from a desk, working off the video and images the drones capture of every location.
The accuracy provides a revenue benefit too. ASICS publishes availability feeds to online marketplaces. Before inventory management by drone the team held back 12 to 15 units out of every 100 to make sure it could deliver on what it promised. Product at the bottom of the lot never shows up on the marketplace, leaving ASICS having to liquidate the goods at a steep discount. ASICS now publishes the full feed and sells that product at full price, according to the announcement.
ASICS says using drones to count inventory also saves energy because employees are operating lift equipment through the aisles less frequently.
Corvus is based in Mountain View, California. Its customers include Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, GNC, Dermalogica, and MSI Surfaces. Other companies offering warehouse inventory drones include Gather AI and Verity.
Where Trucking Capacity Sits Right Now, And What The Fleet-Size Split Might Be Signaling
How much trucking capacity is on the road right now depends almost entirely on which carriers you are counting, because the national fleet is really several different markets stacked together, the owner-operators running a truck or two, the mid-sized fleets, and the largest carriers, and each of those groups is in a different place heading into year-end, which is why a single top-line number tends to hide more than it shows. Break the tractor counts out by fleet size and the gaps between those segments become the real capacity story.
Volume tells a similarly flat story. The SONAR Truckload Volume Index, a measure of accepted electronic tender volume, sits at 11,636.92, essentially flat on the day and only marginally above its 12-month average of 11,489.59. Freight is moving at a steady clip, neither falling off nor breaking out. Put those two together and the national picture is a standoff, demand holding, capacity a little tighter than last year but no longer tightening hard. That is exactly why the more useful read right now is underneath the top line, in how capacity is distributed by fleet size.
Tractors run by the smallest fleets of one to six power units peaked near 398,000 in early 2023 and have declined steadily to 362,033, giving back the entire pandemic-era surge over three and a half years. Source: FreightWaves SONAR (TCTCO.USA).
The Owner-Operator Segment Has Round-Tripped Its Boom
Start with the smallest carriers, because they have moved the most. SONAR’s count of tractors run by fleets with one to six power units stands at 362,033, and the five-year view is the one that matters. This segment sat near 362,000 tractors in early 2022, surged to a peak close to 398,000 in the first half of 2023 as pandemic-era freight and easy authority pulled a wave of new entrants into the market, and has declined almost without interruption ever since. It is now back to roughly where it started, below its five-year average of about 378,800 and below its 12-month average of about 364,960.
That is close to 36,000 tractors, on the order of nine percent of the segment, pulled back out of the most fragile tier of the market over three and a half years. These are the operators most exposed to the spot market, with the least cost advantage on fuel, insurance, and maintenance, and the thinnest cushion to ride out weak rates, so when conditions soften they are the first to park a truck or let an authority lapse. The entire pandemic-era surge in small-carrier capacity has effectively been unwound, which is a very different starting point than the market had a couple of years ago, whichever way demand breaks from here.
Tractors run by mid-sized fleets of 20 to 100 power units have climbed steadily to a record 470,402, the only fleet-size tier still growing. Source: FreightWaves SONAR (TCTCM.USA).
The Mid-Market Is Setting Records
The mid-sized fleet is the counterweight. SONAR’s count of tractors run by carriers with 20 to 100 power units sits at 470,402, a fresh high, up about a half percent in its latest monthly reading and comfortably above its trailing 12-month average of roughly 451,600. Over five years this band has climbed steadily from about 420,000 tractors to this new record, and unlike the other two tiers it has barely paused.
This is the segment built to absorb. These carriers are big enough to hold real contract freight, run drop-and-hook programs, and operate the lease-on fleets that owner-operators sign onto when running their own authority stops penciling out. When a driver gives up a one-truck operation and leases onto a larger carrier, that tractor does not leave the road, it moves from being counted in the one-to-six tier into a mid-sized fleet. Part of what the record in this band likely reflects is that migration, capacity shifting from the bottom of the market into its middle rather than exiting the industry altogether. One caveat belongs here, because these counts are built from carriers’ MCS-150 filings, so some of the apparent movement into the 20-to-100 band can be carriers updating their paperwork rather than trucks physically changing fleets, which is a reason to read the multi-year trend rather than lean on any single month.
Tractors run by the largest fleets of 1,000-plus power units fell 2.23 percent in the latest reading to 440,430, below their 12-month average, as the biggest carriers hold capacity lean. Source: FreightWaves SONAR (TCTCE.USA).
The Biggest Fleets Are Running Lean
The largest carriers round out the picture, and they are not expanding. SONAR’s count of tractors run by fleets with 1,000 or more power units sits at 440,430, down a sharp 2.23 percent in its latest monthly reading, a drop of more than 10,000 tractors, leaving it below its trailing 12-month average of about 452,800. The five-year line for this group is the choppiest of the three, swinging from near 485,000 tractors in early 2022 down into the 430,000s, back toward 475,000 in late 2024, then grinding lower through 2025 and 2026 with a sharp dip toward 418,000 over the summer before a partial bounce.
The behavior here looks like discipline. The largest fleets can right-size faster than anyone, declining to renew leases, parking underutilized tractors, and trimming fleets that are not earning within a quarter, and the volatility in this line is the fingerprint of exactly that. For now they are holding their counts lean and below their own average, which means the tier most capable of adding a lot of capacity quickly is choosing not to.
Both Ends Are Thin, The Middle Is Full
Line the three tiers up and a clear shape appears. The smallest one-to-six band has round-tripped its boom and sits below its averages. The largest 1,000-plus band is running lean and below its average. Only the mid-sized 20-to-100 band is at a record. Capacity is concentrating in the middle of the market, pulled up from the bottom by owner-operators who lease on or fold, and kept in check at the top by giants who are not re-expanding.
What that might signal is worth thinking through carefully rather than forcing into a forecast. On one hand, the capacity base at the bottom is structurally thinner than it has been in years, and thin, exited small-carrier capacity does not come back on a dime, so if freight demand firms, the market could tighten faster than the flat rejection reading suggests today. On the other hand, with rejections already easing off their summer highs and volumes holding flat, there is no demand pull right now forcing that to happen. The honest read is a loaded-but-quiet setup, a capacity base that has quietly thinned at both ends while the top-line waits for a catalyst. That is a lens on the months ahead, not a prediction of them.
Net changes in trucking authorities swung to a positive 1,279 in the latest reading, well above the 12-month average near 335, though recent figures are distorted by the FMCSA Motus rollout, which paused some deactivations while pushing a backlog of reinstatements through. Source: FreightWaves SONAR (CDNCA.USA).
The Churn Beneath The Net Numbers
The net figures sit on top of constant churn in the federal authority rolls. In a single day’s file of FMCSA Motus carrier changes dated November 9, there were 367 operating-authority updates across 362 individual carriers, of which 199 were in active status, 103 were inactive, 57 were pending, and 8 were formally withdrawn, and more than 90 percent were motor carriers of property carrying the familiar 750,000 dollar insurance requirement. That file comes with a real caveat right now, because the Motus system rollout has paused certain USDOT deactivations tied to biannual update requirements while pushing a backlog of reinstatements through at the same time, which distorts the active and inactive tallies and makes any single day a poor read on true entry and exit. It is a reminder that the authority rolls are in constant motion rather than a clean count of who is coming and going, and because the file carries no fleet-size information, it cannot on its own say which size of carrier is lapsing. The fleet-size picture has to come from the SONAR tractor counts above, not from the authority file.
The Takeaway For The Small Carrier
For the owner-operator reading their own segment in that long decline, the point is not that the small carrier is finished, it is to understand what the last three and a half years selected for. The operators still standing are the ones who know their true cost per mile, who built direct relationships with local shippers instead of living and dying by spot postings, and who ran the business like a business rather than a truck payment. In a market that is tighter than last year but not yet pulling hard in anyone’s favor, that structure is what separates the carriers positioned to benefit if the market firms from the ones who keep showing up in the inactive column no matter what rates do.
Why It Matters
Capacity is not a single number that is cleanly rising or falling right now, it is splitting by fleet size, with the smallest operators having unwound their entire pandemic boom, the largest carriers running deliberately lean, and the mid-sized fleets at a record as they absorb what the bottom lets go. For carriers, brokers, and shippers, the value in that split is as a current lens rather than a forecast, because it shows a capacity base that has quietly thinned at both ends while demand holds flat, and that is the kind of setup that decides how fast the market can move whenever the next real catalyst, up or down, finally arrives.
This analysis draws on FreightWaves SONAR data as of early November 2026: tractor counts by fleet size for the 1-to-6 power-unit segment (TCTCO.USA) at 362,033, the 20-to-100 segment (TCTCM.USA) at 470,402, and the 1,000-plus segment (TCTCE.USA) at 440,430, the SONAR Truckload Rejection Index (STRI.USA) at 12.95 percent, and the SONAR Truckload Volume Index (STVI.USA) at 11,636.92.
Retailers forecast U.S. imports to stay elevated through 2026 after breakout peak season
Import volumes at major U.S. container ports are expected to ease through the end of 2026 after September marked the busiest month of the year. That would cap an extended shipping peak driven by tariff changes and sustained consumer spending.
Ports tracked by the National Retail Federation handled 2.37 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, of loaded imports in September. That was an increase of 3.4% from August and 12.6% from a year earlier.
September was also the third-busiest month since the report began tracking imports, behind only May 2022, when volume reached 2.4 million TEUs, and July 2025, at 2.39 million, according to the report.
“U.S. ports have seen high volume levels throughout this year’s longer-than-usual peak season and numbers are still strong even as the season winds down,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF’s vice president for supply chain and customs policy, in the release.
The prolonged surge has created backups at some ports, particularly on the West Coast, where containers have faced extended waits for transfer to trains, Gold said. Despite those delays, most holiday merchandise has already arrived, and retailers are coordinating with transportation partners to keep remaining shipments moving.
Labor uncertainty has added another concern at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Employers and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 26, which represents watchmen at several container terminals, reached a short-term contract extension while bargaining continues.
The agreement has been extended three times, most recently through Nov. 20. A long-term settlement remains outstanding following the expiration of the previous contract in July 2025.
The extended peak was attributed to retailers adjusting shipment schedules around tariff changes, continuing a pattern of frontloading that began in 2025.
Expectations for another prolonged surge initially faded after the Supreme Court struck down the high “Liberation Day” tariffs. But new tariffs introduced in the second quarter prompted another wave of imports beginning in May and continuing through mid-October, as consumers supported the influx despite rising inflation.
Although monthly volumes are projected to decline from September’s high, the report expects imports to remain above year-earlier levels through December. October, for which final figures were not yet available, was projected at 2.26 million TEUs, up 9.1% year over year. November was forecast at 2.05 million TEUs, up 1.2%, followed by December at 2.03 million, up 1.3%.
Those projections would bring full-year imports at the ports covered by the report to approximately 26 million TEUs, an increase of 2% from 2025.
The outlook turns softer in early 2027. January imports are forecast at 2.04 million TEUs, down 3% from a year earlier; February at 1.89 million, down 0.5%; and March at 1.92 million, down 11.2%.
Wing, the drone delivery business of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG), said it will invest $125 million to build a 15,000-square foot manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, over the next two years to meet growing interest from retailers in ultra-fast delivery.
The company also plans to launch drone delivery in Japan, in partnership with KDDI Corp.
Upcoming U.S. rules of the road, expected at any moment, will serve as a trigger for widespread expansion, Wing said.
The new Texas facility will be able to produce tens of thousands of unmanned aerial aircraft each year, supporting Wing’s aggressive plan to expand drone delivery service nationwide as consumers increasingly opt for the convenience of home delivery for last-minute needs, Wing announced Friday. Some of the investment will also support r&d in California.
The news release is the first time Wing has given projections for its fleet size.
Wing, which operates from more than 70 sites, is working to expand to nearly 20 U.S. markets next year, making drone delivery available to more than 40 million people through its partnership with Walmart. Wing currently operates limited service in five metropolitan areas, including Central Florida, Houston, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth. The partners say the drone delivery network will stretch across more than 270 store locations across the nation, including Los Angeles, Cincinnati, San Diego, Miami and Philadelphia.
Cruising at speeds up to 60 mph, Wing’s aircraft can carry up to five pounds of goods. Wing says it has made more than 1 million residential deliveries so far, usually within 30 minutes.
Walmart is not relying on a single drone delivery provider. Last week, it announced plans to create a nationwide delivery network operated by Zipline from 300 store locations. Zipline said it raised $1.5 billion to ramp up manufacturing of its aircraft.
Why It Matters: Drones are the latest front in the quick commerce wars, offering retailers and marketplaces another mode for satisfying consumer expectations for convenience and speed when ordering online. Orders prepared at fulfillment centers are typically delivered in one to five days by courier companies, while store-to-door fulfillment takes advantage of app-based delivery platforms and crowd-sourced drivers to make deliveries in one to three hours.
Regulatory Opening
The Federal Aviation Administration’s highly anticipated rulemaking on beyond-visual-line-of-sight is expected to unleash the next-generation of commercial drone activity as operators will be able to scale drone delivery and other applications more broadly. Under the current process, operators are required to operate drones within visual line of sight unless holding an individual waiver.
The final rule, under review by the White House since July, was delayed from its February publication because administration officials wanted to make sure it could accommodate future technology developments and didn’t favor large companies. Industry officials have chaffed at the lengthy rulemaking process, saying the lack of certainty about rules of the road is inhibiting investment.
As proposed, the BVLOS rule would allow drone operations to occur at or below 400 feet above ground level from pre-designated, secure-access locations. All operators will need FAA approval for the area where they intend to fly and indicate the approximate number of daily operations, as well as takeoff, landing and loading areas.
Drone operators will have to utilize Automated Data Service Providers to support large-scale BVLOS activity and ensure drones are safely separated from each other and manned aircraft. A BVLOS operator could be its own data service provider or contract with another company. Drones also would have technologies that enable them to automatically detect and avoid crewed aircraft broadcasting their position with ADS-B surveillance technology.
Large fleets like those of Wing would require an FAA operating certificate, with the agency conducting more oversight of ongoing operations and requiring operators to develop a safety management system and training program.
On Monday, the FAA issued the first of its kind authorization for a drone to fly beyond the operator’s visual line of sight from the U.S. coastline over the Gulf of Mexico. The authorization allows Skyways to operate its autonomous V2 vertical takeoff and landing aircraft from Shell’s SPLC facility in Gibson, Louisiana, to a Shell platform in the Gulf to inspect a pipeline right-of-way and simulate delivery of equipment to the platform.
In a sign that the drone space is becoming more attractive from an investment standpoint, Axon Enterprise Inc., a public safety and defense technology company best known for making Taser electroshock weapons, last week announced a $1.2 billion investment in Skydio, increasing its ownership stake in the drone company to 37%. Skydio sells drones for physical security, mapping, asset inspection and national security applications.
Japan
Wing is partnering with KDDI Corp. to bring its drone delivery service to select areas in Japan by the end of 2027. Demand for new delivery options is expected to be strong because of a declining working-age population and a declining delivery driver workforce.
Initial deployment will focus on food delivery. The companies will work with local governments and other partners to expand service to daily necessities, over-the-counter medications, and small retail items, according to an Oct. 26 news release.
Wing will provide autonomous drones, flight systems and automated ground infrastructure while KDDI, a telecommunications company, will provide the communication infrastructure, regulatory compliance and market development.
Zipline noise breakthrough
Meanwhile, Zipline has reengineered how its drones fly to reduce noise, a common complaint heard in neighborhoods, the company said last month. While most drones must continuously run all their motors in order to stay in the air, Zipline drones feature a fixed wing that allows them to fly like planes and turn off all but one motor once they reach cruising speed and altitude.
With dynamic flying, Zipline drones now transition to on-wing flight more efficiently while producing less noise, using wind and gravity to accelerate and decelerate, similar to birds taking advantage of air currents.
Instead of static, pre-planned trajectories, Zipline’s dynamic flying optimizes for reduced sound by balancing wind, altitude, and speed. As a Zipline drone takes off, it uses its weather sensors to measure the real-time wind conditions. It then combines that data with a custom sound model to determine the quietest way to transition to on-wing flight, such as dipping its nose to gain speed like a bike going downhill, or popping upwards to quietly slow down at the end of a flight.
Now deployed fleetwide, sound-optimized dynamic flying reduces flight times too, Zipline said. Flight times are 53 seconds shorter on average because of faster transitions in and out of on-wing flight.
SONAR launches MCP, bringing freight market intelligence inside your AI assistant
SONAR’s new MCP connector lets compatible AI assistants like Claude and Copilot answer freight market questions in plain language, drawing on SONAR data and tools for rates, capacity, lanes, carrier safety and more.
SONAR has launched SONAR MCP, a connector that puts its freight market intelligence directly inside compatible AI assistants like Claude, Copilot and more. The rollout to SONAR customers began the week of Nov. 9, 2026.
Instead of moving between dashboards and memorizing index tickers, transportation teams can now ask a question in plain English and get an answer grounded in SONAR data.
What is SONAR MCP?
SONAR MCP is SONAR’s connector built on the Model Context Protocol, the open standard that lets AI models and agents connect to outside tools and data. Anthropic introduced the protocol in November 2024, and it works much like an API built for AI.
Once the SONAR connector is turned on, a user’s AI assistant decides which SONAR tools to call based on the question asked and the user’s SONAR permissions. It then combines the results into a single plain-language answer.
What freight data can AI assistants access through SONAR MCP?
SONAR MCP provides 24 tools spanning six areas of freight intelligence:
Spot and contract rates, including SAMA rate projections
Market conditions, such as tender rejections, volumes and capacity
Lane intelligence, including how difficult a lane is to cover
SONAR index data
Ocean freight metrics, including container bookings
FMCSA carrier safety and inspection statistics
According to SONAR, anything available through its API is also available through MCP, across truckload, intermodal, LTL and ocean.
How does SONAR MCP work? A live example from F3
SONAR demonstrated the connector live at F3 this year, using Claude as the AI assistant. The presenter asked a common shipper question: if a company moves 500 truckloads a year from Los Angeles to Chicago, could it save money by switching to intermodal?
The AI assistant pulled SONAR’s truckload and intermodal rate data for the lane, compared the two modes and answered in plain language: switching to intermodal would save money.
The demo then walked through a holiday inventory scenario moving from China through the Port of Los Angeles. In one conversation, the assistant checked ocean bookings from China to Los Angeles, Chicago intermodal volume, LTL pricing and outbound truckload capacity in Los Angeles.
Asked to summarize the risk before a budget meeting, the assistant flagged Chicago to Louisville as the most exposed lane. It suggested locking in contract rates there before the holiday season.
See the rates and market conditions SONAR MCP returned in thefull F3 demo.
Who is SONAR MCP for?
SONAR MCP is built for shippers, freight brokers, 3PLs, carriers and analysts who make decisions with freight market data. The F3 demo showed just a peak into the many ways each group can use it. SONAR will also be rolling out guidance on additional use cases.
Shippers preparing bids: a messy, eight-tab bid file went into the AI assistant and came back as a clean lane list with SONAR rate benchmarks, lane scores and call-outs, such as a 4 a.m. pickup that may add cost.
Brokers reporting to leadership: an export of 60 loads from a TMS became a one-page PDF comparing the brokerage’s performance with SONAR benchmarks.
Teams building their own tools: a SONAR shipper expert built a forward-looking network risk forecaster with an AI assistant. It refreshes with live SONAR data every day through MCP, with no software team or API project required.
SONAR groups the use cases into five areas: market intelligence, pricing and procurement, capacity and risk, research and reporting, and network and lane analysis.
Why SONAR MCP matters for freight teams
SONAR MCP lowers the barrier to using freight data. Users no longer need to know which dashboard holds an answer or which ticker to type.
During the F3 demo, the presenter noted that LTL pricing data in SONAR normally requires a specific ticker. Through MCP, a plain question returned the same answer.
The launch also responds directly to customer feedback about the sheer volume of data in SONAR.
“SONAR MCP puts the full depth of SONAR data right in front of our users, inside the AI platform they already choose to work in,” said Julie Van de Kamp, chief commercial officer at SONAR. “We’ve heard from customers that SONAR can feel hard to use or that the data is overwhelming. MCP removes that barrier. Ask a question in plain language, and your AI assistant pulls the SONAR data and summarizes the key findings for you.”
What’s next for SONAR and AI?
SONAR said at F3 that it is developing AI agents native to the SONAR platform, which would add more market context to answers. The company expects to share more in early 2027.
Publish these at the end of the article and mark them up with FAQPage JSON-LD.
What is SONAR MCP? SONAR MCP is a connector that lets compatible AI assistants like Claude and Copilot access SONAR’s freight market intelligence. Users ask questions in plain language and get answers grounded in SONAR data.
What does MCP stand for? MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, an open standard Anthropic introduced in November 2024. It lets AI models and agents connect to outside tools and data sources.
Which AI assistants work with SONAR MCP? SONAR MCP works with compatible AI assistants like Claude, Copilot and more.
What data is available through SONAR MCP? SONAR MCP offers 24 tools covering spot and contract rates, SAMA projections, market conditions, lane intelligence, SONAR index data, ocean freight metrics and FMCSA carrier safety statistics.
Do I need to know SONAR tickers to use SONAR MCP? No. The AI assistant chooses the right SONAR tools based on the question, so users don’t need to know index tickers or dashboard locations.
Who can use SONAR MCP? SONAR MCP is rolling out to SONAR customers starting the week of Nov. 9, 2026. The tools available depend on each user’s SONAR permissions.
That RICO suit vs. Robinson, TQL? Jury selection starts in ’28
As the two sides in the RICO case against brokerage giants C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) and TQL begin to make their case in legal filings, a sobering reality about the litigation is that jury selection is not likely for a mere 17 months.
Last week brought a flurry of submissions in the case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas by a group of carriers alleging damages at the hands of the two 3PLs’ practices.
One of those documents laid out proposed dates in the case. While they have not been finalized, with a scheduling conference set for Nov, 23, the tentative date for jury selection before Judge Rodney Gilstrap is April 3, 2028.
That is the final date suggested in a process that does have a few late 2027 dates proposed for the discovery process. A late January 2028 date is proposed for the completion of a mediation process.
Several key documents including proposed jury instructions need to be filed by March 13, 2028 and there will be a pretrial conference before Judge Gilstrap on March 20 of that year.
There’s a wide range of developments that could occur before then; the most pressing legal issue is TQL’s request for a dismissal on the grounds that the lawsuit shouldn’t be in federal court.
You’ll have to wait
But the schedule is a reminder that anybody in the brokerage industry waiting for some broad impact or precedent from the case of Stevens Trucking et. al. vs. C.H. Robinson et al–the latter including TQL–has a long road ahead.
The carriers that filed the suit–Stevens Trucking, Western Flyer Express, D&M Carriers dba Freymiller Trucking, Christenson Transportation, E.O.S. Inc. and IWX Motor Freight–fired back last week against the TQL dismissal request. The legal provision TQL is basing its request on is that the suit was improperly filed in the wrong court under the legal doctrine of forum non conveniens (FNC).
TQL’s argument is that all of the carriers in the suit, except IWX, had signed carrier-service contracts with the 3PL, requiring them to litigate any dispute in a state court in Clermont County, Ohio, near TQL’s headquarters city of Cincinnati.
C.H. Robinson has not filed any documents in the case. A spokeswoman for C.H. Robinson said it is not connected to TQL’s FNC filing.
What is ‘forced labor’?
The carriers’ lawsuit charges TQL and C.H. Robinson engaged in “forced labor.” While the original suit does not have an explicit definition of “forced labor,” at one point it comes close when it says that TQL and C.H. Robinson “choose foreign labor due to the ease in exploitation, lack of oversight and understanding, and the ability through various means to keep foreign labor in peonage and forced labor conditions.”
The carriers’ response to the TQL FNC request is legalistic, focusing on the issue of the proper forum for the lawsuit and why it believes the Texas federal court, and not the Ohio court, is the proper place to battle it out with the two companies.
The clause in the carrier-service contracts driving litigation to Clermont, according to the carriers, only works if “the court (interprets) these clauses to go far beyond the agreement, and stretch all the way to infinity, encompassing literally ‘any dispute’ that could ever arise between these parties, including those that have no relationship whatsoever to the contract.”
The heavy activity last week also included a filing by the carriers called an “omnibus” response.
That summary omnibus filing gave the carriers an opportunity to recap many of the charges it made in its original filing, which was submitted to the court September 23.
The core of their argument is that the two brokers used their power as large 3PLs to undercut the rates being charged by the carriers. And they did this, according to the omnibus filing, “through the use of Illegal Carriers and forced labor.” The lawsuit cites an array of agreements or anticipated agreements the various carriers had with certain shippers that they allege were lost to the 3PLs because of the brokers’ practices.
“TQL’s pattern of activity has precluded the Plaintiffs from participating meaningfully on bids for the customers and shippers,” the omnibus filing says, making similar allegations against C.H. Robinson.
Omnibus sums it up
The omnibus document gives the carriers the opportunity to repeat a claim made in the original filing: that TQL and C.H. Robinson were key drivers of the narrative that there was a “truck driver shortage.”
“Defendants relied on an age-old marketing campaign to exploit (the) opportunity: create the need, sell to the need,” the omnibus document says.
ATA finds itself cited in suit
With the departure of Chris Spears as head of the American Trucking Associations (ATA), it isn’t clear that the organization will continue to hold that there is a driver shortage. But regardless, ATA has gotten dragged into the suit, not as a defendant but as a target for the carriers’ accusations.
“There was no actual driver shortage,” the omnibus brief says. “Defendants did not want to pay willing drivers a living wage. Defendants promoted the narrative of a ‘truck driver shortage’ through marketing materials and their trade group, the ATA.”
The suit accuses C.H. Robinson of boosting immigration to “alleviate” any shortage, and that the ATA “lobbied the Department of Transportation in 2021 to loosen licensing and
immigration regulations.”
The ATA, in response to a query from FreightWaves, issued this statement from its chief advocacy & public affairs officer Henry Hanscom: “ATA is not a party to this lawsuit, and neither C.H. Robinson nor TQL is a member of ATA. The claims in the lawsuit about our association are false.”
