Trucking

Rob Carpenter Monday, December 1, 2025

Inside the Legal Battle That Could Reshape Commercial Licensing

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found FMCSA likely violated federal law when it attempted to eliminate approximately 200,000 commercial driver licenses without following standard procedures. The November 13 emergency stay revealed failures that leave 200,000 drivers in legal limbo while courts define the boundaries of administrative power during claimed emergencies.

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Craig Fuller, CEO at FreightWaves Saturday, November 29, 2025

The Feds drop the hammer on illegal immigration

The Administration has announced a major new initiative targeting the financial channels used by undocumented immigrants, marking a strategic and powerful shift in enforcement priorities. Moving beyond traditional border security measures, this action focuses on financial institutions and money transmitters that facilitate the transfer of funds from undocumented workers to their home countries, effectively targeting […]

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Craig Fuller, CEO at FreightWaves Thursday, November 27, 2025

‘Tis the season for the annual capacity purge

As truckers celebrate the Thanksgiving holidays, the U.S. trucking industry stands on the brink of another tradition: the annual capacity purge.  The annual capacity purge happens between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, each year and involves a significant increase in motor carriers leaving the industry compared to other times in the year. This seasonal trend, clearly […]

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Ashley Coker Prince Tuesday, November 25, 2025

How Amazon Relay turns peak season volume into real opportunity

Holiday shopping events mean one thing for carriers: more freight on the road. Amazon Prime’s Black Friday sale—running from November 20 to December 1—brings a surge in e-commerce volume that translates directly into increased loads across Amazon Relay’s load board. For carriers looking to capitalize on seasonal demand, this multi-day shopping event creates opportunities that […]

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Matt Herr Monday, November 24, 2025

How Global Shippers Are Navigating the Most Turbulent Year in Cross-Border History

FreightWaves’ Thomas sits down with Patrick Frith, Senior Director of Growth and Cross-Border at Avalara, to talk about the most turbulent year global shippers have faced in decades. They break down the rapid tariff changes, the end of U.S. de minimis, the rise of tariff engineering, and how automation and AI are becoming essential for staying compliant amid 600,000+ tariff updates in 2025.

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Adam Wingfield Saturday, November 22, 2025

DOT Memo Reveals New Crackdown on Chameleon Carriers

A newly surfaced draft memo from inside the U.S. Department of Transportation signals one of the strongest federal moves yet to identify and shut down “chameleon carriers” — companies that repeatedly shut down, reopen under new names, and dodge enforcement. For years, these operators have quietly slipped through the cracks, hurting small legitimate carriers and […]

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Adam Wingfield Friday, November 21, 2025

Why Every Small Carrier Needs a Web Presence — Especially If You Want Direct Freight

Some small carriers believe direct shippers only care about price, capacity, and service. But in 2025, that’s not the full picture anymore. The companies you’re trying to do business with — whether it’s a local manufacturer, a regional distributor, or a national retailer — are vetting carriers differently. They’re pulling up Google. They’re checking your […]

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Adam Wingfield Friday, November 21, 2025

FMCSA Threatens to Decertify Pennsylvania’s CDL Program After Uzbek Terror-Suspect Obtains State License

When news broke that an Uzbek terror-suspect was arrested in Kansas while holding a Pennsylvania-issued commercial driver’s license, the trucking world felt the shockwave immediately. The man’s name was Akhror Bozorov, and federal officials now say his case exposed a breakdown inside Pennsylvania’s CDL verification system that has been building for years. That one license […]

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Adam Wingfield Friday, November 21, 2025

EPA Holds Firm on 2027 NOx Rule – What Small Carriers Need to Know Before the Market Shifts

For months, the trucking industry has been waiting to see whether EPA would bend, pause, or extend the 2027 NOx emissions deadline. Industry groups filed petitions. Manufacturers warned about rushed timelines. Trucking associations argued the rollout was too fast and too expensive. But none of it moved the agency. EPA said no. The deadline remains. […]

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Ashley Coker Prince Thursday, November 20, 2025

Powering performance: How Chevron’s integrated fuel and lubricant solutions are transforming fleet operations

Fleet operators today face significant complexity as they balance emissions targets, operational efficiency, and cost management. Fuel diversity is increasing as fleets incorporate lower carbon intensity fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG), renewable natural gas (RNG), biodiesel, and renewable diesel along with petroleum diesel. Yet this fuel diversification can create new challenges: maintaining compatibility […]

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Adam Wingfield Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Why Demand — Not Truck Attrition — May Decide the Fate of Small Carriers in 2026

For the past year, there’s been a steady belief floating around the industry that once enough capacity leaves the market, rates will finally rise. It sounds reassuring. It sounds straightforward. But it’s also dangerously incomplete. Because the reality small carriers deal with every single day tells a different story: capacity exits are temporary, but demand […]

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Adam Wingfield Tuesday, November 18, 2025

The Load Board Goes Down, Now What?

When you’re a one-truck owner-operator or a small 3–5 truck fleet, your morning rhythm is clockwork: coffee, pre-trip, open the load board, refresh, refresh again, stare at the rates, call brokers, negotiate, roll. But all it takes is one outage—DAT glitches, Truckstop freezes, the phone app crashes, or the entire system goes offline—and you’re stuck. […]

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Ashley Coker Prince Tuesday, November 18, 2025

MapUp’s FuelGuru shines at F3: FirstFleet’s live demo proves power of smarter fuel routing 

When the lights came up at FreightWaves’ F3: Future of Freight Festival this fall, few expected one of the most talked-about sessions to shift the conversation away from agentic AI and toward something a little more grounded: fuel routing.  That’s exactly what happened when MapUp took the stage with FirstFleet, Inc. to debut its new […]

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Ashley Coker Prince Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Werner Premium Services: Tailored logistics for high-value, high-stakes freight

From pharmaceutical products that must remain within a strict temperature range to high-value technology moving across borders, high-stakes freight demands a higher standard of care. Werner Premium Services represents the company’s go-to-market strategy for specialized freight that demands more than standard handling. This division builds on Werner’s core operation with advanced capabilities and added layers […]

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Contributed Content Thursday, November 13, 2025

What Makes an Ethical Dispatch Service

The industry has a serious love/hate relationship between motor carriers and brokers.  That relationship can be even more volatile with dispatch services in between the brokers and the carriers.  The reality is that in today’s market, carriers are looking for every edge they can find to get the best rates possible to secure the future […]

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Adam Wingfield Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Federal Court Hits Pause on FMCSA’s Non-Domiciled CDL Rule

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has officially put the brakes on the FMCSA’s interim final rule governing non-domiciled CDLs, issuing an administrative stay on November 10, 2025. The decision, filed under Case No. 25-1215 (Jorge Rivera Lujan et al. v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration), temporarily halts enforcement of […]

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Adam Wingfield Tuesday, November 11, 2025

“America’s Biggest Truck Stop” Falls Silent — Inside the Eviction of Trucker’s Paradise in Texas

When Trucker’s Paradise opened its doors in late 2024, the company’s promise was bold enough to turn heads across the industry. The Gainesville, Texas-based travel center billed itself as “America’s biggest truck stop,” a sprawling complex built to redefine what life on the road could look like for professional drivers. The concept was ambitious: convert […]

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Adam Wingfield Monday, November 10, 2025

H.R. 5688 Explained — What It Means for Drivers, Fleets, and the Future of CDLs

The political shorthand you see on social platforms—maybe misleading if you don’t take the time to sit-down and unpack it. What this bill really does is change how non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) are issued in the U.S. It’s not about nationality; it’s about eligibility, record-keeping and compliance. Whether you’re an owner-operator running your own […]

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Adam Wingfield Friday, November 7, 2025

Legal Battle Over FMCSA’s Non-Domiciled CDL Rule — What the Lawsuit Claims and What’s at Stake

A federal lawsuit is now underway challenging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) new interim final rule that limits the issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). The lawsuit, filed on October 20, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the D.C. Circuit, argues that FMCSA’s decision to enforce the rule immediately—without going through […]

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Adam Wingfield Friday, November 7, 2025

Consensus Forming in Trucking  – What the Big Guys Are Saying About the Near Future

The heavy hitters in trucking just finished their Q3 calls, and what they’re saying is loud enough for small carriers to hear: things are messy, but there’s a glimmer of opportunity if you play tight. From the Covenant Logistics team seeing “all‑time high” contract bids, to Old Dominion Freight Line eyeballing shrinking tonnage, the message […]

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Adam Wingfield Thursday, November 6, 2025

What Midland’s $5 Million Write-Off Teaches About the Next Phase of the Trucking Slow Down

Trucking’s pain is spreading beyond freight rates and diesel prices — it’s now hitting the banks. In its third-quarter earnings release, Midland States Bancorp revealed that trucking industry woes triggered $5 million in equipment finance charge-offs for the quarter, prompting the Illinois-based lender to walk away from equipment financing altogether. That decision wasn’t made lightly. […]

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Adam Wingfield Thursday, November 6, 2025

Operating Ratio 101 – The Small Carrier Metric That Tells the Real Story About Your Profitability

Most owner-operators know how to figure out what it costs to run their truck — that’s your breakeven point. But there’s another number that rarely gets enough attention in this industry. It’s the one that lenders care about, the one that successful fleets track religiously, and the one that separates guesswork from control: Your Operating […]

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Sponsor Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Alternative Carriers Are Surging in Small-Parcel Delivery

Small-parcel shipping has entered an era defined less by brand loyalty and more by cost transparency, resilience, and speed. Shippers are diversifying away from single-carrier dependency toward a portfolio that blends incumbents with credible alternative carriers. From SmartKargo’s vantage point (where airline networks, data, and unified “dock-to-door” orchestration meet) this shift is structural. And one […]

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