Walk a truck dealer lot right now and you will see something you have not seen in years: inventory. Real inventory. Trucks lined up. Choices. And prices that look — compared to where used equipment was in 2022 and 2023 — like someone left the door open. That is not an accident. That is the […]
This week in Borderlands Mexico: Nearshoring fuels 800K-square-foot industrial build in El Paso; Hutchison Ports adds electric cranes at Port of Manzanillo; and Burlington breaks ground on distribution center near Phoenix.
Port Houston secured a $48 million grant to expand Bayport Container Terminal to boost capacity and truck flow.
Broker warns shippers not to expect a return to 2025 conditions.
We have never seen a twelve-month period in which the White House, the Department of Transportation, and FMCSA moved as aggressively, as comprehensively, and as effectively on the specific safety failures that haunt our highways and our industry. Before we sit down with Derek Barrs on Monday, here is the year that got us here.
FBI warns of rising cyber cargo theft, as cybercriminals increasingly target freight industry operations
Hirschbach Motor Lines plans to own 500 Aurora Driver-powered trucks as part of an expanded partnership that will let the Iowa carrier run a hybrid network
April’s State of Freight discussion suggests the current freight lull is more seasonal than structural.
A major U.S. alcohol distributor is closing facilities and laying off almost 4,700 workers across seven states.
Four months after their January agreement, Kodiak and Bosch have moved to engineering execution. Kodiak is testing Bosch camera samples and has completed early SensorPod integrations.
Every year, roughly the same time, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance runs its International Roadcheck. Three days. Thousands of inspectors. Tens of thousands of trucks. The dates get announced months in advance, the focus areas get published, and somehow, fleets still get caught off guard.
With 10,000 LNG trucks already operating globally, Westport is introducing its next-generation compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel storage and delivery system to ACT Expo 2026. powered
The Houston company landed a 231-mile empty-cab run from Houston to Hutchins on time with zero humans or remote assistance.
More than 300,000 carriers operate in a system that cannot fully verify who is behind each authority. With limited enforcement and disconnected data, fraud continues to enter through the front door. This May, industry leaders are heading to Washington, DC to address the problem at its source.
Re-rates are now a significant cost driver for LTL shipments, and Old Dominion Freight Line is focused on identifying gaps and providing better data for shippers.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection will restrict empty commercial truck crossings from Mexico to Eagle Pass, Texas, to afternoon hours starting Monday.
The rate is the rating. When the cheapest available carrier becomes the default selection criterion, the safety rating nobody actually checks becomes irrelevant anyway. The Supreme Court will decide by June whether brokers face any liability for that calculus at all.
On April 23, a State Department spokesperson confirmed that commercial truck driver visa processing has resumed under strict new standards. Now the question is whether the states tasked with running the new system have the institutional capacity to maintain what federal audit pressure forced them to fix.
The single most common-sense safety reform available to the trucking industry right now is to acknowledge that a regulation based on annual snapshots of a driver’s licensing status is inadequate for an industry where licenses can be suspended, revoked, or downgraded at any time.
A CDL driver disappeared from a Florida rest stop on April 17 with multiple vehicles missing from his hauler. Cargo theft is at record levels and the pipeline moving stolen American vehicles out of the country has never been more active.
This week the agency announced that new Clearinghouse registrants will have to prove their identity before gaining SAP-level access to a federal database that 38 million queries have trusted since 2020.
Werner’s Q1 results highlight early signs of a freight recovery, with rising rates and shrinking capacity setting up stronger earnings in the second half.
Port Houston’s March throughput climbed on grains and energy cargo, even as steel imports declined.
TruckSmarter is taking the freight industry into the future with the launch of Dispatch, combining AI capabilities into the industry’s first chat-based interface built specifically for freight. Now, truck drivers can eliminate hours scrolling through traditional load boards. Instead, drivers can ask anything to find loads, deploy agents to execute actions, such as a bidding […]
A Florida man has been charged in a federal case involving more than $600,000 in stolen onions and potatoes. Prosecutors say the scheme relied on posing as a legitimate business to secure and redirect shipments.
Uber Freight executive says “phantom capacity” is masking a tightening market as compliant drivers and secure lanes become harder to access.
Trump administration uses steep tariffs to drive production shifts as new projects in Indiana and Arkansas signal some traction.
This week in Borderlands Mexico: Texas cargo theft falls; DP World taps Terry Donohoe to lead Mexico operations; and BNSF boosting capacity AZ rail hub.
Trucking has tightened without the demand tailwind that defined the pandemic cycle.
Covenant Logistics points to a tightening driver market and stronger demand as early signs of a truckload rebound.
The driver isn’t always taking the load. They’re creating the moment where it can be taken.
A dozen small carriers and logistics firms filed for bankruptcy in April, signaling continued stress in the fragmented freight market.
Covenant Logistics Group Truckload sees momentum building after weather and fuel headwinds weigh on first quarter results.
The company has grown into the largest network of reservable truck parking in the country in less than four years since its 2022 founding.
The cross-border freight market between the United States and Mexico is entering a new chapter, and Werner is positioning itself at the center of it. FreightWaves’ Thomas Wasson sat down with Werner’s Nate Browne and Lance Dixon to discuss the future of nearshoring and cross-border freight.
Humble Robotics emerges from stealth with $24M seed funding and the Humble Hauler, a cabless autonomous electric truck for dock-to-dock freight.
Rising Chinese investment in Mexico is colliding with U.S. efforts to tighten trade rules.
Most cargo theft does not start with a truck. It starts with access that looks legitimate until it is too late.
Tesla says its long-delayed Semi will begin production this year, signaling a slow but critical ramp into the freight market.
Einride filed Form F-4 for its $1.35 billion SPAC merger with Legato and is deploying 75 electric trucks for Amazon across five U.S. locations.
Small and medium-sized businesses are rapidly restructuring sourcing and inventory strategies to mitigate the impact of tariffs.
Here is a number that does not get talked about enough: we have seen a some small carriers that have somewhere between $40,000 and $100,000 in completed work sitting as unpaid invoices at any given time. That money has been earned. The load moved. The delivery was made. The BOL is signed. The money simply […]
The maintenance cost story in trucking has been quietly telling the truth about the freight recession in a way that spot rates and load volumes never fully captured. When freight slows down, trucks run fewer miles, which means fewer service events per truck per month. The Q4 2025 Decisiv/TMC Parts and Labor Service Benchmark Report […]
If you have been running the load board for the past three years, you know what the bottom felt like. Loads sitting for hours. Brokers lowballing you on every call. Rates that barely covered fuel, let alone the truck payment. That was the freight recession — and it held from 2022 through most of 2025. […]
When the insurance renewal comes in higher than last year, most small carriers respond the same way: shop it, push back on the broker, maybe raise the deductible to get the premium down. That has been the playbook for a decade. It is increasingly not working — because the problem is not your specific loss […]
A surge in M&A, electrification and distribution buildouts signals rising demand for logistics services in Canada.
New AI RateAgents from BeyondTrucks enable carriers to automate complex fuel surcharges using plain language.
Alan Ritchey’s latest shutdown in New Jersey highlights mounting pressure on freight contractors as USPS continues pulling operations in-house.
The Trump administration launched a new system on Monday for importers and businesses to reclaim shares of $166 billion in tariff refunds.
Turn everyday bypasses into measurable gains across your entire fleet.
The industry points to billions in losses, but that number only captures what can be seen. When you factor in hidden activity and indirect costs, cargo theft becomes a much larger and more persistent risk.
This week in Borderlands: Truck exports to U.S. fall in March; Port of Manzanillo posts record Q1 container volumes; and GM, SAIC weigh Mexico partnership.
Gord Magill has been behind the wheel since high school. So was his father. So was his grandfather. That lineage gives “End of the Road: Inside the War on Truckers” something most books about trucking fundamentally lack: the credibility that comes only from someone who actually lived it.
A new wave of layoffs across logistics providers highlights ongoing contract volatility and soft demand in key freight segments.
FMCSA confirmed today that $73,502,543 in federal highway funding has been withheld from New York after the state refused to revoke non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses that its own DMV system issued illegally. More than half of the records audited violated federal law. Decertification of New York’s entire CDL program remains explicitly on the table.
Discover how a $287K VIN fraud scheme exploited the trucking industry using false identities.
FreightWaves’ Editorial Director, J.P. Hampstead, sits down with Alfonso Quijano to discuss the future of AI integration and the logistics labor market.
Prime Inc. and Old Dominion Freight Line are expanding U.S. terminal networks with new hubs in Georgia and Washington.
The federal government just rewired the system carriers use to challenge erroneous violations and crash data. Most truckers still do not know it exists. That needs to change, because your SMS scores, your insurance premiums, and your ability to keep working may depend on what you do next.
Mudflap has completed its acquisition of Parade. The deal pairs Mudflap’s location-verified carrier network with Parade’s capacity management platform for brokers, which has facilitated more than $40 billion in total cumulative freight transactions. Mudflap boasts more than 515,000 drivers across over 100,000 verified carriers. The Palo Alto-based fintech company provides fuel discount solutions to carriers […]
LeadCoverage analyzes qualified pipeline dollars generated per dollar of GTM spend.
From single-truck operators to mid-sized fleets, carriers across the U.S. are filing for bankruptcy as the freight downturn persists.
Trucker Path’s integration with Truckstop.com’s load board gives more than 1 million drivers access to significantly more freight listings directly in the TruckLoads app.
Strong cross-border volumes kept Mexico in the top U.S. trade position in February.
Rob Carpenter breaks down what it was like working with 60 Minutes on their explosive segment about chameleon carriers and the Super Ego network.
Mexico’s 2026 FDI ranking climb highlights nearshoring trends and cross-border freight opportunities tied to U.S. supply chains.
This was not stopped by a process. It was caught by chance.
This week in Borderlands Mexico: China automakers gain ground in Mexico as U.S. exports soften; OmniTRAX restarts Central Texas rail line with quarry deal; and China’s Windrose delivers first Class 8 EV in U.S.
EV Realty opened its flagship charging hub in San Bernardino on Thursday, delivering 76 high-power ports and 9 MW of capacity in the Inland Empire.
Fleet operators tend to think of risk in terms of isolated events, such as a crash, a failed inspection, or a compliance lapse. But according to Bob O’Connell, Account Executive of Strategic Accounts at J.J. Keller & Associates, that way of thinking is itself the biggest blind spot in the industry. “A lot of carriers, […]
DSV is shutting down operations at a Texas distribution center after losing a contract, with 391 workers affected.
Stolen freight worth $1M recovered by deputies, preventing major cargo theft loss.
On Nov. 30, 2022, a delivery driver put Athena Strand in the back of a branded van and strangled her. The company that hired him was seven months old. Its owner had never worked a day in the trucking industry. The box was checked. The FBI has linked more than 850 murders to commercial truck drivers since 2004 and is tracking 450 active suspects right now. This is a hiring problem. It has always been a hiring problem.
One gap was all it took. By the time it was noticed, the load was already too far gone to recover.
The war with Iran moved diesel up nearly 50 percent in five weeks and analysts are modeling $6 and higher if the Strait of Hormuz stays disrupted into summer. Carriers are repricing surcharges, shippers are absorbing new fees and everyone is looking for relief. The biggest lever most fleets have on their fuel budget is not an aerodynamics package or a new engine spec. It is the driver.
First standardized, accessible bulk freight rate data delivers outbound state-based pricing and round trip rates to shippers, carriers, and logistics operators CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — April 8 2026 — SONAR today announced the launch of Bulk Rates within the SONAR API, delivering the first standardized contract rate benchmarks for bulk trucking — a segment of the […]
Three updates to SONAR’s load prioritization and coverage strategy tool give carrier sales teams deeper lane intelligence, more actionable guidance, and a live connection between internal freight systems and the market. CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — April 8, 2026— SONAR today announced a significant expansion of Coverage Guide, SONAR’s load prioritization and coverage strategy tool, with three […]
Kriska Transportation Group is expanding its cross-border cold-chain footprint with the acquisition of Sharp Transportation Systems.
Rising fixed costs and creditor claims are forcing a small drayage carrier tied to West Coast ports into restructuring.
Two trucks carrying $470K in stolen vehicles were intercepted, but the real risk is how they moved through legitimate freight channels undetected.
International LT trucks powered by PlusAI’s SuperDrive 6.0 are hauling real Ryder freight on the construction-heavy Temple-to-Laredo run. Early results: 100% on-time delivery and 92% autonomous coverage.
Kodiak AI completed its first autonomous trucking tests outside the Sun Belt on Interstate 70, showcasing Level 4 capabilities with Ohio and Indiana officials and DriveOhio.
Truckstop announced Tuesday it acquired Wize Load and will rebrand it Truckstop Heavy Haul Rates, adding lane-specific pricing to its Heavy Haul Load Board.
Divisions within Mexico’s transport sector are emerging as protests over security and costs continue to snarl supply chains.
Two Boxes has raised $3.2 million to help scale its AI-powered returns platform as retailers grapple with rising fraud and costly reverse logistics.
A nationwide strike by Mexican truckers and farmers blocked major freight corridors and border crossings Monday.
To handle today’s prolonged freight recession and its instability, shrinking margins, and growing pressure from customers, fleet managers need to think differently. How? With age-old advice: Steady wins the race.
By the time the product was found, it was already positioned to move through resale channels. That’s not a recovery story. It’s a reminder that most losses start long before a load is ever picked up.
Most truckers track spot rates. Some track load-to-truck ratios. A smaller number pull freight data every week. Not many are watching the pallet Producer Price Index or the American Forest & Paper Association’s monthly packaging report — which is exactly why understanding those two numbers right now puts you ahead of most of the market. […]
This week in Borderlands Mexico: Tariff pressure shows up in customs data across North America; Arvato opens Denton logistics hub to support AI, data center growth; and Tramontina opens cookware plant in Mexico to serve Americas.
U.S. freight railroads delivered one of their strongest performances in years during March 2026, signaling that the goods-producing economy is regaining meaningful momentum across multiple sectors. According to the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) latest Rail Industry Overview, total U.S. rail carloads averaged 230,401 per week in March — the strongest March result since 2019 […]
Volvo launches new VNR as U.S. fleet hits 7-year average age amid record diesel prices. Delivers 7.5% better fuel efficiency and standard safety features.
C.H. Robinson is waiving fees on discount-fuel cards and cash advances for contract carriers in April and May as diesel prices rise amid the Middle East conflict.
Strong freight fundamentals, tighter capacity and replacement demand are driving a rebound in heavy-duty truck orders.
A data-driven investigation into the risk retention groups insuring America’s most dangerous carriers, the factoring companies keeping them cash-flowing, and what happens to crash victims when the whole thing collapses.
Spot rates rose 23.3% and contract rates 5% from March 2025 to February 2026 even as volumes fell sharply. The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index shows the contract premium compressed to $0.11 per mile.
The Trump administration is expected to change how duties are applied to metal-based products, potentially raising import costs and altering cross-border freight flows.
Logistics providers are ramping up investments in Canada as e-commerce growth and cross-border trade drive demand for warehousing, fulfillment and drayage services.
One Indianapolis suburb has 1,000 newly registered trucking carriers. One neighborhood inside that suburb has more than 300 active carriers covering roughly 250 homes. The CDL crackdown is real, starting today in Indiana
CEVA Logistics’ acquisition of Fagioli strengthens its position in heavy-haul and project cargo across North America.
