This week in Borderlands Mexico: Tariff noise to stay loud in 2026, Flexport warns importers; Echo Global Logistics launches EchoXBorder; and LS Cable & System USA opens logistics hub near Po
Inventory levels dropped at their fastest clip in over ten years according to the LMI in December. This lean management strategy could be a boon for trucking.
The Chinese American Truckers Association filed suit against FMCSA and California DMV this week, challenging an indefinite licensing freeze that has stranded qualified drivers in bureaucratic limbo.
Congress is scrambling to block Chinese purchases of farmland near bases. But nobody is systematically vetting who climbs into the cab to haul freight to and from military installations. Given everything we now know, shouldn’t we at least ask the question?
USPS didn’t track deaths. It didn’t verify who was authorized to transport its freight. And it kept hiring carriers with conditional safety ratings while 79 people died in contractor crashes over three years. Now, with Duffy’s DOT threatening to revoke California’s CDL program and USPS’s first enforcement attempt collapsing within days, the Postal Service is trying again, this time claiming safety as its priority, a priority it ignored for a decade.
A Texas trucking company must rehire a driver and pay $100,000 in damages after investigators determined the driver was fired for raising safety complaints.
There’s a moment most small fleet owners reach — usually late at night, staring at parked trucks — where the thought creeps in: “Maybe I just need help finding drivers.” It sounds simple. Logical, even. But recruiting isn’t just about finding people. It’s about filtering, selling, onboarding, and retaining — all at the same time. […]
Every cycle creates the same temptation. Rates start to firm up. Capacity thins out. Enforcement tightens. Someone tells you, “Now’s the time to grow.” And for some carriers, that will be true. But for many others, scaling in 2026 without the right foundation will quietly turn a survivable business into a fragile one. The mistake […]
Starting January 1, 2027, new heavy-duty diesel engines will hit the road. And when engines change, oil has to change with them. That’s the entire story. Under upcoming EPA regulations, heavy-duty diesel engines must achieve significant emissions reductions: an 80% decrease in nitrogen oxides (NOx) and a 50% cut in particulate matter. Furthermore, these rules […]
Part One laid the groundwork for why knowing your numbers matters in trucking. Not in a motivational way. Not in a “be a better business owner” cliché way. But in a very real, very practical sense: if you don’t know what it actually costs you to run your truck, you’re not negotiating freight — you’re […]
Avkha Equity Holdings acquisition positions Dart Transit as a growth platform across the U.S. truckload market, officials said.
Some of the loudest conversations in trucking right now aren’t coming from policy rooms, conference stages, or trade group press releases. They’re coming from drivers, fleet owners, and industry veterans who feel like something fundamental shifted — and nobody warned them it was coming. That’s why this episode of The Long Haul was different on […]
More than 2,000 workers have been laid off across logistics and manufacturing firms as 2026 begins, driven by facility closures, lost contracts and bankruptcy filings.
Late 2025 data shows subtle shifts in spot, contract rates amid carrier exits
California’s years of documented CDL fraud, enforcement failures, and defiance of federal regulations finally caught up with it. Today’s $160 million funding cut for non-domiciled CDL violations, combined with October’s $40 million ELP penalty, marks the largest federal enforcement action against a state licensing program in FMCSA history.
The last time “south Minneapolis” and “National Guard” appeared in the same headline, Reginald Denny was getting his skull fractured in 91 places four blocks from where an ICE agent just shot a woman in the head. What fleets need to know about the Insurrection Act, driver safety protocols, and operating when federalism breaks down.
Trucking is rarely a one-person job. Every mile logged, every late night delivery, every holiday spent on the road usually has a family on the other end of it—supporting, sacrificing, adjusting, and carrying part of the load. That’s something the industry doesn’t talk about enough. And it’s exactly what the OOIDA Mary Johnston Scholarship Fund […]
State licensing agencies had a decade to implement what amounts to a database connection for CDL medical certifications. Instead, FMCSA has spent 2025 issuing waiver after waiver while drivers get placed out of service and fraud vulnerabilities persist. The agency’s hands-off approach to NRII enforcement explains why states feel comfortable ignoring federal CDL standards across the board.
As technology outpaces federal regulations, litigation hurdles loom for self driving trucks
North American Class 8 truck orders surged in December as fleets released pent-up demand, FTR Transportation Intelligence says.
