Trailer builder Fruehauf wants parts makers as co-defendants in suit

A dispute over allegations of defective work that resulted in trailers catching fire now is threatening to drag in the manufacturers of some of those components that may be at the root of the incidents.

The case of Indiana-based Summitt Leasing and Summitt Trucking vs. Fruehauf was first filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western district of Kentucky at the end of last year, with an amended complaint filed soon after. Summitt is a carrier as well as a supplier of leased trailers.

Long cast of characters

Last week, Fruehauf, a manufacturer of trailers, moved to bring in as defendants SAF-Holland Inc., Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC and Hoosier Trailer Acquisition Corp. Two of those companies, SAF-Holland and Bendix, manufactured components in the trailers that van leasing company Summitt says failed in several different ways, which may have led to the fires.

Hoosier is a trailer dealer that supplied the Fruehauf-manufactured trailer to Pace Transportation Services, which then moved the trailers to Summitt. Pace already was a defendant in the original case along with Fruehauf.

Lexington Insurance Company, which has Fruehauf as a client, is an intervening plaintiff in the case alongside Summitt.

Fruehauf, in the motion to file a “third-party complaint,” said it “did not manufacture either of the component parts that are the subject of this dispute. Fruehauf did nothing more than install these component parts onto the trailers. Any liability for an alleged defective component part belongs to the manufacturer or seller of the individual component parts—not Fruehauf.”

The Fruehauf request for a widened group of defendants says Fruehauf had contracted “directly” with Hoosier for the latter to buy the trailers “and communicated any component part changes to Hoosier.”

Hoosier then sold the trailers to Pace, which is described in the initial Summitt lawsuit as operating a trailer sales and service business. Summitt is a customer of Pace.

If the request is granted by the court to widen the list of defendants, it will be a case involving several companies that manufacture key parts of a trailer. It also suggests that any efforts toward an out-of-court settlement are off the table, at least for now.

Going back four years

The series of developments that led to the lawsuit starts in September 2022, according to the Summitt filing, when it agreed to buy 100 trailers from Fruehauf. It wanted those trailers so much, according to a recap of the case’s history, that it went on to a waitlist “rather than (buying) similar models from other sellers.”

“Summitt purchased the Trailers in reliance on Fruehauf’s advertising, expecting them to deliver lower operating costs per mile and improved fuel efficiency,” the lawsuit said. “Summitt was also familiar with these trailers as they have purchased and used them in the past.”

The role of Fruehauf was three-fold, the lawsuit says: it “engineered, designed and assembled” the trailers. That included the air and braking systems.

The lawsuit lists several component suppliers used by Fruehauf to build the trailer. But not all are defendants.

Specifically, Summit’s lawsuit says the trailers were to be equipped with a Hendrickson 40K suspension and a Tiremaax Pro Tire Inflation System. But instead they received trailers with substitute components manufactured by SAF Holland and Bendix.

Additionally, Summitt had expected a Wabco ABS System (NYSE: WAB) would be used.

“Unlike typically manufactured and purchased trailers, these trailers quickly began to exhibit significant issues: the brakes engaged without being prompted; the efficiency per mile plummeted; and the wheel ends of the Trailer would reach dangerous temperatures,” the lawsuit said. “Also, the maintenance costs for brakes and tires were extreme.”

A trailer hauling a load for a customer caught fire in September 2023, the Summitt lawsuit says. That was followed, Summitt adds, by “chronic issues involving self-engagement of the Trailer’s brake system while in transit.”

Lots of blame flying around

Discussions between Summitt and Fruehauf resulted in little action, but the lawsuit says Fruehauf “blamed other parties, including SAF Holland, Bendix and even Summitt.”

Inspections done by several of the companies involved in the supply chain did find components in various states of deterioration, the lawsuit says.

But what is at issue is their installation that may have led to that deterioration.

Summit, in its lawsuit, does not charge the component manufacturers with providing Fruehauf with faulty products and they were not initial defendants. It is Fruehauf that is now seeking to bring them in.

The Summitt lawsuit cites a report from an outside consulting company, Wolf Technical Services, that said in its report to the carrier that “based upon the available evidence, that Fruehauf integrated the Bendix R-12P Pilot Relay Valve into the Trailer’s pneumatic brake circuit in a manner inconsistent with the recommendations of the manufacturer, Bendix.”

Summitt says it was not having problems with any of its other trailers, although Bendix and Fruehauf blamed the company.

But by late 2024, according to the lawsuit, “Fruehauf, while limiting its acknowledgment and avoiding full accountability, finally conceded that the trailers it sold to Summitt were defective.’

(An email sent to Fruehauf attorneys listed in court documents had not been responded to by publication time).

Summitt then followed Fruehauf instructions and using parts supplied to it by Fruehauf, began making repairs. Summitt said Fruehauf didn’t pay it for the work.

But the fires didn’t stop–there were reportedly more than 20 of them–with the lawsuit citing two other blazes that occurred after the repair work had begun.

Repair work is continuing. But, the lawsuit said, “without a permanent solution, Summitt continues to incur losses and face liability for the defective Trailers.”

“The trailers remain inadequately repaired and unsafe for their intended use,” the lawsuit said. “The safety of these Trailers impacts not only the cargo, but the safety of the driver, and other individuals travelling on the roadway.”

The original Fruehauf entered bankruptcy in the 90’s and saw its U.S. assets sold to Wabash National (NYSE: WNC). An international company remained and it moved back into U.S. manufacturing in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2022.

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Hung jury for pair accused of murder in NOLA accident scam

A jury has reached a partial verdict in the New Orleans staged accident scam murder trial, but without a conviction for the death of Cornelius Garrison.

The four-week trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ended Thursday in a mixture of verdicts that local media described as shocking its observers, with a hung jury declared in the murder prosecutions for Sean Alfortish and Leon “Chunky” Parker. They were on trial for murdering Garrison in September 2020, soon after Garrison had pleaded guilty to involvement in the staging of accidents with trucks (and some other vehicles) and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Judge Wendy Vitter declared a mistrial following the hung jury declaration.

Alfortish, regularly described as a disbarred attorney, was simultaneously convicted on several fraud charges. Those charges were part of the sweeping indictment that also had charged attorneys Vanessa Motta (Alfortish’s former beau) and Jason Giles with their central roles in the scam. Motta and Giles were convicted in March and await sentencing while being held in jail.

Neither Motta nor Giles were implicated in the murders though there was testimony that suggested Motta was aware to some degree of a potential plot against Garrison.

Convicted on other charges

Alfortish also was convicted on two charges of obstruction and suborning perjury while being acquitted of two others. The Alfortish convictions involved his efforts to get Garrison out of the U.S. to avoid prosecution. The two acquittals on similar charges involved allegations he sought a fellow jail inmate to lie on his behalf.

According to NOLA.com, the website of the New Orleans Times Picayune, jury deliberations went on for more than 30 hours over five days. It was only toward the end of that period that the jury asked its first question, involving a map of the city.

According to the reporting from NOLA.COM, Alfortish’s lawyer, in remarks to the media after the verdicts were announced, said the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana “brought every resource of the federal government that they could bring. They brought five assistant U.S. attorneys onto the case. They had a phalanx of FBI agents. They tried in every way possible to convict Sean Alfortish of murdering a federal informant. And the jury did not find in their favor.”

NOLA.COM also reported that assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Payne immediately requested a hearing for a new deal to try Alfortish and Parker. The two also were returned to custody.

Harris’ custody wasn’t enough

The most damning testimony of the trial came from Ryan Harris, who had pleaded guilty for his involvement in the staged accidents and the Garrison murder.

According to local media reports, Harris testified that he had recruited Parker for the shooting and that he had driven Parker after Garrison was murdered in the doorway of his mother’s home. But that testimony apparently was not enough to get the jury to 12 votes for conviction.

Parker already had pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy and faces a sentence of 60 years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Earlier sentences on mail and wire fraud handed down to participants in what prosecutors dubbed “Operation Sideswipe” have been as light as home confinement, though there have been penalties that hit four years.

Few other trials

Before the trials of Motta and Giles and then Alfortish, none of the other more than 50 indictments in the case for wire fraud, mail fraud or both had gone to trial, either being settled with a guilty plea or are still awaiting resolution.

In a prepared statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District, the convictions and possible length of sentencing got the most play, while the failure to reach a verdict on the most serious charges received one sentence.

While the various convictions over the years have nabbed some people who were paid as little as $1,000 for riding along in a car that targeted a truck for a collision, two other significant players in the scam also await sentencing after having their judgement day postponed numerous times.

Two other big sentencings await…still

Danny Keating is an attorney who pleaded guilty in June 2021 for being a ringleader in the scam. Damian Lebeaud pleaded guilty in August 2020 to his own set of charges for involvement in Operation Sideswipe. Both men testified in the Motta/Giles case.

Keating’s sentencing is now set for October 8. Lebeaud is to be sentenced December 3.

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Samsara Q2 revenue jumps 30% as transportation, Mexico fuel growth

Samsara reported second-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $508.4 million, up 30% year over year, as the connected-operations technology provider continued expanding among large customers and saw accelerating growth in transportation and Mexico.

San Francisco-based Samsara (NYSE: IOT) said Thursday that annual recurring revenue reached $2.125 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 1, also increasing 30% from a year earlier. Net new ARR totaled $134.1 million, up 28%.

“Samsara delivered another quarter of durable and efficient growth, crossing $2.1 billion in ARR with 30% year-over-year growth for the third consecutive quarter,” co-founder and CEO Sanjit Biswas said during an earnings call with analysts after the market closed.

Biswas said large customers continue to drive the company’s momentum, while adoption of some of Samsara’s latest artificial intelligence features has increased more than fourfold during the past two months.

Samsara’s Connected Operations platform combines telematics, video-based safety, equipment monitoring, maintenance and other applications aimed at trucking, logistics, construction, field services and other industries with large physical operations.

The company’s transportation business showed strengthening momentum during the quarter. Transportation accounted for Samsara’s second-highest mix of net new annual contract value, behind field services, while year-over-year growth in transportation accelerated sequentially for the third consecutive quarter.

Public-sector business also strengthened, posting its second-highest net new ACV mix on record.

Management said the opportunity in trucking remains substantial. During the earnings call, Samsara executives estimated that about 50% of commercial vehicles in North America remain unconnected, while 85% do not have an AI dash camera.

Mexico business accelerates

Mexico was another area of accelerating growth. The company said year-over-year net new annual contract value growth in Mexico accelerated for the second consecutive quarter, giving the country its highest share of net new ACV in five quarters.

Security appears to be one factor driving adoption of Samsara’s technology among Mexican fleets.

“Same thing down in Mexico. We’ve invested heavily in security. That’s a very key use case for them,” Biswas said , pointing to features such as panic buttons and vehicle immobilizers.

Biswas also cited Grupo Trayecto, one of Samsara’s large transportation customers in Mexico, saying the company’s brand reputation is expanding as it works with large, complex operators.

Monterrey, Mexico-based Trayecto is the biggest freight transportation company in the country, with more than 4,000 trucks, 10,000 trailers and 4,000 drivers.

Large customers propel Samsara

Much of Samsara’s growth is coming from larger enterprises expanding their use of the company’s platform.

Samsara finished the quarter with 3,605 customers generating more than $100,000 in ARR, after adding a quarterly record 242. Those customers accounted for $1.3 billion in ARR, up 38% year over year, and now represent 63% of companywide ARR, compared with 59% a year earlier.

The company also ended the quarter with 210 customers generating more than $1 million in ARR, adding a record 20 during the period. ARR from those customers surpassed $500 million and grew more than 50% year over year for the third consecutive quarter.

Samsara said customers are also adopting more of its technology simultaneously. Ninety-six percent of customers generating more than $100,000 in ARR use at least two Samsara products, while 72% use three or more.

Emerging products accounted for more than 20% of net new ACV for the third consecutive quarter. Eight of the company’s 10 largest net new ACV transactions included an emerging product.

Samsara posts fourth straight profitable quarter

Samsara reported GAAP operating income of $4.9 million, compared with a $26.6 million operating loss a year earlier. Its GAAP operating margin improved to 1% from negative 7%.

Non-GAAP operating income rose to $106 million from $59.7 million, while its non-GAAP operating margin expanded six percentage points to 21%.

Free cash flow reached $64.7 million, compared with $44.2 million a year earlier, and GAAP earnings were 3 cents per share. The result marked Samsara’s fourth consecutive quarter of GAAP profitability.

Samsara now expects its fiscal 2027 free cash flow margin to be about 100 basis points below fiscal 2026 because the company needs more IoT devices to support demand, plans to build additional inventory and expects elevated supply chain costs during the second half of the year.

For the fiscal third quarter, Samsara forecast revenue of $514 million to $516 million, representing about 24% year-over-year growth.

The company expects full-year fiscal 2027 revenue between $2.043 billion and $2.047 billion, up approximately 26%, along with a 21% non-GAAP operating margin and diluted non-GAAP earnings of 76 cents to 78 cents per share. Samsara expects to remain GAAP profitable for both Q3 and the full fiscal year.

Samsara Q2 FY2027 financial results

Metric	Q2 FY2027	Q2 FY2026	YoY change
Total revenue	$508.4M	$391.5M	+30%
Annual recurring revenue (ARR)	$2.125B	$1.640B	+30%
Adjusted gross profit	$398.0M	$305.7M	+$92.3M / +30%
Adjusted gross margin	78%	78%	Flat
Adjusted EPS	$0.20	$0.12	+$0.08 / +67%

Adjusted figures are non-GAAP. Dollar amounts are rounded. Samsara reported $397.998 million in non-GAAP gross profit, which rounds to $398 million.

Why it matters: Samsara’s accelerating transportation and Mexico businesses show that demand for connected fleet technology remains strong, while growing adoption of AI, maintenance, safety and asset-tracking products is giving the company more ways to generate revenue from each vehicle and customer.

XPO’s August metrics align with Q3 guidance

XPO daycab pulling an XPO trailer on a highway

With August in the books, less-than-truckload carrier XPO remains on track to achieve its third-quarter guide for a mid-single-digit tonnage increase.

XPO (NYSE: XPO) reported a 3.7% year-over-year increase in tonnage for August as a 5.7% increase in daily shipments was partially offset by a 1.8% decline in weight per shipment, according to a Thursday news release. The headline tonnage number decelerated from July’s 5.8% y/y increase, however, the July 2025 comp was 400 basis points easier than August’s prior-year comp.

On a two-year-stacked comparison, which removes the noise from prior-year comps, all volume metrics (shipments, weight per shipment and tonnage) improved in August compared to July. The two-year-stacked tonnage comps began improving in November, with August off just 1% following a 2.9% decline in July.

The company said on its second-quarter call that July tonnage was basically flat with June, which was 400 bps better than the normal seasonal trend. The August update implies the seasonal outperformance has continued. The update also puts the carrier on track to achieve its third-quarter tonnage guidance, which calls for a mid-single-digit percentage y/y increase.

Weight per shipment improved on a two-year comp, suggesting more industrial-related freight is back in the network.

The Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing PMI stood at 54.6 in August, 100 bps below July’s four-year high. However, the dataset remained in expansion territory for an eighth consecutive month. (A reading above 50 signals expansion, while one below 50 indicates contraction.)

The new orders subindex—an indicator of future activity—fell 3 points but remained in growth mode at 53.7. Carrier tonnage typically lags the index by three months.

XPO’s changing freight mix presents a headwind to weight per shipment. The freight mix now includes more shipments from local accounts (SMBs), which are typically lighter but produce better margins.

The company doesn’t provide revenue-based metrics in its intraquarter updates, however, it previously said contractual rate renewals were up by a mid-single- to high-single-digit percentage in the second quarter. It also said on the call that yield and revenue per shipment (ex-fuel) will continue to improve sequentially in the third and fourth quarters.

XPO’s adjusted operating ratio outlook for the third-quarter also appears intact.

It normally sees 200 to 250 bps of OR degradation from the second to the third quarter, which implies an OR above 82%. It expects to generate an OR below 81% in the quarter, suggesting at least 180 bps of y/y improvement.

Why it matters? XPO is one of a few publicly traded LTL companies. Its midquarter results provide insight into a subsegment of trucking where few public datasets exist.

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

Cheapest Freight Isn’t Best When Delays Cost Millions

Cheapest freight isn’t always best, especially when a late shipment can cost millions. ShipStation Global CEO Tom Madine breaks down why SMB shippers need parcel, LTL and truckload in one workflow, and why better freight decisions now matter more than just lower rates. From the merger that created ShipStation Global to adding more modes into the platform, this conversation gets into where shipping tech is heading, how data shapes carrier selection, and what smaller shippers actually need from logistics partners. #FreightTech #LTL #SupplyChain

ShipStation Global is formally launching its less-than-truckload product, marking the first tangible freight expansion since the merger of software provider Auctane, formerly the parent of the Stamps.com andShipStation,and WWEX Group, which previously housed freight brokerages like Worldwide Express. The company’s CEO said the rollout represents the opening move in a broader strategy to let small and midsize shippers purchase and manage all transportation modes through a single platform.

“Today’s the first day we’ve really launched the LTL product,” said Tom Madine, CEO of ShipStation Global, noting the company plans to add truckload, final mile, and eventually ocean and forwarding capabilities after establishing its inland position.

The strategic rationale centers on eliminating the workflow gap that forced ShipStation users to leave the platform whenever they needed to move freight beyond parcel. Customer surveys repeatedly flagged the absence of additional modes as the top improvement request, he said. With LTL now integrated, shippers can manage inbound inventory movements alongside outbound parcel without switching systems.

“Cheapest is not always best…But at the same time, you don’t want to overpay,” Madine said, illustrating the point with a customer whose engine shipments carry multi-million-dollar consequences if delayed.

The combined company manages more than 400 connections to parcel carriers globally and holds the largest multi-carrier shipping software position in North America, with meaningful market share in the U.K., Italy, Spain, and Australia. Madine said the SMB and middle-market segments in Europe represent the next growth lever, as the company’s European footprint is currently strongest at the enterprise and micro ends of the market.

Madine described the 90-day-old integration as smoother than previous acquisitions the company has completed, attributing the lack of friction to the complementary rather than overlapping skill sets of the two legacy businesses. Octane brought product engineering and marketing depth while Worldwide Express contributed carrier relationships and commercial distribution — leaving little redundancy and limited organizational conflict over turf.

On pricing intelligence, Madine said the platform’s data capabilities are designed to help shippers move beyond rate-chasing toward carrier selection based on reliability and estimated outcomes. The company intends to expand those tools as it pushes LTL deeper into its e-commerce customer base, giving smaller merchants visibility into freight market cycles that Madine said most SMB operators have neither the time nor the resources to track on their own.

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

NASCAR Engine Logistics: 9-12 Engines a Week

850-pound NASCAR engines, moved cross-country on a tight build schedule and ground freight beat air. FreightWaves Today sits down with ShipStation Global and Toyota Racing Development (TRD) to break down how TRD ships 9-12 race engines a week from Costa Mesa, California, to North Carolina with fewer touches, tighter control and reliable Monday delivery. This is a real-world look at high-stakes transportation planning, mode shift strategy and what happens when one late shipment can sideline a race team. Useful lessons here for carriers, brokers, shippers and anyone managing time-critical freight.

ShipStation Global ships between 9 and 12 Toyota Racing Development NASCAR engines per week on dedicated straight trucks from Costa Mesa, California, to North Carolina, a logistical pivot away from air freight that the company says has delivered greater reliability and less product handling for a cargo valued in the mid-six figures per unit.

The move matters to carriers and shippers because it illustrates how expedited ground can outperform air on time-sensitive, high-value freight when handling risk and transit predictability are weighted alongside raw speed. TRD engines run for roughly 1,200 miles before they are pulled, torn down, and rebuilt from scratch, which is the equivalent of about two race events. A missed delivery does not just delay a shipment; it can sideline a Cup Series team entirely.

“Can you imagine you show up at the NASCAR race and Denny Hamlin doesn’t have his engine?” asked Mike Grayson, Chief Relationship Officer and EVP at ShipStation Global.

“It’s an 850-pound engine. They were putting them one at a time in crates and moving them by air freight. And we said maybe there’s a better way for us to do this,” Grayson said.

Under the current process, engines leave Costa Mesa on Thursday afternoons, arrive in the North Carolina market over the weekend, and are delivered to race team facilities Monday morning. Kevin Warner, Partnerships Manager at Toyota Racing Development, said the time differential between air and ground turned out to be negligible, while ground transit offered more control, better tracking, and fewer touches on precision-engineered hardware. Air freight had introduced recurring risk from weather delays and airport congestion that ground movements largely eliminated.

Planning for the operation runs far ahead of race day. Grayson said that following NASCAR’s release of the 2027 schedule, ShipStation Global and TRD teams will convene in November in Costa Mesa to map out every engine movement for the entire season. Now in their third year of working together, the partners rely on the same drivers repeatedly making the cross-country run which is a consistency that TRD’s engineering staff has come to depend on. Engines are also returned after each race for NASCAR inspection and shop rebuilding, meaning the logistics loop runs both directions every week across NASCAR’s 38-week competitive calendar.

Each straight truck is configured to serve approximately three NASCAR Cup teams per weekly run, with custom-built, form-fitted crates designed to protect the engines and make efficient use of cargo space during loading and unloading at multiple stops. Warner described each engine as a “mid-six-figure proposition,” with the opportunity cost of a missed race representing a far larger financial exposure given prize and sponsorship incentives tied to on-track performance.

Grayson said the discipline built around the TRD account is being applied more broadly. ShipStation Global works with dozens of Fortune 100 companies and is using lessons learned from high-complexity enterprise logistics to improve service levels for small and midsize business customers, arguing that rigorous supply chain planning should not be reserved only for large shippers.

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

ShipStation LTL Launch: The Time-Saving Play for SMBs

ShipStation’s LTL launch could be a real time-saver for SMB shipping teams. In this discussion, Spiceology and ShipStation break down how manual shipping tasks eat up hours, how label time dropped from minutes to seconds, and why parcel-LTL integration matters when orders scale fast. If your team is still bouncing between carrier sites, managing exceptions by hand, or stitching together disconnected workflows, this conversation gets straight to the operational payoff. #ShippingAutomation #LTLShipping #EcommerceLogistics

ShipStation has released what it describes as a fully featured LTL capability within its platform, targeting small and mid-sized businesses that currently juggle separate systems for parcel, less-than-truckload, and full truckload shipping. The launch is designed to bring more modes under one interface and eliminate the need for shippers to maintain multiple sources of truth.

For shippers like Spiceology, a Spokane, Washington-based spice brand that expanded from farmers markets into big-box retail and broadline food service distribution, ShipStation has served as the hub of their parcel operations for years. Ned Woodward, who manages logistics for Spiceology, said the company would previously visit individual carrier websites to manually generate labels before adopting ShipStation, a process that consumed hours and required multiple employees to process a limited number of orders.

“Taking 5 to 10 seconds to print a label versus 1 to 2 minutes per order, that’s real savings right there,” said Woodward. He noted that COVID served as a forcing function: when restaurants shut down, Spiceology’s direct-to-consumer orders surged roughly 50% overnight, requiring the company to rapidly rethink its fulfillment workflow.

Woodward said automation rules and rate shopping have delivered the most meaningful efficiency gains for Spiceology over the five years he has used the platform. Automated rate shopping captures a shipper’s business logic, preferred transit times, cost thresholds, delivery requirements and pre-selects the carrier for each order as it imports, reducing the process to exception management rather than manual decision-making. He estimated that shaving roughly a minute off each order across hundreds of daily shipments produces material labor savings.

Travis Rimel, Chief Product Officer at ShipStation Global, emphasized that the new LTL tool is built for similar configurability, including the ability to soon split a single order across multiple shipping modes, for example, routing part of a shipment via parcel and the remainder via LTL while using automated rules.

“This is not an MVP. This is actually a fully featured LTL capability in ShipStation,” said Rimel, noting the company drew on years of customer feedback from its ShipStation Global freight operations to build out the release.

Spiceology’s logistics footprint now spans e-commerce parcel, LTL, and full truckload for big-box retail accounts, with each channel carrying distinct carrier requirements, accessorial charges, and delivery prep standards. Woodward said consolidating visibility across those modes, rather than checking three separate systems, is the immediate value he expects the new LTL integration to offer businesses like his. ShipStation acknowledged that track-and-trace data quality degrades as shipment size moves from parcel toward truckload, and said normalizing freight data is a priority on its product roadmap.

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

Mexican truckers block California border crossing over B-1 visa crackdown

A developing trucker protest over the revocation of B-1 visas is disrupting commercial traffic at the Calexico East-Mexicali border crossing Thursday, as Mexican drivers demand answers from U.S. authorities over how cabotage rules are being enforced.

Truck drivers began blocking access to the commercial crossing on the Mexico-side between Mexicali, Baja California, and Calexico, California, Thursday morning, according to multiple Mexican news reports.

Drivers participating in the protest say U.S. authorities have been revoking B-1 visas following inspections and questioning over their activities in the U.S., AFN Tijuana reported.

The National Chamber of Freight Transportation (CANACAR) warned Wednesday that drivers from Mexicali and the surrounding region had called for a demonstration and possible closure of the commercial border crossings at Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado beginning at 5 a.m. Thursday.

CANACAR’s Mexicali office advised trucking companies to monitor developments and take precautions for possible disruptions to border access, transportation and operations.

The protest comes amid growing concern in Mexico’s trucking industry over U.S. enforcement of restrictions on Mexican commercial drivers operating under B-1 visas.

Mexican B-1 drivers are permitted to transport international cargo between Mexico and the United States but are prohibited from engaging in cabotage — hauling domestic freight between two points within the United States.

Drivers participating in Thursday’s protest say they want U.S. authorities to provide clearer guidance about what activities constitute cabotage and what actions can result in a B-1 visa being revoked.

Mexican news outlets, such as Quadratín Baja California, reported that protesters alleged 17 drivers had their visas revoked in Mexicali this week, although accounts differ on precisely when those revocations occurred and FreightWaves has not independently verified the number.

Ismael Reyes de la Rosa, CANACAR’s representative in Mexicali, said in a television interview Thursday that the organization is asking drivers who have lost their visas to bring their cases forward so CANACAR can determine what happened.

Reyes de la Rosa said he personally knows of 11 people who have had their visas taken and called for the circumstances surrounding the cases to be investigated.

The demonstration appears to be driver-led rather than formally organized by CANACAR. Several participants told Mexican media that drivers organized the blockade themselves.

An estimated 1,255 commercial trucks cross the Calexico East-Mexicali Port of Entry every day, generating around $2 billion in cross-border trade annually. A wide range of industrial, automotive, medical and agricultural goods pass through the crossing.

Reports Thursday also indicated that truckers were protesting at the commercial crossing in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, while drivers warned that demonstrations could spread to other border crossings, including Tijuana, if authorities do not address their concerns.

FreightWaves has reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for additional information.

Why it matters: A prolonged or expanding blockade over B-1 visa enforcement could disrupt truck capacity and freight flows at key U.S.-Mexico commercial crossings, adding a supply-chain dimension to a growing dispute between Mexican drivers and U.S. border authorities.

Arrive Logistics Deal: No Debt, More Growth

Arrive Logistics’ new majority-owner deal comes with no debt and a plan to push growth harder. CEO Matt Pyatt breaks down why the company took Mubadala Capital’s investment, what changes internally, and why Arrive still sees a freight market that’s vulnerable to disruption. Pyatt also lays out Arrive’s scale — north of $4.5 billion in truckload business and 8,000 loads a day — plus his read on rates, capacity and where Q4 could go from here.

Arrive Logistics has closed a majority-stake investment from Mubadala Capital, an independent entity majority-owned by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, in a deal the company’s CEO described as 100% equity with no debt used to finance the transaction. The agreement positions Arrive to accelerate hiring, expand its trailer fleet, and push into new customer verticals without the earnings pressure that comes with a public listing.

Arrive CEO and co-founder Matt Pyatt said the 10-month process was designed to rationalize the company’s investor base, giving existing backers — including LeadEdge Capital, which joined in 2018, and ATL Partners and its co-investors, who came aboard in 2021 — the option to either reinvest or exit. “We’re basically just reloading the gun, so to speak, and allowing us to continue to invest in our business,” Pyatt said.

The brokerage is on pace to move more than $4.5 billion in truckload volume this year at a run rate north of 8,000 loads per day. Pyatt said load volume grew 25% to 27% in 2024 and is up more than 20% year over year in 2025, more than doubling since 2022. The company hired 500 people in 2024 and 650 so far in 2025, and Pyatt said the total headcount added this year will reach roughly 1,000.

“You can’t optimize the P&L and maximize growth. And so it’s a blend — you don’t ever want to burn cash, but you want to have a fine line of like, are you deploying tangible investments that you know you’re going to get an ROI on, while continuing to take market share,” Pyatt said.

A major deployment target is the drop-trailer segment. Pyatt noted that for-hire truckload is roughly a $500 billion market, with approximately half of that volume moving on drop trailer — a segment where brokers have historically captured only 2% to 3% of share. Arrive currently operates 700 to 800 trailers and plans to invest significantly to grow that asset base. The company also flagged the small and medium-sized business shipper segment and healthcare verticals as underpenetrated opportunities.

On freight security, Pyatt said Arrive has built a 45-person team covering fraud, claims, and compliance. The brokerage works with only 9% of the roughly 450,000 carriers in its vetting system, requires carriers to have at least one year in business, and routes 93% of loads through carriers it averages loading 15 times per month. “Since the beginning of the year, I think we went 900,000 loads without a single theft,” Pyatt said.

On the broader market, Pyatt said rates likely peaked in July, expects them to settle in the third quarter, and sees normal seasonality potentially pushing rates back to July levels in the fourth quarter. He argued the floor in a future downturn will be meaningfully higher than the last cycle — roughly $1.95 to $2.05 per mile plus fuel on dry van, compared to the $1.60 to $1.65 plus fuel lows seen in 2023 through 2025 — because capacity has not returned to the market at the pace seen after the COVID-era surge.

Mubadala Capital takes majority stake in Arrive Logistics in an all-equity deal with no debt, giving the $4.5B brokerage long-term growth runway outside public-market pressure.
Arrive plans to hire roughly 1,000 employees in 2025 and is targeting the drop-trailer market — where brokers hold just 2-3% share — plus SMB shippers and healthcare verticals.
Pyatt forecasts a dry van rate floor of $1.95–$2.05 per mile plus fuel in the next downturn, well above the $1.60–$1.65 lows of the recent cycle, as excess capacity fails to return.

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