Trucking

Three times in five years. That is how many times the federal standard governing whether an owner-operator is legally classified as an independent contractor or an employee has fundamentally shifted under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The 2021 Trump rule. The 2024 Biden rule. And now, on February 27, 2026, the Department of Labor’s formal […]

FMCSA does not publish emergency bulletins for hypothetical problems. When a federal agency puts out a formal, dated, publicly addressed warning that begins with the phrase “DO NOT” in all capital letters, it is because the behavior being warned against is happening — at scale, right now — and the agency wants the industry to […]

For the first time, legislation introduced in the 119th Congress would require every motor carrier, subcontractor, and owner-operator hauling Department of Defense freight to certify they have no ties to Chinese military companies, and back that certification up with their signature.

A new report from Uber Freight signals continuing volatility across trucking and global logistics as spot rates rise and policy shifts reshape supply chains.

The freight market is improving. That part is true. Spot rates on the Sonar National Truckload Index climbed from around $2.60 per mile in mid-January to nearly $2.82 by February — a 20-cent jump that had carriers posting on social media for the first time in years without the word “survival” attached to it. Tender […]

The headline writes itself and the industry groups are celebrating: Pell Grants are coming to CDL schools. The American Trucking Associations called it a move that would “dismantle financial barriers that prevent students from low-income households from accessing the career pathways that lead to the trucking industry.” The Secretary of Education said a great education […]

A crash on the Florida Turnpike last August killed three people. The driver was Harjinder Singh, a native of India who had entered the country without authorization in 2018 and was operating a commercial motor vehicle under an out-of-state CDL. On March 6, 2026, the Florida Senate passed a bill in direct response to that […]

The White House has launched trade investigations into 16 U.S. trading partners, potentially paving the way for new tariffs.

Discover emerging identity verification gaps in military logistics and their national security implications.

Layoffs across manufacturing and logistics operations signal companies are recalibrating supply chains amid shifting freight demand and industrial output.

A driver gets his permit in Hawaii, boards a plane to New Jersey, trains Sunday through Thursday, passes a skills test on Friday, flies home Saturday, and walks out of a DMV with a commercial driver’s license. Federal law allowed all of it. That’s the problem.

Mexico’s manufacturers of trucks, tractor-trailers and buses reported sharp year-over-year declines in production, exports and sales in February.

Before you can have an honest conversation about what’s happening to DACA recipients in the trucking industry right now, you have to first be honest about what DACA actually is – because a lot of people are weighing in on this policy debate without a firm grip on the facts, and that confusion is doing […]

Most small carriers do not lose in hiring. They lose in what happens after the handshake — the documentation that didn’t get collected, the employer verification that never got followed up on, the drug test that cleared but nobody logged into the right system, the medical card that expired and sat in a drawer for […]

Diesel is approaching $5 a gallon and the geopolitical situation driving it is not showing signs of a quick resolution. You cannot control what crude does on the futures market. You cannot control what’s happening in the Strait of Hormuz. You cannot control whether the Federal Reserve pauses rate cuts or whether the broker on […]

A bill moving through the House of Representatives right now would establish the first federal framework for putting fully autonomous heavy-duty trucks on public roads. The SELF DRIVE Act of 2026 — formally H.R. 7390, introduced February 5 by Rep. Bob Latta of Ohio — is being framed by its supporters as a necessary step […]

Werner’s Jaime Jones explains how AI GPUs, semiconductor wafers, and data center hardware are transforming freight logistics. Shippers are demanding new levels of real-time visibility, engineered transit plans, and carrier-shipper collaboration that go far beyond traditional cost-per-mile thinking.

There is no show like it in this industry. The Mid-America Trucking Show — MATS — returns to the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville from March 26 through March 28, 2026, and if you operate a small trucking company, an owner-operator business, or a fleet under twenty trucks, the question of whether you should go […]

The deadline everyone in trucking has been watching finally arrived. On March 6, 2026, approximately 13,000 non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses were cancelled in California — not by a clean resolution, not by a negotiated agreement between the state and federal government, but by California bowing under the weight of a funding threat it had already […]

The future of driverless trucking lies through not software but on how to produce them at scale. That’s according to newly released research by Telemetry, a communications and research firm heavily invested in the space. FreightWaves spoke with Sam Abuelsamid, Telemetry’s vice president of market research and David Liu, CEO and co-founder of PlusAI about […]

PlusAI released SuperDrive 6.0, adding night driving and construction-zone handling to autonomous trucking software. Trucks are already hauling loads in Texas, with 24/7 operations now in reach.

In this episode of What the Truck?!?, host Malcolm Harris sits down with Sarah Olmstead and Mike Holland to discuss why the Express Carriers Association (ECA) Marketplace is beneficial to the industry.

Texas-based Serna’s Trucking filed a Chapter 11 petition as it attempts to reorganize its debt while maintaining operations.

Diesel prices have spiked to $5.96 per gallon in premium markets as escalating Middle East tensions collide with America’s crumbling refinery base. The surge comes at a critical inflection point for trucking, with tender rejection rates climbing and capacity tightening after a brutal four-year freight recession, raising questions about whether the industry can capitalize on the recovery when fuel costs threaten to erase margin gains.

Small carriers and owner operators are not just fighting market conditions. They’re fighting the messaging. Every week, from the moment a DOT number gets applied for to the day a carrier tries to scale beyond their first truck, there is a constant stream of outreach, advertising, promises, and pitches flooding in from every direction. Fuel […]

This is not a drill, and this is not a market correction. What is happening to oil prices right now is a full-scale geopolitical energy shock, and if you operate a small trucking company – a fleet of one to twenty trucks, an owner-operator running solo, a box truck or hotshot operator trying to hold […]

This week in Borderlands Mexico: Authorities move to cancel permits for 350 Mexican steel importers; Serviacero USA buys rail-served site at Gulf Inland Logistics Park; and Phoenix-area men sentenced in $4.5M Amazon logistics fraud scheme.

Wholesale diesel prices jumped more than 30% last week, while retail diesel prices increased more than 14%. The rapid pace of these changes has potentially negative implications for both shippers and carriers.

Redwood Logistics is expanding its Mexico freight platform with the acquisition of Laredo-based EELCO as companies seek more integrated solutions.

Strong February truck orders suggest fleets are ramping up capital spending as freight volumes, rates and regulatory clarity improve.

Wabash’s cargo assurance solution replaces traditional seals with a digital system that logs every access event. The TrailerHawk.AI platform provides real-time alerts and verification on any trailer brand.

Federal regulators have removed 27 electronic logging devices from the approved list since January.

Regulations originally designed to protect brokers are being used against them.

Torc Robotics is taking its autonomous trucks where few competitors have ventured: the snow, ice and rain of Michigan’s humid continental climate. The Daimler Truck subsidiary announced it will expand public-road testing to the greater Ann Arbor area using the latest-generation autonomous chassis based on the Freightliner Cascadia. This marks a first and strategic departure […]

Two-way trade between the U.S. and Mexico climbed to a record $872.83 billion in 2025, reinforcing Mexico’s position as America’s largest trading partner.

Full ACT Expo 2026 speaker lineup announced: Incoming FedEx Freight CEO John Smith opens May 4 in Las Vegas. Nearly 400 executives include Rivian, Mack Trucks, Tesla, Waabi, Aurora and Amazon.

FreightWaves’ Thomas Wasson sits down with EROAD’s David Blackwell, ELD and Transport Product Manager, and Akshay Kumar, Senior Product Manager, to discuss why fleets with more data than ever are still struggling to act on it, and what the path forward actually looks like.

Laredo secured the biggest share of Texas’ inaugural rail crossing separation grants, positioning the border hub to boost freight velocity.

Lila Kate Trucking, an Alabama-based carrier with 15 drivers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Florida didn’t just get cold this winter. It got cold in a way that most growers working those fields hadn’t seen in over a decade, and the damage to the state’s produce supply is still being tallied. What started as a warning on the weather radar turned into one of the most consequential agricultural events […]

America sits on more oil than it can refine. While the Strait of Hormuz burns, the real chokepoint is between the wellhead and the truck stop.

Even with some tariffs struck down, small businesses say policy volatility — not clarity — is shaping their supply chain decisions.

Explore freight fraud tactics as stolen loads and identity scams plague logistics, evolving with new threats.

Einride raised $113 million in an oversubscribed PIPE that surpassed its $100 million target, bringing total committed investments to $213 million and positioning the Swedish company for a 2026 NYSE debut under the ticker ENRD.

This week in Borderlands: Canada, Mexico draw record foreign investment in 2025; TexAmericas Center hosts Tokyo delegation to boost Japan-Texas investment pipeline; and Twin Eagle expands rail capacity at Big Spring transload terminal.

Volvo Trucks North America has launched serial production of its 90% redesigned VNR regional-haul tractor at the New River Valley plant in Dublin, Va. Initial deliveries go to Tennessee homebuilder Clayton

A Russian-run crime group compromised more than 1,600 freight credentials across North America and Europe, a report says.

Every load that moves across the American freight network generates a paper trail. Proof of delivery documents. Bills of lading. Rate confirmations, accessorial charges, invoices – the list is endless. By the time a single shipment reaches its destination, carriers and brokers are managing a half-dozen or more documents, and each one needs to be […]

A firsthand, frontline reality of how freight moves from broker, carrier, spot, shipper direct, interlined and non-commodity freight to the crash scene.

Huge losses in Illinois’ commercial auto assigned risk plan are fueling claims that weak auditing and fleet misreporting may be distorting the state’s trucking insurance market.

Next-generation cargo theft often looks legitimate right up until the freight is gone.

The Dalilah Law, the Senate bill introduced by Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) following President Trump’s call during the State of the Union, would trigger a sharp, immediate contraction in trucking capacity if enacted, potentially igniting a trucking super cycle with overnight rate surges amid severely tight supply. Much higher trucking rates could become permanent, giving […]

Despite temporary inland bottlenecks and manufacturing pauses, brokers and parcel operators say cross-border commerce remained largely intact during Mexico’s recent security turmoil.

An Arkansas port plans to expand rail capacity as part of its multi-million dollar flood rebuilding project.

New bills, new enforcement actions, and a September deadline that turns every stalled bill into a live round.

Bot Auto has partnered with Ryan Transportation to launch driverless autonomous freight operations between Houston and Dallas this spring. Overnight runs will overcome driver fatigue and hours-of-service limits with precision autonomous technology.

Standard Freight Logistics Inc., a nearly 20-year-old long-haul carrier with 57 drivers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday.

Deadly cartel clashes in Mexico killed 25 National Guard members and disrupted ports and highways, though major U.S.-Mexico border crossings remain operational.

A dangerous driver is still in a truck with his own DOT number, operating under someone else’s authority.

The seventh installment in FreightWaves’ investigation into America’s trucking insurance crisis reveals that the apparent diversity of the commercial truck insurance market is an illusion. Behind dozens of subsidiary names filing BMC-91s with FMCSA sit a small number of Fortune 500 holding companies. The concentration of risk is worse than anyone in the industry realizes.

FreightWaves’ Thomas Wasson sits down with Steve Oliver, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Taylor & Martin Auctioneers, to talk about trends in the used equipment market and what they mean for the freight market at large.

The Entry-Level Driver Training regulations took effect in February 2022 after years of development and industry lobbying. The result was a federal training standard that requires no minimum hours of instruction, relies on self-certification at every checkpoint, and leaves every meaningful decision about actual driver competency to the fifty states, each operating in fifty different ways. The fraud factories did not slow down.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. Within hours, the White House invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a new 10% global surcharge, later raised to 15%. Up to $175 billion in collected duties now sits in legal limbo. Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and heavy trucks remain untouched. For the freight industry, the ruling didn’t end the trade war. It changed the weapons.

The death of CJNG leader “El Mencho” triggered violent retaliation across western Mexico, disrupting highways, rattling the Port of Manzanillo and threatening cross-border trade.

This week in Borderlands Mexico: Violent cargo theft grips Mexican truckers; Filter King opens Dallas manufacturing and distribution facility; and HENN Americas opens $4M automotive components plant in Silao, Mexico.

When a truck kills someone, we ask who was driving. We never ask who insured them. That question tells you more about what went wrong than anything else in the crash file.

Executive orders, rulemakings, legislation, and court challenges all operate on different timelines with different powers and different guardrails. Yesterday’s historic Duffy-Barrs press conference was the biggest enforcement announcement in a generation, and it still has to survive the process. Here’s why, and what comes next.

President Donald Trump unveiled a new 10% global tariff after the Supreme Court ruled many of his prior tariffs were unconstitutional.

GXO Logistics is betting on North American growth, robotics and AI to power stronger margins and free cash flow in 2026.

Detroit has unveiled its Gen 6 heavy-duty engines for 2027. The updated DD13, DD15 and DD16 models meet the EPA’s stricter emissions standards while offering better fuel economy in Freightliner and Western Star trucks.

Our investigation reveals that 5% of carriers, as identified by their insurers, account for nearly a third of all truck crashes. No federal or state law requires insurers to review a single page of safety data before binding a policy.

The 287(g) program has turned local law enforcement into immigration officers across 40 states. Compliant hiring is not defensible hiring. Here’s the difference, and why it matters now more than ever.

For the last few years, if you’ve followed trucking headlines, you’d think the entire industry is falling apart. Fraud schemes. Cargo theft. Crash investigations. CDL scandals. Bankruptcy filings. Rate collapses. Regulatory fights. Scroll your feed long enough and it starts to feel like trucking is nothing but dysfunction. But that isn’t the full story. It […]

Through the integration of its recent FirstFleet acquisition, Werner has solidified its position as a top five Dedicated provider.

Catena Clearing is partnering with REPOWR to provide verified trailer intelligence.

Norfolk Southern and CMA CGM are offering a new door-to-door intermodal service incorporating rail’s reach with truckload simplicity.

California and Texas dominated U.S. cargo crime in 2025, representing more than half of the nation’s 2,576 reported freight thefts.

American agriculture rarely makes front-page freight headlines, yet it quietly underpins a significant portion of trucking demand. Grain, livestock, fertilizer, seed, feed, refrigerated meat, packaged goods, ethanol, farm equipment—entire freight ecosystems depend on a stable farm economy. Recent reporting has highlighted a sharp rise in farm bankruptcies and growing concern from agricultural leaders about systemic […]

When I was a teenager working at a Subway in Sumter, South Carolina, I used to get corrected for something that seemed small at the time. I would build a sandwich, stack it high, and make it look generous. My boss would walk by and say, “That’s too many tomato slices.” I didn’t understand it […]

The latest bankruptcy filings underscore how the freight market’s uneven recovery is straining companies from trucking to manufacturing.

New tool allows users to intuitively analyze trucking capacity by geography.

The freight market is entering 2026 with cautious optimism replacing the extreme volatility of recent years. As market dynamics evolve, shippers and carriers are approaching the year with notably different strategies, according to new survey data from Echo Global Logistics. Echo surveyed 1,024 shippers and 832 carriers between October and November 2025, capturing expectations that […]

Dr. John McElligott, co-founder of the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund and a longtime advocate for truck driver health, has died at 80.

John Deere, Rockwell, AOI, SEL and others break ground on plants across Texas, the Midwest and Southeast.

You can’t own a fishing boat, fly an airplane, broadcast a radio signal, split an atom, or drill for oil in America without proving you’re an American. But you can operate an 80,000-pound commercial motor vehicle on every highway in every state in the nation without being a citizen of this country, or even setting foot in it. Welcome to the American trucking industry, where the door isn’t just open. It’s been taken off the hinges.

The freight market has been sending mixed signals for months, but one trend stands out clearly as we move deeper into 2026: trucking spot rates have staged a meaningful recovery, while intermodal rates remain stubbornly anchored near cycle lows. Look at the data. Truckload spot rates (inclusive of fuel) are holding elevated around $2.80 per […]

For the better part of three plus years, most small carriers and owner-operators have felt like they’ve been grinding uphill in soft dirt. Rates fell, truckload volumes cooled and tender rejections disappeared. All while new authorities flooded in and every time it looked like things might turn, something else pushed it back down to a […]

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has approved 17 changes to the 2026 North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria that will take effect April 1, 2026, and while some updates are technical, several directly affect how drivers and small fleets will be inspected on licensing, ELDs, brakes, cargo securement, wheels and even hazardous materials placarding. On December […]

This week in Borderlands: Exports of Mexican-made trucks to US fell 54% in January; China-based Daimay opens first auto plant in Mexico and Alliant Insurance acquires a trucking portfolio, opens Laredo office.

The Trump administration is reassessing portions of last year’s steel and aluminum tariffs and weighing targeted exemptions.

For decades, insurance was the one thing you couldn’t fake your way past to start a trucking company. That’s no longer true. As instant-issue coverage and $300 authority fees make it easier than ever to place 80,000 pounds on public highways without verification, a scalable, pre-authority risk-control model could restore the gate the industry lost without adding a single federal employee to the payroll.

A new legal battle is underway following the U.S. Department of Transportation’s final rule tightening eligibility standards for nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses, setting the stage for continued litigation in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. One day after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published its final rule formalizing restrictions on nondomiciled CDLs, a coalition […]

My investigation found 76 Risk Retention Groups insure nearly 30,000 motor carriers linked to more than 6,300 fatal crashes, all without state guaranty fund protection for crash victims. The findings come as reports indicate that major insurers, including Chubb and AmTrust, are exiting the Chicago trucking market, funneling high-risk carriers into RRGs that have already incurred $199 million in unpaid losses and multiple insolvencies.

The House of Representatives voted to lift tariffs on Canadian goods amid rising concerns over costs, freight volumes and North American trade stability.

Recent enforcement actions show criminal networks targeting shipments, warehouses, border crossings and international exports.

It’s a win.
The non-domicile CDL final rule eliminates EADs as a pathway to a commercial license and restricts eligibility to H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 visa holders. With 97 percent of the current 200,000 non-domiciled CDL holders unable to qualify under the new standard, expect 30,000 to 40,000 drivers removed from the commercial pool every year.

Thirty people are dead. At least 17 fatal crashes in 2025 alone involved non-domiciled commercial drivers who should never have been behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound truck. That’s ends today. People should be asking why it took this long to put American Trucking and American Motorists First.

GXO Logistics expects North American freight demand to remain stable in 2026, guiding for flat volumes while leaning on new contract wins.

U.S. Senator Jim Banks of Indiana has launched a new federal reporting initiative aimed at collecting safety-related concerns from within the trucking industry. The Truck Safety Tip Line, now live on his official Senate website, is designed as a centralized channel for drivers, carriers, industry employees and members of the public to submit information related […]

42 investigative article links covering CDL mills. Chameleon carriers. Fraudulent examiners. Bought legislators. Exposed vehicles. Every failure point in America’s deadliest supply chain crisis, exposed by an 25 year industry veteran.