The Rise of Broker Consolidation – What It Means for Small Carriers

If you’ve been in the game long enough, you’ve seen this coming. Quiet acquisitions. Big-name brokerages merging. The same five players showing up on every load board. Broker consolidation isn’t a trend—it’s a tidal wave. And like every major shift in this industry, it’s the small carriers who feel the hit first.

But this ain’t a doom-and-gloom story. It’s a reality check. And like every challenge in trucking, there’s a way to move smart and come out stronger—if you’re paying attention and playing the long game.

Let’s unpack what’s really going on, what’s driving these moves behind the scenes, and how you, as a small carrier or fleet owner, need to adjust your strategy now before the landscape shifts even further.

Why Broker Consolidation Is Accelerating

Consolidation doesn’t happen randomly. It happens because the freight economy is tightening—and big brokerages are realizing that scale equals survival. When margins shrink and shippers demand more transparency, brokers need more leverage. So, they merge, acquire, and grow—fast.

In the last few years, we’ve seen multi-million-dollar deals between mid-tier brokerages and publicly traded giants. What’s the end game? Fewer brokerages with more control over freight volume, pricing, and capacity.

Technology is playing a big part too. TMS platforms, AI-based pricing tools, and load-matching software are expensive to build but easier to scale once you reach critical mass. Smaller brokers simply can’t keep up. So they sell—or get swallowed.

But here’s the kicker: the average carrier isn’t watching the back end of these deals. They’re just seeing fewer broker names, tighter margins, slower payments, and more hoops to jump through just to get the same freight they ran last year.

And that’s where things get real.

What This Means for the Small Carrier

Let’s not sugarcoat it. Broker consolidation is a direct threat to the independence and leverage of small carriers. When five brokers control 80% of your outbound lanes, your negotiating power shrinks. Period.

Here’s what else it means:

1. Fewer Relationships, Less Leverage
When regional brokers get bought out, the personal relationships you built over years disappear overnight. You’re no longer dealing with Sarah, who knew your schedule and lanes—you’re calling into a general dispatch queue with 500 other trucks.

2. Standardized Rates and Less Flexibility
Big brokerages operate on margin control and volume, not relationships. That means rates are algorithmic, not negotiated. You’ll get what the system offers, and if you push back too hard, you’ll just get skipped over.

3. Stricter Onboarding Requirements
Mega brokers want to protect their shippers. So they tighten onboarding: higher insurance minimums, stricter safety scores, longer payment cycles. If your back office isn’t dialed in, you’re out before you’re in.

4. More Competition on the Load Board
Consolidated brokers push more freight to digital platforms, which sounds good—until you realize you’re bidding against every other small carrier who saw the same load five seconds after you did.

This isn’t a playing field. It’s a meat grinder. And if you don’t adapt, you’re going to find yourself hauling cheap freight with rising costs and no seat at the table.

The Freight Economy Is Turning into a Volume Game

Here’s something most folks miss: large brokers win because they aggregate capacity. That means the more trucks they can “control”—whether through contracts, apps, or consistent use—the better pricing they offer to shippers.

But where does that leave you?

If you’re a 1–10 truck operation, you can’t play the volume game. You’ve got to play the relationship game. That means:

Finding shippers who value consistency over cost
Narrowing your lanes and becoming irreplaceable
Getting off load boards and onto routing guides

You can’t win by playing their game. You win by building your own.

How Small Carriers Can Still Thrive

Now here’s the good news: being small still has its advantages—if you know how to use them.

1. Stay Niche, Stay Profitable
Stop chasing everything. Specialize. If you run reefer, get tight on lanes and seasonal cycles. If you run flatbed, focus on niche commodities. Brokers can’t replicate the precision and flexibility of a specialized carrier. That’s your edge.

2. Build Direct Relationships—Now
The clock is ticking. Every week you stay dependent on brokers is another week you lose leverage. Start mapping your lanes. Identify potential direct shippers. Make calls. Send emails. Drop in face-to-face. Relationships built today pay off when capacity tightens again.

3. Level Up Your Back Office
If your safety scores, invoicing, or paperwork is sloppy, you’ll get left behind. Clean it up. Build systems. Automate what you can. Make your operation easy to work with and compliant with larger broker or shipper expectations.

4. Watch the Freight Tech Stack
The big players are using technology to move faster. That doesn’t mean you need to break the bank, but you need to pay attention. Digital rate confirmations, GPS tracking, ELD integrations—all of that matters now. If your systems are outdated, you’re adding friction to every transaction.

5. Collaborate with Other Carriers
This one is underrated. You may not have 50 trucks, but if you partner with others in your region or niche, you can co-market to shippers, share backhauls, or present a united front for routing guide bids. That’s how small fleets punch above their weight.

Real Talk – What I Tell My Carriers

When I work with small carriers inside the Playbook, I don’t sell dreams. I deliver strategy. And the truth is, broker consolidation isn’t going away. If you’re waiting for things to go “back to normal,” you’re already behind.

Here’s what I tell my fleet owners every single week:

Stop thinking of brokers as your customers. They’re not. They’re your middleman.
Stop looking at load boards as a strategy. They’re a backup plan.
Start investing time in what builds long-term leverage: shipper relationships, clean compliance, and operational consistency.

Because in this new landscape, the winners will be the ones who control the freight—not the ones chasing it.

Final Word

Broker consolidation is changing the rules of the game, but it’s not the end of the road for small carriers—it’s just a different road. The ones who adjust, evolve, and build outside the load board will thrive. The ones who don’t will keep running harder for less money.

Don’t let size be your excuse. Let it be to your advantage. Move faster, build tighter, and stay focused.

Because in this business, the ones who adapt are the ones who survive—and the ones who dominate.

ATRI report: Rising costs continue to squeeze trucking industry

Rising costs collided with depressed freight rates, according to ATRI’s latest operational costs of trucking benchmarking report. According to the data, the industry’s average cost of operating a truck declined slightly by 0.4% to $2.260 per mile. That’s good news but the freight devil lies in the details. When removing lower fuel costs, marginal costs increased 3.6% to $1.779, the highest costs ever recorded by ATRI for non-fuel operating costs.

The report showed truckload carriers were hit hardest in operating margin (OR), operating at an average OR of -2.3% in 2024 compared to 3% in 2023 and 8% OR in 2022. Other modes saw operating margins continue to deteriorate, most sectors struggled with margins below 2%. Only the LTL sector maintained positive profitability at 11.6% OR. Reefer carriers fell from 6% OR in 2022, to 2% in 2023 before settling at barely above breakeven at 0.1%. Flatbed / Oversized saw a similar trend, OR fell from 7% in 2022 to 5% in 2023, then 0.4% for 2024.

“The trucking industry is facing the most challenging freight market in years, with loads down and costs increasing,” said Groendyke Transport, Inc. President and CEO Greg Hodgen in a press release.

Several cost categories saw increases, with truck and trailer payments rising 8.3% to a record-high $0.390 per mile, and driver benefits costs increasing 4.8% to $0.197 per mile. Driver wages, traditionally the largest contributor to cost increases following the pandemic, rose more modestly at 2.4%, slightly below the inflation rate.

The report saw numerous other operational adjustments made by carriers to weather the freight recession. Truck capacity dropped 2.2% as companies sold vehicles, empty miles increased to an average of 16.7%, and the drivers-per-truck ratio fell to 0.93 as carriers parked equipment. Many fleets also reduced non-driver staff by 6.8% as a cost-management strategy.

Despite these challenges, there were some positive trends. Average truck age, dwell time per stop, and mileage between breakdowns all improved. Regarding dwell, the report notes, “Overall average dwell time decreased slightly in 2024, by 2 minutes, to 1 hour and 38 minutes per stop – just 22 minutes below the industry-standard threshold for excessive driver detention. The source of this improvement, however, was limited exclusively to the truckload sector.”

June For-Hire Trucking Index shows volume weakness amid capacity contraction

ACT Research recently released its June For-Hire Trucking Index, which showed continued deterioration in freight volumes alongside decreasing capacity. The diffusion index is based on a survey of carriers. A reading above 50 shows growth, while anything below 50 is degradation. The Volume Index saw its third consecutive month of softening, falling to 42.5 points (seasonally adjusted) in May, from 43.4 points in April.

“The myriad impacts of tariffs and opaqueness regarding future trade decisions have destroyed business planning and slowed economic activity,” according to ACT Research. “While we may see some improvement in trade volumes ahead of the August 9th China trade decision, the pull-forward of freight into Q1 has necessitated a payback later this year.”

In spite of sustained driver availability, fleets continue to struggle with profitability. The Driver Availability Index tightened 3.1 points in May to 50.9 points, the 37th consecutive month at or above 50. The report adds, “Struggling owner-operators turning in their operating authorities have also provided a steady supply of experienced drivers for fleets. But after three years of weak rates/profitability, investments in driver training are under pressure. Roadcheck may have contributed to the still positive, but lower level of driver availability in May too.”

The Capacity Index decreased to 46.4 in May from 47.1 in April, as carriers reduced their fleet tractor counts. Fleet purchase intentions remained significantly below historical norms, with only 27% of respondents planning to buy new equipment in the next three months, compared to the 54% long-term average. ACT describes fleet reluctance as “generationally weak profits, economic uncertainty, and regulatory uncertainty.”

The Pricing Index showed some improvement, rising 8.4 points to 47.8 in May from 39.4 in April, though this was largely attributed to the temporary tightening effect of the annual Roadcheck inspection event rather than fundamental market improvements.

Private versus for-hire fleet dynamics remain a factor to watch. The report adds, “The supply-side should contract as private fleets decelerate fleet growth and for-hire fleets remain on the sidelines. Rising equipment costs due to tariffs further that case, but the flip side to tariffs is slower freight market growth, which will prolong the recovery in the for-hire sector.”

Most recent episode

UPS drivers to receive buyout offer as company shrinks parcel network

A UPS driver scans a package after exiting brown delivery truck.

UPS plans to offer voluntary buyouts to unionized delivery drivers for the first time in its history as it looks to align the workforce with the downsizing of its domestic ground network and Amazon business.

The news follows management’s disclosure in April of intentions to eliminate 20,000 front-line positions as part of a broader effort to cut excess capacity and improve profits. UPS’s (NYSE: UPS) network optimization plan, called Network of the Future, envisions closing 200 sortation centers over five years and increasing automation for handling packages. Dozens of facilities have already been consolidated in the past year.

Package drivers would “receive a generous financial package if they choose to leave UPS” on top of earned retirement benefits, including pension and healthcare, the parcel freight company said in a statement Thursday. “As we navigate an unprecedented business landscape, we are executing the largest network reconfiguration in UPS history” and need to similarly adjust headcount, the company explained.

Parcel volumes are under pressure from a variety of headwinds, including Trump administration tariffs that have slowed imports and a January decision to reduce Amazon business by 50% over 18 months because so much of it is unprofitable.

UPS’s voluntary severance plan angered the Teamsters union, which says the Atlanta-based company is obligated to create 30,000 jobs under a five-year contract ratified in August 2023, which forestalled a nationwide strike. It urged members to reject the buyout offer.

“UPS is trying to weasel its way out of creating good union jobs here in America by dangling insulting buyouts in front of Teamsters drivers. It is an illegal violation of our national contract,” said Teamsters President Sean O’Brien in a news release. “UPS is obligated to establish tens of thousands of new full-time jobs under the agreement. But CEO Carol Tomé and UPS’s corporate managers are hoping that if they offer paltry severance packages to enough workers, no one will notice the company is setting the union’s contract on fire. UPS Teamsters work too damn hard to be treated with such disrespect.”

Teamster contracts enable UPS drivers employed 30 years or more to receive employer-paid health care throughout retirement, a benefit that would not be guaranteed to all workers under UPS’s severance plan, according to the union. The current contract calls for UPS to elevate 22,500 part-time workers to full-time positions and create another 7,500 positions.

“We have approached the Teamsters on this topic and remain committed to the agreements we reached in 2023,” UPS said.

The Teamsters, which represents 340,000 UPS workers, last week accused UPS of failing to comply with the hiring requirement and a commitment to provide 28,000 air conditioned package cars and vans for heat relief in many parts of the country. It requested data from UPS on the status of open positions, as well as the delivery rate for vehicles equipped with air conditioning. The Teamsters gave the company until July 1 to provide answers, but the company has requested additional time to respond, the union said.

“Our members cannot be bought off and we will not allow them to be sold out. The Teamsters are prepared to fight UPS on every front with every available resource to shut down this illegal buyout program,” O’Brien said. “UPS needs to live up to the existing contract. They must honor their commitments, just as Teamsters do every day, reliably delivering packages to hundreds of millions of Americans. Profits are not more important than people, not at UPS or any other employer.”

UPS executives said during April’s earnings presentation that the company expects to save more than $1.2 billion this year by eliminating 25 million operating hours across the workforce. A similar amount in semi-variable cost reductions are estimated from the reduction of 20,000 employees.

Click here for more FreightWaves/PostalMag stories by Eric Kulisch.

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Feds ease skills evaluation for physically impaired truck drivers

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have issued a provisional renewal of an exemption for truck drivers licensed in Virginia who need a Skill Performance Evaluation (SPE) certificate to haul freight across state lines.

SPE certificates are issued to truck drivers who are otherwise qualified to operate a truck but fall short of certain regulatory requirements because of a loss or impairment of an arm or leg. Federal regulations require FMCSA to conduct the SPE and that it be approved by an FMCSA division administrator.

But the exemption allows Virginia-based truck drivers subject to the FMCSA SPE certificate requirements to continue to fulfill those requirements with an SPE certificate issued by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

“By granting this exemption request, FMCSA would provide a more efficient means of addressing SPE requests and provide a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the current federal process,” wrote Virginia DMV Commissioner Gerald Lackey in his exemption renewal request.

“In addition, allowing the Virginia DMV to continue this more expedited SPE process that mirrors the federal process would help increase SPE holders’ opportunities for employment requiring interstate operation of commercial motor vehicles.”

Lackey also noted that the exemption would also contribute to the state’s commitment to “being the most military and veteran-friendly state in the nation” through the DMV’s Troops to Trucks program, aimed at making it easier for military veterans to get a Virginia CDL.

“By expediting the SPE process, wounded military personnel and veterans also experience ease in transitioning to civilian employment,” he said.

“An expedited SPE process reduces the time between discharge and employment for many wounded veterans while addressing the trucking industry’s shortage of qualified licensed commercial truck drivers.”

Virginia DMV was initially approved to administer federal SPEs in 2014, and FMCSA has renewed the authorization several times, with the most recent expiring on July 7.

The provisional renewal is limited to six months. FMCSA will decide whether the exemption should be renewed through July 3030 after reviewing public comments.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.

XPO rating cut by S&P, agency cites continuing weak freight market

XPO’s credit rating has been downgraded by S&P Global Ratings, as the ratings agency said “persistently soft freight market conditions” are not likely to improve on a “material” basis for the next 12 months.

The LTL carrier’s new issuer credit rating is BB, down one notch from BB+. XPO (NYSE: XPO) has had a negative outlook from S&P Global since December 2023. A negative outlook is often a prelude to a downgrade–just as a positive outlook can come before an upgrade–but the more than 18 months it has sat with a negative outlook and no action is relatively long by credit agency standards.

In conjunction with the downgrade, S&P Global moved the outlook on XPO to stable from negative.

With the move, the company rating on XPO at S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) and Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) are now equivalent. Moody’s has a Ba2 rating on XPO, which is considered on the same level as a BB rating at S&P Global. Both grades are two notches below the cutoff for investment grade versus non-investment grade debt ratings.

S&P’s move comes more than two weeks after Fitch Ratings affirmed its rating on XPO at BB+. That is one notch above the ratings for Moody’s and S&P Global, but also is not investment grade.

Yellow acquisition led to negative outlook

When XPO was put on a negative outlook by S&P at the end of 2023, a key spur to that action was XPO’s acquisition of 28 terminals from bankrupt Yellow Corp. for $870 million.

That acquisition resulted in “elevated leverage projected over the near term,” S&P said in its rationale for why it made the change on XPO Thursday. “At the time, we believed the freight market was nearing an inflection after operating at trough levels since mid-2023; however, market conditions have yet to show meaningful improvement, and we no longer anticipate conditions will improve over the next 12 months.”

A recap of the conditions facing trucking and the LTL sector is familiar to those in the industry: “tonnage has continued to decline…through both decreasing shipment per day and weight per shipment, a meaningful departure from our previous expectation for tonnage growth inflecting positive back in 2024.”

In discussing the terminals that led to the negative outlook, S&P said the doors the company bought “left XPO with excess capacity of 30% as volumes remain muted.”

Little optimism for the freight market

The bearish outlook for the freight market pops up numerous times in the S&P Global ratings report. Tonnage “could return to growth in 2026,” the agency said, but it would not be at a pace that would have led XPO to keep its BB+ rating. “Ongoing uncertainty around trade policies and potential effects on economic growth further clouds visibility into macroeconomic conditions that could weigh on demand,” S&P Global said.

Among the financial metrics cited by S&P Global that led to the downgrade, beyond its macroeconomic view of the freight market, the ratings agency said XPO’s ratio of Funds From Operations (FFO) to debt will be in the high 20% level by the end of 2025 and reach above 30% by the end of 2027. That ratio was about 23% when it did the Yellow deal, S&P said. The 27% level “remains below our 30% downside trigger.”

XPO’s net debt leverage at the end of the first quarter was 2.5X, which S&P Global said was an improvement from a year earlier, when it was 2.9X. The target for the company is 1X to 2X, the agency said. “Leverage has consistently been above management’s target,” S&P Global said.

Positive on the company’s performance

Parts of the S&P report are an endorsement of the company’s position relative to its peers. It said the LTL carrier “continues to outperform the industry with quarterly yield growth consistently in the mid- to high-single-digit percent area of the past years.”

XPO’s stock is up 23.4% in the last year and 14.9% in the last month. By comparison, Old Dominion Freight Lines (NASDAQ: ODFL) is up 4.9% in the last month and down 6% in the last year.

S&P Global’s praise of XPO It cites new revenue from “value-added services,” and increasing the level of insourcing of linehaul miles. As a result, its level of purchased transportation is “now approaching a steady state,” S&P Global said.

In the first quarter of 2025, XPO’s purchased transportation of $399 million was down 8.9% from the $438 million a year earlier as the company’s revenue was down just 3.2%.

Even with a significant percentage of the Yellow terminals now seen as surplus capacity, S&P Global did not criticize the acquisition. Even as tonnage remains weak, the agency said, “we expect the acquired terminals to provide some cost benefit in terms of linehaul, pickup and delivery, and dock operations. Over the longer term, we continue to believe they will be incrementally margin accretive when the market inevitably recovers.”

More articles by John Kingston

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Congress approves bill unleashing major tax breaks for trucking

WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to sign into law a giant tax and spending cuts package approved by Congress on Thursday that includes tax breaks that could significantly boost trucking industry investment.

H.R. 1, nicknamed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act but opposed unanimously by Democrats, passed narrowly along party lines after a record-breaking floor speech by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., that delayed the vote on the bill for almost nine hours.

Chief among the tax provisions that are expected to help trucking companies grow their business is a permanent extension and enhancement of the 20% deduction for Qualified Business Income (QBI), a provision that was part of the Trump 2017 tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year.

The QBI deduction allows trucking companies and other businesses that are set up as sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S corporations avoid being placed at a tax disadvantage relative to large corporations.

The new QBI provision expands eligibility for the deduction and gives businesses with certain QBI levels an inflation-adjusted minimum deduction of $400.

Congress also reinstated 100% bonus depreciation that now applies to qualified assets acquired after January 19, 2025, and placed in service before January 1, 2030 (2031, in some cases). The provision will allow small-business truckers to immediately deduct the full cost of those assets, a tax benefit that encourages investing in new trucks and equipment.

Truck drivers could also see more take-home pay now that Congress has made permanent the individual income tax rates that were also part of the 2017 tax cut package, along with an increase in the standard deduction.

A permanent extension and increase of the Estate Tax Exemption is considered another benefit for family-owned trucking companies by providing more certainty for business planning and succession.

The legislation also makes it easier for new truck drivers to obtain a CDL by expanding education savings plans to cover expenses for truck driver training.

The American Trucking Associations supported the legislation as it moved through Congress.

“Motor carriers, the overwhelming majority of which are small businesses that operate ten trucks or fewer, will now have the ability to plan for the future, continue to provide good-paying jobs, and upgrade equipment,” commented ATA President Chris Spear in a statement.

“We commend congressional leaders for recognizing this fact and crafting this tax relief package that supports the 8.5 million Americans who work throughout trucking.”

Truckers blocked from overtime pay exemption

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, representing small-business truckers, was not as supportive. OOIDA had opposed several provisions that had been included in the initial version of the bill, including a $100 annual fee to access a new website to be created by FMCSA that would provide motor carrier fitness data. The provision was subsequently stripped out.

OOIDA also noted that truck drivers who are voluntarily paid overtime by their employers will not be able to take advantage of the bill’s much-hyped “no tax on overtime pay” provision – which survived the final version of the bill – because only workers who are required by law to be paid overtime are eligible. The trucking industry is exempt from the overtime pay requirement.

“Unfortunately, truckers won’t benefit from this key provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer in a statement.

“It’s time for Congress to fix a nearly century-old oversight by passing the bipartisan GOT Truckers Act and ensure truckers are eligible for both overtime pay and the tax relief extended to other blue collar workers.”

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.

Running on Ice: Port Laredo becomes a cold chain powerhouse

Port Laredo, Texas, has cemented its top U.S. hub for cold chain logistics across the U.S.-Mexico border. The Port handles more than 1,000 refrigerated truckloads each month. The facility has three separate temperature-controlled inspection bays. The bays facilitate inspection from federal agencies such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with zero risk of exposure to external temperatures.

Kent Richard, a senior official and logistics expert with Port Laredo, said in a news release, “Maintaining an unbroken cold chain is not a luxury. It’s an economic and public health imperative. We’re talking about fresh produce, pharmaceuticals, seafood, and vaccines. There’s no margin for error.”

Positioned at the World Trade Bridge, Port Laredo has served as a major commercial nexus for more than twenty years, facilitating a broad range of temperature‑sensitive commodities. Its expansive influence spans the food, healthcare, chemical, and aerospace sectors, enabling manufacturers and shippers across the Americas to rely on its stable, climate‑secure infrastructure.

Looking ahead, the port’s leadership is keenly focused on adaptation and innovation. Plans to incorporate electric vehicles, autonomous trucking systems, and advanced data monitoring promise to enhance energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and further bolster temperature integrity. By investing in next‑generation technologies, Port Laredo is not only meeting current cold‑chain demands but actively shaping the future of logistics across North America.

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US, Mexico negotiating to avoid tariffs on tomatoes, official says

Mexican officials said they are negotiating with the Trump administration and U.S. growers to avoid ending the trade agreement that lets Mexico export tomatoes to the U.S. duty-free.

The Trump administration said in April it plans to withdraw from the Tomato Suspension Agreement between the two countries on July 14.

In addition to withdrawing from the suspension agreement, the U.S. Department of Commerce said tomatoes from Mexico will be tariffed between 17% and 21%.

“Mexico is moving towards zero tariffs, and of course, we demand the same conditions we give to American products in Mexico,” Leonel Cota Montaño, Undersecretary of Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said according to Milenio.

Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, Mexico’s Undersecretary of the Economy, and Julio Berdegué, Secretary of Agriculture, met with U.S. tomato growers in Washington on Wednesday, according to media reports.

“I hope that within 72 hours we’ll hear from the secretary of agriculture and the undersecretary of economy, and that this will be positive,” Montaño said.

Tomatoes sold in the U.S. from Mexico are controlled by the Department of Commerce through the suspension agreement, which sets minimum pricing and regulates sales between growers and importers.

Mexican tomato producers signed an agreement with President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2019 to end a tariff dispute.

As part of the 2019 agreement, Mexico-based growers agreed not to sell tomatoes below a reference price, a seasonably adjusted floor price at which Mexican tomatoes can’t fall underneath and still be exported to the U.S.

In April, the Department of Commerce said the suspension agreement has failed to protect U.S. growers.

“The current agreement has failed to protect U.S. tomato growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports, as Commerce has been flooded with comments from them urging its termination. This action will allow U.S. tomato growers to compete fairly in the marketplace,” the department said in a news release on April 14.

Mexico exports about 56% of the tomatoes it produces, with 99% of exports destined for the U.S., according to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, reported Milenio.

In 2024, the U.S. imported $3.12 billion worth of fresh tomatoes from Mexico. This accounted for the majority of the total U.S. tomato imports, which were valued at $3.63 billion, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity and Texas A&M.

The Laredo customs district in South Texas — which includes Laredo’s World Trade Bridge and the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Pharr — accounts for the majority of tomato imports from Mexico, followed by the border crossing in Nogales, Arizona.

President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs on imported tomatoes from Mexico has drawn both support and criticism from U.S. trade stakeholders and growers.

“The Tomato Suspension Agreement is at risk. If withdrawn, a 17% import tax could hit fresh tomatoes from Mexico, increasing prices and limiting the variety and flavor we rely on. This affects everyone, from growers and distributors to restaurants and families at the dinner table. Let’s protect our border economy and our food choices,” the Nogales-Santa Cruz County (Arizona) Chamber of Commerce recently posted on Facebook.

Dante Galeazzi, CEO of the Texas International Produce Association (TIPA), said the Tomato Suspension Agreement is crucial to South Texas.

More than 2.1 billion pounds of tomatoes grown in Mexico were imported through Texas in 2023, according to TIPA. Tomato imports directly support over 30,000 jobs in Texas, including industries such as transportation, logistics, warehousing and distribution.

“Tomatoes are one of the most significant imported commodities through Texas ports of entry,” Galeazzi said according to Texas Border Business.

Officials for the Florida Tomato Exchange (FTE) said they support ending the suspension agreement and tariffs on Mexican-grown tomatoes.

Florida growers have been pushing for more restrictions on Mexican-grown tomatoes for decades. Since 1996, the U.S. and Mexico have negotiated five separate agreements regarding tomato imports.

“For decades, American tomato farmers have suffered from unfair trade practices by Mexican tomato exporters,” Robert Guenther, FTE executive vice president, said in a news release. “Terminating this agreement and enforcing U.S. trade laws is the only way to finally give domestic growers the relief they’ve long deserved.”

U.S. intermodal rail narrowly down

Rail traffic in the United States was back below 2024 levels for the latest week ending June 28.

According to the Association of American Railroads, traffic for the week was 491,424 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.2% from the same week a year ago. That included 225,227 carloads, up 0.05%, and 266,197 containers and trailers, down 0.3%. It was the third time in four weeks this year that traffic has been below 2024 levels.

Grain led just four gainers among 10 commodities, up 15.9%. Motor vehicles and parts was 9% ahead.

Metallic ores and metals led declines, off 12.5%.

At the midway point of 2025 — 26 of 52 weeks — the cumulative rail traffic total is 12,688,896 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.9% y/y. Included in that figure are 5,705,567 carloads, up 2.4%, and 6,983,329 intermodal units, up 5.1%.

North American volume for the week, from nine reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads, totals 685,873 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 0.7% over the corresponding week in 2024. That includes 330,171 carloads, down 1.2%, and 355,702 intermodal units, up 2.6%.

The year-to-date total for North America is 17,454,891 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.7% compared to the first 26 weeks of 2024. That includes 4,238,619 carloads and intermodal units in Canada, up 1.2%, and 618,376 carloads and intermodal units in Mexico, down 8.6%.

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FedEx to implement single pricing structure for express, standard pickups

A dockworker loads packages into a FedEx van.

FedEx Corp. next month will implement a streamlined pricing structure for parcel pickups in the U.S. and Canada aimed at simplifying the customer experience. The move is made possible by the company’s ongoing campaign to collapse separate Express and Ground delivery networks into a single operation.

The new rating structure, which takes effect Aug. 18, will charge one fee for both expedited or standard shipping, even if FedEx (NYSE: FDX) performs two pickups in the same day. For regularly scheduled and automated pickups, customers will be charged weekly based on the number of pickup days. On-demand pickups will be charged per-stop, FedEx explained on its website.

(Automated pickups occur if participating shippers generate a shipping label by a specified time. If no shipping label is generated on a given day, the pickup is automatically canceled.)

FedEx said business customers have long clamored for a single pickup instead of having to prepare packages for separate FedEx Express and FedEx Ground pickups, often on the same day. FedEx this year is ramping up the rollout of its Network 2.0 strategy for integrating the two networks into a single one under the FedEx Express brand. The goal is to increase efficiency by consolidating parcel sorting in common facilities and having a single van deliver parcels to neighborhoods rather than different vans crisscrossing the same area multiple times per day.

In early June, Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx folded together the operation of 30 stations across 11 local markets and was on track to combine another 33 stations across nine markets by the end of the month, CEO Raj Subramaniam said during the company’s earnings presentation on June 24. About 2.5 million packages, or 12% of total volume, are now flowing through consolidated facilities on an average daily basis.

The new pricing structure benefits customers by providing consistent and straightforward rates instead of customers having to track costs by the service offering being used, according to the carrier. It also provides more control in scheduling pickups because businesses can select the number of regular pickup days that fit their needs. Rather than charging ad hoc pickup fees per-package, FedEx will charge per-stop, which likely will save shippers money. And on-call shipments can be consolidated into regular pickups, further streamlining pickup activity.

Fees will vary based on the day of pickup and how it is scheduled. A future-day pickup, for example, will cost $9 or $10.50 per stop, depending on whether it is scheduled online or by phone. A same day on-call pick up will cost $14.75 or $16.75.

Click here for more FreightWaves/PostalMag stories by Eric Kulisch.

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