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The ‘ingenious strategy’ behind most truckers’ least favorite week of the year: International Roadcheck

truck fallen over

International Roadcheck Week is hardly the sexiest topic in trucking, but it is a darn-tootin’ important one. Inspectors in the U.S. and Canada halt tens of thousands of trucks for vehicle inspections for a few days every summer or early fall. They remove thousands of trucks and drivers from the road; in 2021, 16.5% of inspected vehicles were put out of service along with 5.3% of drivers.

It’s uncommon for truck drivers to actually get their vehicles inspected at random during most of the year. To avoid International Roadcheck Week, many truckers simply don’t drive during that period of time — which, presumably, means more unsafe vehicles and drivers on the road outside of the inspection blitz. It’s a question that ate at Andrew Balthrop, a research associate at the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business. 

Around 5% fewer one-person trucking companies are active during International Roadcheck Week. But Balthrop and his fellow researcher, Alex Scott of the University of Tennessee, found a major upside to the inspection blitz — even with all the folks who avoid it. According to their working paper published in March 2021, vehicles are safer a month before and after the inspection period. There’s a 1.8% reduction of vehicle violations, according to Balthrop and Scott’s analysis. Surprise inspection blitzes don’t result in the same uptick of compliance. 

I caught up with Balthrop about his research last week at FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain conference, and we chatted again on the phone this week about his findings on International Roadcheck Week.

Enjoy a bonus MODES and a lightly edited transcription of our phone interview: 

FREIGHTWAVES: For our readers who are not aware of what Roadcheck Week actually is, can you explain a little bit about what it and why it is important to drivers and companies?

BALTHROP: “The International Roadcheck is part of an alliance between the inspectors in Canada and the ones in Mexico and the U.S. to have a unified framework for making sure trucks are safe to operate. That should make it easier to go across borders when you have this kind of unified structure.

“In the U.S., one of these CVSA inspection blitzes is the International Roadcheck that happens for three days in the summer. Usually it’s a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. And usually it’s the first week in June.

“And in it, they focus on Level One inspections, the North American Standard Inspection where they inspect the driver records, the hours of service, the licensure and I believe medical records as well. Then they inspect the truck. It’s an in-depth inspection where the inspector will actually crawl under the truck to look at various things. And these inspections, from the data that I’ve seen, take about a half an hour on average.

“During the Roadcheck Week, they’ll do about 60,000 inspections, so 20,000 a day. They’re going to pull over a lot of trucks, and this can cause a little bit of congestion at the weigh stations and the roadside inspections localities as the inspectors are doing these inspections.”

Roadcheck Week doesn’t catch all truck drivers, but it has a long-lasting benefit to safety

FREIGHTWAVES: So, can most drivers kind of expect to be pulled over? How likely is that?

BALTHROP: “There’s 1 million or 3 million trucks on the road, somewhere around there on any given day. With 20,000 inspections, most drivers still will not get inspected, but there’s going to be a higher proportion of drivers inspected. 

“You’re more likely to get inspected on these days. If you don’t have a recent inspection on your record, or if you have a bad recent inspection on your record, you’re more likely to be pulled over on these days.”

FREIGHTWAVES: Your research focused on that it’s just unusual that this inspection is announced, that it’s planned. We were talking before about how normally, if you’re trying to assure quality or compliance, you would not announce an inspection in advance. It would be more of a surprise-type situation. 

Can you walk us through why that’s so unusual, or what’s the rationale that you see behind announcing it in advance?

BALTHROP: “It is unusual, and on the surface, it doesn’t make much sense, but it turns out to be kind of an ingenious strategy. So I’ll walk through it here. 

“Over the course of a year, there’ll be 2 million inspections of 3 or 4 million trucks out there. The average rate of inspections is pretty low. It’s not uncommon for truckers to go years without having an inspection. With this low inspection intensity, the FMCSA has sort of a problem of, how does it get anybody to abide by the regulations?

“I’m a jaded economist, and I don’t worry or consider too much ethics and morality and all that kind of stuff. It comes down to incentives for drivers to follow these inspections. The incentives do guide behavior. So, how could the FMCSA incentivize drivers to follow these regulations more closely and adhere to the standards?

“They do this by announcing the blitz. This does two things. On one side, it allows everybody to prepare in advance. There’s a bunch of anecdotal evidence out there that people do prepare for these blitzes in advance. They will have their trucks inspected beforehand for any problems. They’ll time maintenance and upkeep in advance to make sure that their vehicles are in order. “They’ll be a little bit more cognizant of the driver-side regulations. One thing we notice in our study is that hours-of-service violations really drop during these extensions, because people see them coming. They don’t fudge the books in any way.”

Owner-operators can evade Roadcheck Week. Big carriers, not so much.

BALTHROP: “The issue with the announcement, on the flip side, is that it allows people to just dodge the inspection entirely. For a long time, people have talked about how owner-operators and smaller carriers time their vacations for this particular time. They could do this for a couple reasons. To avoid the hassle is a nice way to put it, but it also allows you to be noncompliant to avoid the high-intensity inspections.

“You have this balance here that on one side you get the behavior you want with people complying with regulations. That’s the behavior the FMCSA wants. But on the flip side, you get a bunch of people that are kind of outright dodging inspections.

“When you compare these two things on balance, the policy is actually pretty effective because you get a lot of people focused on maintaining their trucks and obeying the rules during that particular week. Especially with the vehicle maintenance stuff, that lasts a long time. 

“In our research, we saw that vehicle violations, a month before and up to a month afterwards, is when you still notice your vehicle violations. That trucks are kind of better maintained around these blitzes.

“The ingenious aspect of it is that the FMCSA, by concentrating their inspection resources all at one time and announcing it, they’re making it clear that they’re serious about enforcing these regulations and everybody prepares for it. For the number of inspections that are happening, you get fewer tickets than you would have otherwise expected.

“The FMCSA, they’re putting people through a little bit of a hassle, but they’re not having to write a bunch of tickets to get people to comply. They’re not really punishing a whole bunch of people because, by making this apparent that this is going to happen, people comply and the FMCSA gets what they want essentially without having to come down on carriers too hard.”

A convenient time for a vacation, indeed

FREIGHTWAVES: OK, interesting. And how does this pattern of shutting down, how does that compare for an owner-operator versus a driver for a big fleet?

BALTHROP: “If you’re a motor carrier with thousands of power units, you can’t just pack up and not do business on a particular day. They just don’t have that option. So they get inspected at a higher intensity, and you see the larger carriers kind of more focused on making sure that they’re prepared for these inspections. With so many inspections, the larger carriers are going to be inspected at higher rates. You can really damage your reputation if your equipment isn’t in order on this particular day. 

“Versus the smaller carriers, especially if you’re talking about a single-vehicle fleet, an owner-operator type, it is not that difficult to just not work for those three days. And so you see a lot about that. 

“In terms of what the roadway composition looks like, if we look at inspection data and relative to a typical day with the usual inspections, on these Roadcheck days, you have about 5% fewer owner-operators on the road than you otherwise would expect.”

FREIGHTWAVES: Wow. And when you say owner-operators, you also mean just like fleets with just —

BALTHROP: “One-vehicle fleets.”

FREIGHTWAVES: OK, that’s interesting.

BALTHROP: “You know, you see a little bit of effect with the smaller fleets, below six vehicles, but it basically disappears by the time you get to a hundred vehicles.

“This effect is being driven by smaller carriers staying off the road in terms of avoidance. You see this goes also how you would expect; it’s also older vehicles that stay off the road. This is correlated with carrier size. The larger carriers use newer vehicles and owner-operators tend to use some of the older vehicles. But it’s particularly the older vehicles that are off the road.

“This makes intuitive sense. Older vehicles are more costly to keep compliant. Maintenance is more costly, and they’ve been around longer so there’s time for more stuff to have broken essentially.

How a truck driver gets stopped for inspection

FREIGHTWAVES: Can you explain a little bit more, the idea of having this inspection history and why it would benefit a larger or small carrier?

BALTHROP: “Getting flagged for inspection is sort of random, but not totally. If somebody notices something obviously wrong with your truck, that’s ground for a more in-depth inspection. Or if you get pulled over for some other reason, this can be grounds for inspection of some type. 

“But there’s also the inspection selection service. The computer program that is random, that it randomly flags people in for inspection, but it’s based on your inspection history.

“So if your firm hasn’t been inspected recently, or if your carrier doesn’t have a very dense inspection history, you’ll be more likely to trigger that system to pull you in and have you inspected. If you have a dense inspection history, you’re less likely to get inspected.”

FREIGHTWAVES: So how do you get pulled over for inspection? As a person who only drives a passenger car, my main interaction with being pulled over is, I’m driving down the freeway or wherever, and I get stopped by the police. How does it work for a truck driver? How does getting pulled over or inspected work in that way?

BALTHROP: “The law is that you cannot pass a weigh station without pulling in and getting weighed. At that point they may flag you to be inspected. Now, in the past decade or two, there’s been a bunch of electronic devices that are installed in cabs. You may have heard of PrePass or Drivewise. This allows you to pass weigh stations. 

“I don’t have data on how many trucks have the in-cab devices. But from a trucking perspective, they’re so convenient that you don’t have to stop every time you cross a state line. I think the vast, overwhelming majority of trucks have some sort of one of these electronic devices. The DOT inspectors at these roadside inspection points have a dial they can twist essentially about how many people they want to inspect. 

“So during the roadcheck inspection week, they’ll crank that dial all the way up and pull everybody over. And if they get too backed up, they might crank it back down a little bit and so on.”

FREIGHTWAVES: OK, interesting. It reminds me of a highly sophisticated E‑ZPass.

A $10 million-plus expense to trucking companies every year … but it’s worth it if just one fatal crash is avoided

FREIGHTWAVES: Zooming out, when we hear about large truck crashes, something like a vehicle maintenance issue is not really the most sexy explanation. But just looking at the FMCSA data, in 29% of all truck crashes, a major factor is brake problems. So it seems like a lot of the truck crashes on the road are caused by vehicle maintenance, versus something like the driver using illegal drugs or some other sort of more dramatic explanation. Can you speak a little bit to why this sort of vehicle maintenance is important for safety in preventing large crashes?

BALTHROP: “We did a little bit of a back-of-the-envelope cost benefit analysis of this. Let me try and make sure I remember it clearly, but we have it in the paper that the cost of this on one side is that you have the compliance costs the firms are undertaking, and then you have to add to that the delay costs from doing this, and then the cost of the inspection itself, having to pay federal inspectors to do this.

“On the benefit side, it reduces crashes. So when we add up, just looking at the cost of what an inspection is, we don’t have a good idea of how to measure the compliance cost. It’d be fun to measure the delay cost, but I don’t have good enough price data on that to get at that cost. 

“But if you look at what the cost of an inspection is, it is something like $100 or $120 is what you would pay to have one of these inspections done privately. A lot of people do this in the run-up to inspections, and have it done privately so that you can fix whatever the problems are and be sure that you would pass the FMCSA inspection.

“With that $120 figure, if you aggregate that up to 60,000 inspections or whatever, and you take that in comparison, I’m going to give you a bad figure here, it’s on the order of $10 million. That is about the value of a statistical human life. Looking at this economically, it’s worthwhile if it saves one human life. If you identify just one faulty brake system that would’ve resulted in an accident, you’re getting some value out of the program. 

“When you add those other costs in there, we’re going to need to save a couple of lives, but in terms of cost benefit analysis with this kind of stuff, we’re usually looking at orders of magnitude differences in cost and benefits to say something for sure. 

“If you can save just a couple lives, this program will pay for itself.”

Time to start inspecting in the winter

FREIGHTWAVES: Then one last question: Is there any rationale for this program happening in the summer? 

BALTHROP: “I think part of it is that for the inspectors this gets much harder and much more miserable to do in winter conditions.”

FREIGHTWAVES: That makes sense.

BALTHROP: “Inspectors are less productive. One of the things that we talk about in the paper, that they have in addition to the International Roadcheck, is that they have Brake Week where they focus a little bit more on brake inspections. You have Operation Safe Driver a little bit later on in the summer, usually in September, where it’s a little bit more focused on passenger vehicles and how they drive around these trucks.

“But there’s not one in the winter time. There’s an unannounced brake check that usually happens in May, a surprise inspection that’s just one day. But you’re right in pointing out that it might be worthwhile having one of these in the wintertime. You have this periodic high-intensity inspection that kind of incentivizes everybody to be compliant through the summer. 

“But there’s nothing in the winter, so that’s an area. But if I was managing the FMCSA, that would be one of the first questions I ask, ‘Why don’t we have one of these in the wintertime?’”

FREIGHTWAVES: That makes sense. Maybe they can do it in the South or something. Maybe a Miami January inspection … 

That’s it for this special bonus MODES. Subscribe here if you’re not already receiving MODES in your inbox every Thursday. Email the reporter at rpremack@www.freightwaves.com with your own tales on International Roadcheck Week or any other trucking topics. 

Why the Northeast is quietly running out of diesel

The nozzle of a diesel fuel pump is inserted into the tank of a commercial truck as its driver looks on the bankground.

The East Coast of the U.S. is reporting its lowest seasonal diesel inventory on record. And some trucking companies appear spooked.

The East Coast typically stores around 62 million barrels of diesel during the month of May, according to Department of Energy data. But as of last Friday, that region of the U.S. is reporting under 52 million barrels. 

The sharp increase of diesel prices has been a major stressor in America’s $800 billion trucking industry since the beginning of 2022. According to DOE figures, the price per gallon of diesel has reached record highs — a whopping $5.62 per gallon. It’s even higher on the East Coast at $5.90, up 63% from the beginning of this year. 

When relief is coming isn’t yet clear, and experts say higher prices are the only way to attract more diesel into the Northeast.

“I wish I had some good news for the Northeast, but it’s bedlam,” Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at OPIS, told FreightWaves. 

2022 has seen record-setting diesel prices. (SONAR)

Everyday Americans don’t fill up their cars with diesel, but the fuel powers our nation’s agriculture, industrial and transportation networks. More expensive diesel means the price of everything is liable to increase. Trucks, trains, barges and the like consumed about 122 million gallons of diesel per day in 2020. 

Patrick DeHaan, a vice president of communications at fuel price site GasBuddy, reported that retail truck stops are hauling fuel from the Great Lakes to the Northeast, calling it “extraordinary.” We’ve also seen anecdotal reports from truck drivers posting company memos:

Pilot Flying J and Love’s, two of America’s largest truck stops, told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that they were not planning to restrict diesel purchases, but were monitoring low diesel inventory.

Not unlike every other supply chain crunch we’ve seen in the past few years, the cause of the Northeast’s diesel shortage is multifaceted. A yearslong degradation of refineries is rubbing against the Gulf Coast preferring to ship its oil to Europe and Latin America.

Here’s a breakdown:

1. The East Coast has lost half of its refineries. 

As Bloomberg’s Javier Blas wrote on May 4 (emphasis ours): 

In the past 15 years, the number of refineries on the U.S. East Coast has halved to just seven. The closures have reduced the region’s oil processing capacity to just 818,000 barrels per day, down from 1.64 million barrels per day in 2009. Regional oil demand, however, is stronger.

Rory Johnston, a managing director at Toronto-based research firm Price Street and writer of the newsletter Commodity Context, told FreightWaves that refining is a “thankless industry,” with intense regulations that have limited the opening of new refineries. The Great Recession of 2008 led to several East Coast refineries shuttering, but there have been more recent shutdowns too. One major Philadelphia refinery shuttered in 2019 after a giant fire (and it already had declared bankruptcy), and another refinery in Newfoundland shut down in 2020.

2. It’s a financial risk to bring diesel to the Northeast.

The Northeast has increasingly relied on diesel from the Gulf region. Much of that diesel travels to the Northeast through the famous and much-adored Colonial Pipeline. You may remember the 5,500-mile pipeline from last year, when a ransomware attack shuttered it for nearly a week!  

It takes 18 days for oil to travel on the Colonial Pipeline from its source in Houston to New York City (or, more specifically, Linden, New Jersey), Kloza said.

That’s a long enough time to prioritize Colonial pipelines financially risky for traders — or, as Kloza said, “incredibly dangerous” — thanks to a concept called “backwardation.”

Backwardation refers to the market condition in which the spot price of a commodity like diesel is higher than its futures price. It’s only gotten stronger over time in the diesel market, Kloza said. So, a company could send off a shipment of diesel and find that it dropped by $1 per gallon in the time the diesel traveled from the Gulf Coast to New York — er, New Jersey. That could mean hundreds of thousands or more in lost profits, so traders often avoid such a fate.

“We’re not in an era where there are any U.S. refiners or big U.S. oil companies who would ‘take one for the team’ and bring cargo in where it’s needed,” Kloza said. 

The desperation is showing in New England and the mid-Atlantic regions. New England diesel retail prices are up 75% from the beginning of 2022, per DOE data. In the mid-Atlantic, diesel is up 67%. 

It’s not worth the risk, even amid ultra-high prices. As FreightWaves’ Kingston reported last week, the spread between a gallon of diesel in the Gulf Coast and its New York harbor price is usually a few cents. Last week, that swung up to 66 cents.

But that uptick still isn’t justifying moving oil to the Northeast — particularly when traders can make so much more money selling diesel abroad. 

3. Of course, we can blame COVID and the crisis in Ukraine. 

The catalyst for this diesel shortage, of course, is the ongoing conflict in Ukraine — particularly Europe’s desperation for diesel after weaning off Russian molecules. 

As CNBC reported in March, Europe is a net importer of diesel. Europe consumed some 6.8 million barrels of diesel each day in 2019; Russia exported some 600,000 barrels per day of that. Today, Europe has only eliminated one-third of its Russian diesel, so prices are expected to continue to climb amid that transition. Latin America, too, has been clammoring for U.S. diesel.

The Gulf Coast has been happy to provide such diesel, amid “insane” prices for diesel abroad, said Johnston. Waterborne exports of diesel from the U.S. Gulf Coast hit record highs last month, according to oil analytics firm Vortexa. (The records only date back to 2016.)

Naturally, COVID is also to blame for the Northeast’s run on diesel. Those refineries still retained on the East Coast scaled back during the pandemic due to staffing issues. It takes six months to a year to reignite refineries that were previously shuttered, Kloza said.

The ‘everything shortage’ endures

It’s been a tale as old as, well, last year. An industry is quietly hampered by supply issues for years, or even decades, and COVID pulls back the curtains on its unsteady foundation. It’s particularly jarring for commodities we never thought about before, like shipping containers or pallets, but that quietly underpinned our livelihood all along. 

Recall the Great Lumber Shortage of 2020? Big Lumber had unusually low stockpiles of wood by the summer of 2020, thanks to a vicious 2019 in the lumber industry shuttering sawmills and the spring of 2020 sparking staffing issues. (There was also a nasty beetle infestation.) Those in lumber expected the pandemic to slow the economy, not ignite online shopping, construction and housing mania. It meant lumber went from around $350 per thousand board feet pre-pandemic to a crushing $1,515 by the spring of 2021. The lumber price roller coaster persists today.  

In diesel, there’s no beetle infestation, but there are plenty of other headaches. It all means higher fuel prices on the East Coast, particularly the Northeast, to lure molecules from the Gulf Coast. And, down the line, probably more expensive stuff for you. 

Do you work in the trucking industry? Do you want to say that you hate or love MODES? Are you simply wanting to chitchat? Email the author at rpremack@www.freightwaves.com, and don’t forget to subscribe to MODES.

Updated on May 13 with the latest comments from truck stops.

Exclusive: Central Freight Lines to shut down after 96 years

Nearly, 2,100 employees will be laid off right before Christmas. Central Freight Lines is the largest trucking company to close since Celadon ceased operations in 2019.

Waco, Texas-based Central Freight Lines has notified drivers, employees and customers that the less-than-truckload carrier plans to wind down operations on Monday after 96 years, the company’s president told FreightWaves on Saturday.

“It’s just horrible,” said CFL President Bruce Kalem.

A source close to CFL told FreightWaves that CFL had “too much debt and too many unpaid bills” to continue operating, despite exploring all available options to keep its doors open.

Kalem agreed.

“Years of operating losses and struggles for many years sapped our liquidity, and we had no other place to go at this point,” Kalem told FreightWaves. “Nobody is going to make money on this closing, nobody.” 

Central Freight will cease picking up new shipments effective Monday and expects to deliver substantially all freight in its system by Dec. 20, according to a company statement.

A source familiar with the company said he is unsure whether CFL will file Chapter 7 or “liquidate outside of bankruptcy,” but that the LTL carrier has no plans to reorganize.

The company reshuffled its executive team nearly a year ago in an effort to stay afloat, including adding the company’s owner, Jerry Moyes, as CFL’s interim president and chief executive officer. Moyes remained CEO after Kalem was elevated to president in July.

“I think it was surprising that there wasn’t a buyer for the entire company, but buyers were interested in certain pieces but not in the whole thing,” the source, who didn’t want to be identified, told FreightWaves. “Part of it could have been that just the network was so expansive that there was too much overlap with some of the buyers that they didn’t need locations or employees in the places where they already had strong operations.”

Third-party logistics provider GlobalTranz notified its customers that it had removed CFL as “a blanket and CSP carrier option immediately, to prevent any new bookings,” multiple sources told FreightWaves on Saturday.

CFL, which has over 2,100 employees, including 1,325 drivers, and 1,600 power units, is in discussions with “key customers and vendors and expects sufficient liquidity to complete deliveries over the next week in an orderly manner,” a CFL spokesperson said. Approximately 820 employees are based at the company headquarters in Waco.

Despite diligent efforts, CFL “was unable to gain commitments to fund ongoing operations, find a buyer of the entire business or fund a Chapter 11 reorganization,” another source familiar with the company told FreightWaves.

Kalem said the company had 65 terminals prior to its decision to shutter operations. 

FreightWaves received a tip from a source nearly two weeks ago that CFL wasn’t renewing its East Coast terminal leases but was unable to confirm the information with CFL executives. 

Another source told FreightWaves that some of the LTL carrier’s West Coast terminals had been sold recently, but that no reason was given for the transactions.

At that time, Kalem said the company was “working to find alternatives” and couldn’t speak because of nondisclosure agreements. He said executives at CFL, including Moyes, were trying to do everything to “save the company.”

“Jerry [Moyes] pumped a lot of money into the company, but it just wasn’t enough,” Kalem said.

Kalem said he’s aware that a large carrier is interested in hiring many of CFL’s drivers but isn’t able to name names at this point. 

“Central Freight is in negotiations to sell a substantial portion of its equipment,” the company said in a statement. “Additionally, Central Freight is coordinating with other regional LTL carriers to afford its employees opportunities to apply for other LTL jobs in their area.”

As of late Saturday night, Kalem said fuel cards are working and drivers will be paid for freight they’ve hauled for the LTL carrier until all freight is delivered by the Dec. 20 target date.

“I’m going to work feverishly with the time I have left to get these good people jobs — I owe it to them,” Kalem told FreightWaves. “We are going to pay our drivers — that’s why we had to close it like we’re doing now. We are going to deliver all of the freight that’s in our system by next week, and we believe we can do that.”

During the outset of the pandemic, Central Freight Lines was one of four trucking-related companies that received the maximum award of $10 million through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). This occurred around the time that CFL drivers and employees were forced to take pay cuts, a move that didn’t go over well with drivers.

“It all went to payroll,” Kalem said about the PPP funds. “Yes, our employees and drivers did take a pay cut over the past few years, and we gave most of it back, even raised pay over the past several months, but it just wasn’t enough to attract drivers.”

FreightWaves staffers Todd Maiden, Timothy Dooner and JP Hampstead contributed to this report.

Watch: Central Freight Lines’ impact on the LTL market

FreightWaves CEO and founder Craig Fuller reacts to the Central Freight Lines news:

“With Central struggling for many years and unable to reach profitability, it makes sense that they would want to liquidate while equipment and real estate are fetching record prices.”

Central Freight Lines statement

Here is the statement given by Central Freight Lines to FreightWaves late Saturday after reports surfaced of its impending closure:

“We make this announcement with a heavy heart and extreme regret that the Company cannot continue after nearly 100 years in operation. We would like to thank our outstanding workforce for persevering and for professionally completing the wind-down while supporting each other. Additionally, we thank our customers, vendors, equipment providers, and other stakeholders for their loyalty and support.

“The Company explored all available options to keep operations going. However, operating losses sapped all remaining sources of liquidity, and the Company’s liabilities far exceed its assets, all of which are subject to liens in favor of multiple creditors. Despite diligent efforts, the Company was unable to gain commitments to fund ongoing operations, find a buyer of the entire business, or fund a Chapter 11 reorganization. Given its limited remaining resources, the Company concluded that the best alternative was a safe and orderly wind-down. As we complete the wind-down process, our primary goal will be to offer the smoothest possible transition for all stakeholders while maximizing the amount available to apply toward the Company’s obligations.

“Central Freight is in negotiations to sell a substantial portion of its equipment. Additionally, Central Freight is coordinating with other regional LTL carriers to afford its employees opportunities to apply for other LTL jobs in their area. Discussions are ongoing and no purchase of assets or offer of employment is guaranteed.”

Brief history of Central Freight Lines

1925Founded in Waco, Texas, by Woody Callan Sr.
1927Institutes regular routes in Texas between Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin.
1938Dallas facility opens as world’s largest freight facility.
1991Receives 48-state interstate operating authority, expands into Oklahoma.
1993Joins Roadway Regional Group and begins service in Louisiana.
1994Expands into Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Mississippi.
1995Consolidation of Central, Coles, Spartan and Viking Freight Systems into Viking Freight Inc. is announced. Central’s Waco corporate HQ starts closure.
1996Becomes the Southwestern Division of Viking Freight Inc.
1997Investment group led by senior Central management purchases assets of former CFL from Viking Freight and reopens as a new Central Freight Lines.
1999Expands into California and Nevada.
2009CFL Network provides service to Idaho, Utah, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
2013Acquires Circle Delivery of Tennessee.
2014Acquires DTI, a Georgia LTL carrier.
2017Acquires Wilson; new division created with an increase of 80 terminals.
2020Wins Carrier of the Year from GlobalTranz.
Acquires Volunteer Express Inc. of Dresden, Tennessee.
Source: Central Freight Lines

Warehouse cramming is about to begin — Freightonomics

nVision Global, is a leading Global Freight Audit, Supply Chain Management Services company offering enterprise-wide supply chain solutions. With over 4,000 global business “Partners”, nVision Global not only provides prompt, accurate Freight Audit Solutions, but also providing industry-leading Supply Chain Information Management solutions and services necessary to help its clients maximize efficiencies within their supply chain. To learn more, visit www.nvisionglobal.com

Warehouse space is at a premium right now and with peak season right around the corner, shippers are starting to scramble for space. 

Zach Strickland and Anthony Smith look into what shippers are doing to prepare for the end-of-year crunch. They welcome Zac Rogers from Colorado State University to the show to talk through the industry tightness. 

The three also talk about the latest Logistics Managers Index results and what they mean for the fourth quarter of 2021. 

You can find more Freightonomics episodes and recaps for all our live podcasts here.

Seasonality pushing rejections and rates higher ahead of the Fourth

This week’s DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index: 75 (Carriers)

Last week’s DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index: 70 (Carriers) 

Three-month DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index Outlook: 70 (Carriers)

The DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index uses the analytics and data in FreightWaves SONAR to analyze the market and estimate the negotiating power for rates between shippers and carriers. 

The Pricing Power Index is based on the following indicators:

Load volumes: Absolute levels positive for carriers, momentum neutral

The Outbound Tender Volume Index at 15,980 is nominally higher now than basically at any point in the past 12 months with the exception of the week prior to Thanksgiving/Black Friday last year. OTVI captures all electronic tenders, including rejected ones, so when accounting for the rejection rate, we can get an even more accurate look at volumes. 

OTVI rose through the back half of May into the national holiday and has risen even further since. Throughout the back half of May and into the middle of June, tender rejections declined substantially. Meaning, current volume throughput is actually understated when comparing OTVI now to OTVI in November 2020. After adjusting for rejected tenders, the accepted outbound tender volume index is just 2.2% below the 2020 peak in November. At that time, OTVI surged towards 17,000, but the rejection rate moved in-kind towards its natural ceiling of 28%. So, the total accepted freight tenders in mid-June is comparable to the peakiest of peak seasons in 2020. Incredible. 

However, since the middle of June, tender rejections have begun increasing again heading into Independence Day, a time when many drivers spend time off the road with their families. The move higher in OTVI this week has been driven primarily by higher rejection rates, rather than higher freight demand. 

Over the past month, the drivers of freight volumes have continued to be imports and from just about every port. The west coast continues to provide seemingly non-stop container ships, while Houston, New Orleans, Miami and Savannah are seeing very strong throughput as well. 

It is van volumes that are driving freight markets higher right now. The Reefer Outbound Tender Volume index has tumbled 25% since its all-time high in the weeks after the polar vortex in February. Since Memorial Day, ROTVI has fallen another 10.5%. This is likely a factor of declining grocery demand, but I would expect the trend to reverse course in the near future as summer festivities accelerate. 

Dry van volumes pushed higher in the back half of May and into June while reefer volumes have declined significantly. 

SONAR: VOTVI.USA (Blue); ROTVI.USA (Green)

The congestion at our nation’s ports has spread from Los Angeles and Long Beach to Oakland, California. The California coastline is a parking lot of container ships, most of which are full to the brim with imports, awaiting berth. As detailed in the economic section, there are some signs that the reversion is underway with Americans paring back spending on pandemic superstar categories in favor of airlines, lodging and entertainment. But spending remains strong despite the moderation, and low inventory levels offset much of the decline that will occur from slowing demand. Real inventories are 3% higher now than pre-pandemic, but real sales growth is far outpacing inventory growth, leading to the lowest inventory-to-sales ratio in decades. 

On the manufacturing side, the ISM Manufacturing PMI expanded in May after declining in April. We’ve been in expansionary territory for 12 consecutive months. New orders, production, imports/exports and employment are all growing. The major issues should come as no surprise: Deliveries are slowing, backlogs are growing and inventories are too low. 

In all, there are many, many catalysts to keep freight demand strong for the foreseeable future. Americans are traveling and spending on services at a high clip, but the high savings rate is enabling it to occur without a massive detriment to goods spending. 

SONAR: OTVI.USA (2021 – Blue; 2020 – Green; 2019 – Orange; 2018 –  Purple)

Tender rejections: Absolute level and momentum positive for carriers

After declining steadily from mid-March to mid-May, the Outbound Tender Reject Index has reversed course heading into Independence Day. This is typical for a national holiday as carriers selectively choose loads to bring drivers closer to home. OTRI now sits above 25% for the first time in June. 

One of our newest indices in SONAR gives us the ability to compare markets on as close to an apples-to-apples basis as possible. FreightWaves’ Carrier Trend Market Score indices are divided into two perspectives – shipper/broker and carrier. The scores are positioned on a scale from 1-100 and have values measuring van and refrigerated (reefer) capacity. The higher values represent more favorable trends for whichever perspective. For instance, a value near the high-end of the range would suggest very favorable conditions for carriers in our carrier capacity trend score index. 

For the past several weeks, capacity disparities have been driven by import volumes. The markets with the tightest carrier capacity coincide with the nation’s busiest ports. Ontario, California, Savannah, Georgia, and Atlanta all have carrier capacity trend market scores of 100. 

SONAR: Capacity Trend Market Score (Carriers – VAN)

By mode. Reefer rejection rates tumbled from it’s all-time high in March to under 35% in mid-June before popping higher over the past two weeks. Reefer rejections are still quite high from a historical standpoint at 38%, but are significantly lower than just three months ago when reefer carriers were rejecting half of all electronically tendered loads. 

SONAR: VOTRI.USA (Blue); ROTRI.USA (Orange)

Dry van tenders make up the majority of all tenders, so the van rejection rate mirrors the aggregate index closely. Van rejections have surged from ~23% to ~26% over the past two weeks. 

Yes, one-in-four loads being rejected is not ideal, but it’s better than 30%. I am unaware of any meaningful signals that capacity is being added at a rate that would change my outlook. With so many catalysts for demand, and many constraints on drivers including the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, driver training school closures and continued government unemployment benefits, the outlook is tight throughout this year and into 2022. That’s not to say we won’t see improvement as consumers revert to pre-pandemic spending habits and drivers enter or reenter the market. But I’m not expecting any quick reversal of this environment; there are simply too many catalysts driving volume and suppressing capacity. 

SONAR: OTRI.USA (2020/21 – Blue; 2020 – Green; 2019 – Orange)

Freight rates: Absolute level and momentum positive for carriers

Throughout June, spot rates have moderated while contract rates have pushed higher. The Truckstop.com dry van rate per mile (incl. fuel) has fallen from $3.21 to $3.11 since the beginning of June, while FreightWaves van contract rates have risen from $2.50 to $2.59/mile, exclusive of fuel. 

I still believe the Truckstop.com dry van national average will not retest the post-vortex surge pricing that brought spot rates up to an all-time high of $3.30. But, there aren’t many catalysts to bring spot rates down anytime soon either. Demand is unwavering with continued strong consumer goods demand, humming industrial recovery and a potentially cooling, yet still sizzling, hot housing market. And carriers can’t fill enough trucks to keep up with demand. 

Prior to the seasonal movements we’re seeing in tender rejections, routing guides generally had been improving through Q2. We should continue to see a convergence between spot and contract rates, but spot rates will remain historically very elevated throughout the summer as demand simply outstrips capacity. 

SONAR: TSTOPVRPM.USA (Blue); VCRPM1.USA (Green)  

Economic stats: Momentum and absolute level neutral

Several economic releases this week are worth noting.

Weekly jobless claims were released Thursday and give us one of the best close-to-real-time indicators of the overall economy.  This week, the data was again very promising as the labor market continues on a bumpy but trajectorially stable recovery path. 

First-time filings totaled 411,000 for the week ended June 19, a slight decrease from the previous total of 418,000 but worse than the 380,000 Dow Jones estimate, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Initial claims have held above 400,000 for consecutive weeks after falling to a pandemic low of 374,000 three weeks ago. As things stand, the current level of initial claims is about double where it was prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The good news on the jobs front is that continuing claims are on the decline, falling to 3.39 million, a drop of 144,000. That number runs a week behind the headline claims total.

Initial jobless claims (weekly in May 2020-May 2021)

At the time of writing, the newest weekly data for the week ending May 29 had not been updated in SONAR. This week, claims fell from 405,000 to 385,000. 

SONAR: IJC.USA

Consumer. Turning to consumer spending, as measured by Bank of America weekly card (both debit and credit) spending data, total card spending (TCS) in the latest week accelerated to 22% over 2019. This is the first time in June that TCS has topped 20% over 2019, but spending has been running up 16-19% consistently on a two-year comp for months. For contect, the average pre-pandemic two-year growth rate was about 8% (from 2012 to 2019). 

The Bank of America team highlighted service spending in the nation’s two largest state economies, California and New York, which are now fully reopened. Spending at restaurants is now well above 2019 in both states, and the team believes there is more capacity for spending to accelerate in the states that were slower to reopen given pent-up demand. 

There was also a notable acceleration in spending on clothing this week, according to Bank of America. It could be a reversal from some softening in the early weeks of June, or an indication of people refreshing wardrobes ahead of a return to work, more travel and vacations. One tepid statement for freight markets from this week;s report: Leisure spending is on the rise and durable goods spending is flatlining.  

FreightWaves’ Flatbed Outbound Tender Reject Index, both a measure of relative demand and capacity, moves directionally with the ISM PMI. 

SONAR: ISM.PMI (Blue); FOTRI.USA (Green) 

Manufacturing. Over the past two weeks, regional manufacturing surveys have reported generally positive readings amid logistical challenges. The New York Fed’s Empire State business conditions index declined 6.9 points to 17.4 in June, retreating from strong readings the past two months. The Empire State Index is a diffusion index with a baseline of zero; any reading above zero indicates improving or expansionary conditions. 

Delivery times lengthened to a new record during the month, new orders and shipments fell, and inventories entered negative territory. The supply chain and transportation challenges are as visible upstream as downstream, but overall the manufacturing sector is handling. Growth continued throughout the second quarter in both the Empire State and Philly Fed indices. 

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s business activity index edged lower to a still robust 30.7 in June from 31.5 in the prior month. Unlike NY, the pace of shipments growth accelerated in the Philly region during June. The employment subcomponent rose to a very healthy 30.7 from 19.3 last month, the regional bank said. 

Record-long lead times, wide-scale shortages of critical basic materials, rising commodities prices and difficulties in transporting products are continuing to affect all segments of the manufacturing economy, but demand remains strong. 

For more information on the FreightWaves Freight Intel Group, please contact Kevin Hill at khill@www.freightwaves.com or Andrew Cox at acox@www.freightwaves.com.

Check out the newest episodes of our podcast, Great Quarter, Guys, here.

Project44 acquires ClearMetal to strengthen predictive tools

Project44, a leader in real-time visibility of the global supply chain, announced on Thursday it has acquired ClearMetal, a San Francisco-based supply chain planning software company that focuses on international freight visibility, predictive planning and overall customer experience. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

ClearMetal, founded by top software engineers and data scientists from Stanford, Google and other Silicon Valley elites, has created a “continuous delivery experience” that leverages proprietary machine learning algorithms that can forecast supply chain disruptions. 

In an interview, Jason Duboe, chief growth officer at project44, explained that bringing in ClearMetal’s elite team is essential for the company’s future predictive solutions.

“Their team construct is fundamentally different. When you look at their data science, machine learning and computer science background, they are best in class,” he said. “Applying the team to solve really interesting challenges, starting with highly predictive ETA and deeper exception management to create more predictive analytics is really a key component here.”

Project44 recently acquired Ocean Insights to gain global supply chain vessel visibility and has announced it has expanded its truckload tracking services within Asia. Bringing on this new team of engineers will allow the company to capitalize on strong predictive tools, strengthening the supply chain of its customers.

“We’re going to be expanding deeper into Asia, and from a port perspective, getting data much earlier than competitors,” explained Duboe. “Our freight forwarder integrations will give us much deeper visibility from an end-to-end perspective in these regions.”

Along with the acquired skills the ClearMetal team will bring to project44, it brings a large book of customers, including large CPGs, retailers, manufacturers, distributors and chemical companies. These advanced use cases will strengthen the predictive planning tools, and project44 continues to expand into different customer markets.

“What we gain from ClearMetal is a holistic platform for anybody that joins the platform in the future,” said Duboe. “They have large customers with incredibly demanding and advanced use cases. So when it comes to order and inventory, functionality, supplier onboarding, and moving upstream into those processes, we can capture exceptions earlier on.”

Click here for more articles by Grace Sharkey.

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DHL earmarks $450M for Eastern Europe logistics expansion

A large DHL warehouse with a yellow facade and yellow trucks at the dock doors.

DHL Group said it plans to invest more than $447 million in logistics infrastructure, freight services and technology in Central and Eastern Europe by 2030 because the region is home to a growing number of innovative, high-growth companies that need supply chain, international transportation and distribution services.

DHL (XETRA: DHL) is focusing investment in sectors and geographic regions that offer high-growth opportunities, with the goal of increasing revenue by 50% between 2023 and 2030. Last year, DHL Group said it would invest more than $570 million to expand capacity and capabilities in the Middle East.

The express freight company said it has added Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania to its 2030 strategic growth plan because the region is playing an increasingly important role in production and trade, while also being a large consumption market. The four countries are increasingly attracting European manufacturers and distributors, and foreign companies seeking closer proximity to the European consumer market as part of a growing nearshoring trend. 

Why It Matters: DHL is one of the largest third-party logistics providers in the world.

The investment program spans most business groups, supporting capacity expansion in warehousing, ground freight transportation, supply chain control towers and international express services, including  the planned construction of a new DHL Express air freight express terminal in Katowice, DHL said in a news release last week.

“Central and Eastern Europe is becoming increasingly important for global trade flows and supply chain networks. Poland, in particular, is developing into one of Europe’s most dynamic logistics and manufacturing hubs,” said John Pearson, CEO of DHL Express. “As customers strive for greater resilience and flexibility, they need logistics partners who can seamlessly connect production, inventory, and markets across borders. With these investments, we are expanding the infrastructure and international connectivity required to support the growth ambitions of the dynamic companies driving the economic development of this region.”

Poland grows as major trade hub

Poland has become a regional economic power over the past 30 years, with merchandise trade growing more than two times faster than global trade and 2.7 times faster than trade within the European Union over the past decade, according to the DHL Globalization Tracker published this month. The report, written in conjunction with New York University’s Stern School of Business, forecasts Poland’s goods trade will grow 28% faster than global trade and 91% faster than EU trade over the next three years.

The analysis also shows an increasing diversification of Poland’s trade relations. While Germany remains an important trading partner and the majority of Polish trade takes place within the European Union, trade with both the United States and China has increased significantly over the past 10 years.

“Central and Eastern Europe is consolidating its role as a strategic location for production, distribution, and regional fulfillment activities, particularly for companies seeking closer proximity to the European market,” said Hendrik Venter, CEO of DHL Supply Chain. 

The contract logistics unit, for example, recently entered the Romanian market through an expanded partnership with Polish retailer Pepco. 

DHL said Poland will continue to play a central role in its growth ambitions for the region. DHL Group has already invested significantly in the Polish market in recent years. In 2024, DHL opened a $201 million international logistics centre in Poznań, one of the largest logistics investments in the company’s history in Poland. The site supports several DHL business units, including DHL eCommerce, DHL Freight, and Post & Parcel Germany, and also serves as a key logistics hub connecting Poland with European and global markets.

DHL eCommerce operates a significant network of fulfillment centers, parcel lockers and pickup points in Poland in support of e-commerce marketplaces.

Poland is among DHL Group’s 10 largest markets worldwide in terms of the number of employees, with more than 10,000 people working there. 

More warehouse capacity in Germany

DHL Group also continues to invest in Germany, where the company is headquartered. 

DHL Express last week officially opened a new station in Cologne-Marsdorf, significantly expanding its capacity in the region.The 215,000-square foot site features three Pick-up and Delivery bays with 78 loading and unloading bays, a warehouse area with 35 bays of its own, and a modern sortation system capable of processing up to 6,000 domestic and international parcels. 

DHL Express is midway through construction of a new sort station in eastern Germany. (Photo: DHL)

The site includes 78 charging points for electric vehicles.

DHL also said it is on track to complete a new 315,000-square foot logistics center outside Jena, Germany, by March.

Jena is a high-tech industrial city in the eastern German state of Thuringia. DHL said the warehouse will offer logistics services for growing businesses in high-tech manufacturing, semiconductors, healthcare and battery technology. One of DHL Supply Chain’s key customers in the area is Zeiss, a leading manufacturer of eyeglass lenses, camera and cinematic lenses, and binoculars.

  Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

DHL steps up Middle East expansion with $570M in planned investments

DHL acquires US e-commerce logistics business IDS Fulfillment

J.B. Hunt experiences growing pains in Q3

JB Hunt containers being transported on well cars

J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ third quarter may prove to be a speed bump on the road to recovery. The company previously flagged significant cost pressures, some growth-related, heading into the Thursday print. To meet demand, some of its business units offered sign-on bonuses and increase driver recruitment spending. Some costs appear transitory, while others may linger through the end of the year.

J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) reported third-quarter revenue of $3.68 billion, which was 20% higher year over year and ahead of the $3.59 billion consensus estimate. Earnings per share of $1.82 were 6 cents higher y/y and 1 cent above analysts’ lowered expectations. (A higher tax rate was a 4-cent EPS headwind in the period, partially offset by a 2-cent decline in net interest expense.)

Table: J.B. Hunt’s key performance indicators – Consolidated

The company identified roughly $45 million in costs at an investor conference in mid-September. A sharp spike in diesel prices, driver hiring costs and elevated cargo claims forced the company to guide to a 5% to 10% sequential EPS decline in the third quarter (implying $1.77 at the midpoint of the range). The actual impact from the items totaled over $50 million in the period.

However, management told analysts on a Thursday evening call that “everything [is] playing out like a normal cycle,” noting it is common to incur incremental costs ahead of higher pricing and revenue.

“Any time that we see this pressure happening from a driver environment, [it] typically yields a much better pricing environment for the next bid season,” said President and CEO Shelley Simpson.

The brunt of the cost-price mismatch likely occurred in August and September, and should fade as the magnitude of the cost pressure eases and recent contractual rate wins bleed through to results. It said office headcount was down 4.5% y/y in the period, as driver count increased 3.5%.

Fuel surcharges operate on a one-week lag. Diesel prices were up sequentially in nine of the 13 weeks of the third quarter. By month, retail diesel prices dipped 1% sequentially in July, but increased 10% sequentially in August and another 15% in September. The near-term headwind will become an earnings tailwind when prices revert.

The third quarter marked a fifth straight quarter of y/y improvement in operating income and EPS. The company’s earnings turnaround started in the 2025 third quarter, well ahead of peers.

Intermodal can exit 2027 operating within margin target range

Intermodal revenue increased 20% y/y to $1.83 billion as loads were up 8.5% and revenue per load increased 11%.

The period was up against an easier volume comparison to a year ago (-1%). By month, shipments grew y/y by 9% in July, 8% in August and 9% in September. Shipments increased 18% y/y in the East and 1% in the transcontinental network. Total intermodal carloads were up 6% y/y on the U.S. Class I railroads in the period (North American container moves were up 5% y/y).

Excluding fuel, revenue per load was up just 2% y/y. However, a 3% decline in length of haul, due to the mix shift to the East, was a modest headwind to yield metric. Management said it captured low-single-digit contractual rate increase in the 2026 bid season, which ended last month.

Table: J.B. Hunt’s key performance indicators – Intermodal

Sonar data shows the mode is currently 31% cheaper than truck, which is notably higher than the typical 10% to 15% discount carried in the East (approximately 25% in the West). Elevated truckload rates and record diesel prices remain ample tailwinds for road-to-rail conversion.

SONAR: Intermodal Contract Savings Index (IMCSI.USA). The IMCSI shows the savings percentage between domestic intermodal contract rate per mile and truckload contract rate per mile. The comparison includes fuel surcharges. To learn more about SONAR, click here.
Chart: (ORAILDOML.USA). The daily volume of intermodal containers moving in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The index is a 7-day moving average using the date that containers were in-gated at a point of origin. Intermodal trailers (trailer-on-flatcar) are excluded.

The unit booked a 91.9% operating ratio (inverse of operating margin), which was 15 basis points worse y/y. Higher costs (driver personnel, equipment and employee benefits) led to an 11% increase in cost per load, offsetting the increase in yield.

The company’s container fleet was 92.1% utilized in the quarter, 170 bps better than in the second quarter and well ahead of the 83.6% utilization rate in the 2025 third quarter. However, average loads per container were down 1% y/y in the period, possibly due to a modest deterioration in rail service.

Improved rates and continued cost management could restore margins to the company’s long-term target range of 10% to 12% by the end of next year, management said.

Dedicated a Q3 cost victim

The dedicated unit’s OR deteriorated 360 bps y/y to 91.5%.

Revenue increased 11% y/y to $960 million as revenue per truck per week increased 10% and average trucks in service were up 1%. Revenue per truck was up just 3% excluding fuel. J.B. Hunt sold service on 425 trucks in the quarter (970 trucks year-to-date), but its pipeline remains at an all-time high.

Table: J.B. Hunt’s key performance indicators – Dedicated

Higher driver costs, group medical claims and insurance premiums were among the headwinds in the quarter. It also incurred an elevated level of startup costs at new accounts. Average trailers in service increased 11% y/y even though loads grew just 3%.

It said it can revisit customer contracts and recoup incremental costs, like higher driver costs, before the annual rollover.

Brokerage books another profit

After 13 quarters operating in the red, the brokerage unit booked a second straight operating profit.

Revenue increased 57% y/y as loads grew 22% and revenue per load jumped 29% (inclusive of fuel). A 14.3% gross margin was 70 bps lower y/y but 180 bps better than the second quarter. Purchased transportation costs (spot rates) cooled following the Fourth of July. Loads per employee fell 5% y/y but gross profit per employee increased 17%. Headcount was 28% higher y/y.

Table: J.B. Hunt’s key performance indicators – Brokerage

The company’s asset-light TL unit returned to profit after a modest second-quarter loss. The $7-million operating profit was driven by a 29% y/y increase in revenue per load (excluding fuel) and a 4% increase in trailer utilization (loads per average trailer). The operating income result was roughly flat y/y.

Table: J.B. Hunt’s key performance indicators – Final Mile & Truckload

Shares of JBHT were down 3% in pre-market trading on Friday. The stock fell 14% from its mid-September earnings update to the Thursday close. 

Why it matters? J.B. Hunt’s quarterly results serve as a bellwether for the intermodal, trucking and logistics industries. The company’s third quarter was a modest slowdown after four quarters of strong recovery. However, some of the incremental costs that plagued the period were likely transitory in nature.

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

Jury hits Wyoming logistics broker with $9.4M fraud verdict

A California jury has awarded nearly $9.4 million to a medical supply distributor after finding that a Wyoming-based logistics broker and its managing member made fraudulent representations that led to a failed $9.5 million shipment of medical gloves.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court jury found Oak Sourcing & Logistics LLC and Matthew John Sandvig liable for intentional misrepresentation in a dispute with Ashtel Studios Inc., a California company that imported nitrile examination gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Oct. 9 verdict awarded Ashtel $9.397 million in economic damages, including $6.43 million in out-of-pocket expenditures and nearly $2.97 million in other economic losses.

The dispute centered on Oak Sourcing’s representations about its financial resources, customer contracts and ability to purchase millions of boxes of medical gloves.

According to Ashtel’s original complaint, Sandvig told company executives in March 2021 that Oak Sourcing had an $800 million personal protective equipment contract, long-term supply commitments with hospitals and access to substantial financing.

Those representations helped persuade Ashtel to enter into two large glove transactions totaling $14.7 million, according to the complaint.

Two shipments, one unpaid order

The companies’ first transaction, dated July 2, 2021, involved 500,000 boxes of nitrile gloves valued at $5.2 million.

Ashtel imported the gloves from China through the Port of Long Beach in 14 shipping containers. The products were subsequently transported to the company’s warehouse in Ontario, California.

Oak Sourcing eventually paid for the first shipment in August 2021, approximately three weeks after its arrival, although Ashtel alleged that certain transportation and warehousing expenses remained unpaid.

A second purchase order, dated July 7, 2021, called for 1 million boxes of nitrile examination gloves at $9.50 per box, totaling $9.5 million.

The second shipment arrived in 27 containers, but Oak Sourcing allegedly failed to complete payment or take possession of the merchandise.

Ashtel alleged that the broker repeatedly delayed inspections, requested additional shipping documentation and indicated that payment would follow receipt of funds from its downstream customer.

The company later learned that Oak Sourcing’s purported end customer was another intermediary rather than a hospital or other direct purchaser, according to the complaint.

Ashtel said it incurred additional drayage, warehousing and storage expenses while attempting to resolve the transaction and eventually resold the gloves to reduce its losses.

The two purchase orders involved a combined 1.5 million boxes of gloves transported in 41 ocean shipping containers.

Jury finds intentional misrepresentation

The jury concluded that both Oak Sourcing and Sandvig made false representations, knew those statements were false or acted recklessly regarding their truth, and intended Ashtel to rely on them.

Jurors also found that Ashtel reasonably relied on those representations and suffered financial harm as a result.

In addition to the $9.397 million fraud award, the jury found that Oak Sourcing owed Ashtel $4,272,252 on an open book account claim.

That finding represents a separate legal claim, and the amount should not be added to the fraud award without determining how the court will address overlapping damages in its final judgment.

The jury also rejected Oak Sourcing’s counterclaims against Ashtel, including allegations of intentional and negligent misrepresentation, concealment and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

Jurors further determined that Sandvig engaged in conduct involving malice, oppression or fraud, potentially exposing the defendants to punitive damages.

However, Ashtel agreed to forgo punitive damages in exchange for the defendants waiving their rights to challenge the judgment through post-trial motions, appeals or other proceedings, according to Eugene Rome, founding partner of Rome LLP, which represented Ashtel.

Rome clarified that the agreement was not an additional monetary settlement.

The jury’s findings underscore the distinction between a failed commercial transaction and fraud, Rome said.

“A fraud verdict is a finding that the representations about the company and the volume of business it had were knowingly false when they were made,” Rome said in an Oct. 13 statement. “That goes well beyond a breach of contract.”

The litigation began in March 2022, when Ashtel filed a federal lawsuit against Sandvig, Oak Sourcing and Oak Insurance Group LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The defendants moved to dismiss the federal action for lack of jurisdiction. Ashtel subsequently voluntarily dismissed the case without prejudice, and a federal judge closed the proceeding in May 2022 without ruling on the merits.

The dispute continued in Los Angeles County Superior Court, where Judge Nicole M. Heeseman presided over the jury trial.

Although the jury has returned its verdict, the case has not been fully resolved.

Rome told FreightWaves that Ashtel intends to submit a proposed judgment for the court’s approval.

A separate bench trial concerning alter ego allegations involving Oak Insurance Group will also proceed at a future date, he said.

Those allegations concern whether the related business entities should be treated as legally separate for purposes of liability. No finding against Oak Insurance Group is established by the jury verdict.

Rome said the case illustrates the risks of relying on a counterparty’s representations when entering large commercial transactions.

“While large transactions create the prospects of substantial profits, they equally entail traps for the unwary,” Rome told FreightWaves.

Oak Sourcing & Logistics is identified in the litigation as a Wyoming-based intermediary in medical supply transactions. The available court records do not establish that it operated as a federally licensed freight broker.

FreightWaves attorneys representing Oak Sourcing & Logistics. No responses had been received as of publication.

Why it matters: The verdict highlights the financial risks facing suppliers and logistics intermediaries when major transactions rely on misleading claims about customer contracts and purchasing capacity.

More FreightWaves articles by Noi Mahoney:

First look: J.B. Hunt’s Q3 earnings

JB Hunt intermodal containers unloading at a warehouse

J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ third quarter slightly surpassed analysts’ lowered expectations following the company’s earnings warning issued in September.

J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) reported third-quarter revenue of $3.68 billion Thursday after the market closed. The result was ahead of a $3.59 billion consensus estimate. Earnings per share of $1.82 were 1 cent higher than analysts’ revised expectations. (A higher tax rate was a 4-cent EPS headwind in the quarter, partially offset by a 2-cent decline in net interest expense.)

The result was slightly better than its September update, calling for a 5% to 10% sequential decline in EPS, implying $1.77 at the midpoint of the range. At the time, the company flagged near-term cost pressures—a sharp runup in diesel prices ($10 million), driver-related costs ($25 million) and elevated cargo claims ($10 million)—as headwinds. The actual impact in the quarter was over $50 million.

The third quarter marked a fifth straight quarter of year-over-year improvement in operating income and EPS. The company’s earnings turnaround started in the 2025 third quarter, well ahead of peers.

Table: J.B. Hunt’s key performance indicators

Intermodal revenue increased 20% y/y to $1.83 billion as loads were up 8% and revenue per load increased 11%. Higher fuel prices pushed revenue higher in the period. Excluding fuel, revenue per load was up 2% y/y. Volumes increased 18% y/y in the East and 1% on transcontinental lanes. A 3% decline in length of haul, due to a mix shift to the East, was a modest headwind to revenue per load.

The unit booked a 91.9% operating ratio (inverse of operating margin), which was 15 basis points worse y/y. Higher costs (driver personnel, equipment and employee benefits) were a drag in the quarter.

The dedicated OR deteriorated 360 bps y/y to 91.5%. Revenue was up 11% y/y, almost entirely due to higher revenue per truck per week (inclusive of fuel). Revenue per truck was up just 3% excluding fuel. Average trailers in service increased 11% even though load counts grew just 3%. Higher driver costs, group medical claims, insurance premiums and new account startup costs were among the culprits.

The brokerage unit booked a second straight operating profit after 13 quarters in the red.

The company’s asset-light truckload unit swung to a $7-million operating profit after a modest second-quarter loss.

Shares of JBHT were down 2.4% in after-hours trading on Thursday. The stock fell 14% from its mid-September earnings update to the Thursday close. 

J.B. Hunt will host a call at 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday to discuss third-quarter results.

Why it matters? J.B. Hunt’s quarterly results serve as a bellwether for the intermodal, trucking and logistics industries. The company’s third quarter was a modest slowdown after four quarters of strong recovery. However, some of the incremental costs that plagued the period were likely transitory in nature.

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

Federal DOT grants will fund more than 2,400 parking spots

There will be a little more than 2,400 new truck parking spaces built over the next few years as a result of funding provided to various projects under the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects (INFRA) program.

“A targeted objective of this funding opportunity is to directly address the national shortage of commercial motor vehicle parking,” the Department of Transportation said in announcing the grants Wednesday. “By funding projects that expand safe, accessible public parking for commercial drivers, the Department aims to reduce fatigue-related accidents, improve supply chain fluidity, and provide essential infrastructure along the nation’s most critical freight corridors. To support these national freight and mobility goals, the Department intends to invest in projects that enhance or maintain the operational efficiency of the national transportation network.”

According to an FAQ document on INFRA, the funds for parking can only be provided to some sort of public entity or a public-private partnership. The list of acceptable entities to apply included potential applicants as big as a state or a group of them, down to an individual local government or a group of them.

But it also provides that any of the public applicants could have applied with a “private entity to fund development, capacity expansion, or operations and maintenance.”

There were 14 new parking projects approved by INFRA and announced by the Department of Transportation Wednesday. The precise total of new spots is 2,403. 

Biggest project in the Volunteer State

The largest is a 500 spot project in Tennessee. That project is actually two separate projects, one near Nashville and the other near Knoxville. 

The recipients of the grant of just under $24 million are three counties, joined together under the banner of the Greater Nashville Regional Council. The new parking spots will be built at five separate Pilot Travel Center locations, according to the fact sheet released by the DOT. They will be built along interstate 40 and interstate 24.

Border crossing parking

The dropoff to the next largest project is significant: 305 spots to be built in Los Indios, Texas, near the Brownsville border crossing with Mexico.

In that project, according to the DOT, work will need to be done to reconstruct about 0.35 miles of a local road that will provide access to a new parking area near the Los Indios Port of Entry. Cameron County was the entity granted the $9.2 million award.

The other projects from largest to smallest, along with their sponsors, are as follows:

  • Port of Savannah, 275 spots, sponsored by the Georgia Ports Authority, near the port of Savannah, less than two miles from gate 4 of the port, $24.5 million.   
  • Enfield, Connecticut, 260 spots at a new parking facility, sponsored by the state’s Department of Transportation, on interstate 91 north of Hartford, $13.5 million. 
  • Rest Iowa sponsored by the state’s Department of Transportation, described as “rural,” 150 spots spread out over six existing rest areas on interstate 80, $24.5 million, sponsored by the state’s Department of Transportation. 
  • Port of Wilmington, North Carolina, 140 spots, $6 million, at the port, serving interstate 40, sponsored by the North Carolina State Ports Authority. 
  • Interstate 49 rest area, new project on the future interstate 49 in Crawford County, Arkansas, 137 spots, $23 million, Arkansas Department of Transportation is the sponsor.
  • Nebraska interstate 80 rest stop, sponsored by the state’s Department of Transportation, 120 spots for $7.5 million, building a new facility between mile markers 247 and 254 in Dawson County. 
  • Monroe County, Georgia, 109 spots, $13.5 million, adding spots at existing sites at two Georgia-owned parking facilities, one a weigh station and one a rest area, sponsored by the state’s Department of Transportation.
  • Wisconsin project on interstate 41 near Dodge County, sponsored by the state’s Department of Transportation, 106 spots for $15 million, adding to two existing areas.
  • Fort Worth Alliance project at a Pilot Travel Center, 100 spots, $5 million, state highway 170 & interstate 35 west, sponsored by the city of Fort Worth. 
  • Needles truck parking area, 100 spots at a new 15-acre site, near the interstate 40 and California 95 interchange, $6.4 million, sponsored by the city of Needles. 
  • Fergus Falls rest area in Minnesota, 63 spots, $27.7 million, sponsored by the state’s Department of Transportation, located on interstate 94. 
  • Southern Illinois project, sponsored by the state’s Department of Transportation, 38 parking spots, reconstructing the southbound Green Creek and Post Oak rest areas on interstate 57.

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Freight Visibility Gets a Second Set of Eyes

freight visibility meant knowing where a given truck was, but the industry has only gotten more complex as it has digitized. On a recent episode of FreightWaves’ What the Truck?!?, host Malcolm Harris pressed Andrew Wimer, Associate General Manager, Transportation Management at Descartes, on how visibility metrics have evolved as shippers, carriers, and brokers demand a fuller picture of what’s happening with a load. 

Wimer, who oversees the Descartes MacroPoint visibility platform, said the fundamentals haven’t gone away. “It’s always been ‘Where’s my truck?’ or ‘Where’s the load? Where’s the freight?’” Wimer said of visibility’s original mandate. “That’s still essential. Don’t get me wrong. You need to know where your freight is or where your truck is.” 

But Wimer argued the industry’s reliance on electronic logging devices has created blind spots that go beyond simple location pings, and that closing those gaps means rethinking who gets a voice in the tracking process. 

For years, Wimer said, the industry treated ELDs as the definitive answer to tracking, fraud prevention, and driver accountability. That approach, according to Wimer, sidelined the drivers themselves. “There’s a massive network of millions of drivers who are very good drivers, who are reliable drivers, and who are safe drivers, and when they’re removed from visibility, they don’t have the ability to help validate shipment status,” Wimer said. 

Validation covers everything from confirming a delivery to speeding up paperwork. Drivers who stay engaged with a tracking app can flag when they’ve arrived at a dock, upload proof-of-delivery documents on the spot, or send updates that would otherwise require a phone call to dispatch. Removing them from the workflow, according to Wimer, meant losing that layer of real-time confirmation just as the industry leaned harder on ELDs as “the silver bullet” for tracking. 

The fix, however, is not to abandon ELDs. According to Wimer, “We need to bring the drivers back into the equation. We need to leverage ELDs along with the app within the driver community so that we can have the most robust dataset possible and improve our time to cash.” 

That philosophy is the foundation of Descartes MacroPoint ELD+: to run ELD and mobile app tracking on the same shipment simultaneously, rather than forcing brokers to choose one data source over another.  

“We’re combining the two data sources together,” Wimer said. “We’re tracking the ELD, the truck, and the driver so that you can have continuity over the tracking session.” 

The redundancy is the point. If a driver’s phone loses signal, or an ELD provider’s API goes down, the other data source keeps the shipment visible instead of leaving a broker or shipper with a blind spot in the timeline.  

“If there’s a gap in connectivity or signal or for whatever reason there’s an issue with one of the devices, the other one’s still picking up data and fulfilling any gaps in visibility so you can provide your shippers with good customer service and meet your compliance metrics and scorecards,” Wimer said. 

Under the hood, Descartes MacroPoint no longer picks a single best identifier to track on a shipment. It tracks all of them at once, on one session, and feeds it all back to the transportation management system. “We’re tracking them all on a single session,” Wimer said. “We’re sending it all back to the TMS.” 

Beyond redundancy, Wimer said the dual data streams give brokers and carriers a new tool for spotting trouble. When a truck’s ELD and a driver’s phone stop telling the same story, that divergence itself is a signal.  

“Truck and driver should be telling the same story, moving down the highway together,” Wimer said. “If they go separate ways or signals go different directions, that should set off an alert and an operational workflow to call and investigate.” 

A mismatch doesn’t always mean fraud, but it’s worth a phone call.  

“If something odd is going on, get after it before it’s too late,” Wimer said. He pointed to a broader pattern the industry has had to reckon with over the past year: bad actors spoofing location data on both ELDs and driver-facing apps. “There’s spoofing of both ELDs and of the mobile app across any platform,” Wimer said. “Having multiple signals to help validate fraud and give you more data to then go out and talk to carriers is very important.” 

There’s one specific scam that brokers run into often: a carrier selling a team-driver service (with two drivers alternating behind the wheel to keep a truck moving around the clock) while actually running solo, a bait-and-switch that can show up as a single phone number covering a load that should have two. Wimer, who spent time on the brokerage side of the business before joining Descartes, said he’s seen it firsthand. Tracking multiple sources of data, he said, is an excellent way to catch issues like that as they occur.  

Rolling out the new ELD+ feature, Wimer said, required no new lift from Descartes’ TMS partners or the brokers using them. Using Descartes Tai TMS as an example, Wimer explained that a broker’s existing driver information (including phone number, truck number, and trailer number) flows automatically into Descartes MacroPoint to kick off tracking, and the solution handles the rest internally.  

“ELD plus just starts off the bat,” Wimer said. “There’s nothing extra a customer needs to do.” 

That’s a deliberate design choice rooted in how Descartes manages its relationships with the TMS providers that feed MacroPoint driver data.  

“We don’t want to add complexity to what a TMS has to send to MacroPoint to take advantage of additional features,” Wimer said. “We want to handle that within the application ourselves, so that customers don’t need the TMS to do anything additional to reap the value from it.” 

The scale behind that promise, Wimer said, comes from roughly two decades of building out the MacroPoint driver network.  

“We’ve been building a driver network for roughly two decades,” Wimer said. “We’re talking millions of unique drivers on the network, with their cell phones. They’re ready to track.”  

On the ELD side, MacroPoint has spent nine years building out telematics integrations and now connects with more than 500 ELD and telematics providers globally. Wimer said that Descartes has worked to maintain the network carefully so tracking doesn’t break down over vendor disputes.  

Asked what shippers, carriers, and brokers should do first if they suspect their visibility still has gaps, Wimer pointed to the data brokers put into their own systems at the moment of dispatch.  

“The first thing would be ensuring that you are working with your brokers on the floor to get full driver information. That’s the biggest gap we see,” Wimer said. 

Wimer said he recognized the temptation to cut corners on driver data firsthand, from his own time working as a broker under deadline pressure. That habit, multiplied across an industry, is what still undermines visibility tools no matter how many data sources feed them, Wimer said.  

“Getting accurate and good driver information in your TMS is still the biggest hurdle that I see our customers have,” Wimer said. “It starts with a good phone number. It starts with a good truck number or trailer number in the TMS so that then we have something accurate to track against.”

Click here to learn more about Descartes.


How AI Agents Boost Fleet Safety & Efficiency by 30%

Samsara’s new Agent Studio is changing the game for physical operations, making powerful AI agents accessible through a no-code builder. Discover how voice and chat agents are helping logistics companies proactively manage everything from HOS compliance to driver coaching, improving safety by up to 30% and reducing manual review time by 85%. Learn why operators find this hands-free approach essential for real-time problem-solving and how you can build your own custom AI workflows.

Samsara has made Agent Studio, its no-code builder for chat and voice AI agents, available to all customers at no added cost, the company announced this week. Usage of AI agents on the platform has grown sevenfold since June, underscoring accelerating demand from fleet operators looking to automate coaching, compliance monitoring, and driver communications without dedicated IT resources.

Agent Studio allows operators to build, test, launch, and set permissions on an agent in minutes using plain-language instructions rather than custom code. Agents can trigger automatically — for example, delivering yard entry instructions to a driver when a truck crosses a geofence — or respond on demand to queries about fuel efficiency, safety scores, or hours-of-service status.

Brendan O’Driscoll, VP of Platform AI at Samsara, said voice has emerged as the dominant format for physical operations, outpacing chat agents because drivers and site workers need hands-free access to information. He pointed to Jordan Carriers, a fleet of roughly 1,000 drivers, as an early example of the technology’s impact: the carrier deployed a voice agent to automate safety coaching that previously required manual outreach to as many as 140 to 150 drivers at any given time.

“The fleet is running about 30% safer — it’s 30% less crashes they’ve seen in that cohort of drivers,” O’Driscoll said. “That’s a perfect example of being able to meet the driver where they are in the moment.”

On the compliance side, O’Driscoll highlighted Aspertrum Foods as a customer using an agent to predict hours-of-service violations up to three hours before they occur, tracking remaining stops, drive time, and total shift time in real time. The proactive approach has cut manual review time by roughly 80% to 85%, allowing managers to authorize extensions or reroute drivers before a violation is logged rather than auditing incidents after the fact.

The no-code design is central to the product’s pitch to operators. O’Driscoll said tasks that once required a data analyst or a multi-week IT project — such as pulling a fuel-inefficiency report or scheduling outbound calls to drivers with low safety scores — can now be initiated by speaking a plain-language request. “If you can think it, if you can ask it, you know, it will do it,” he said, “and there’s no middle person needed.”

Samsara said 30% to 40% of customers who set up one agent go on to run two or more within a short period. The company said its near-term focus is on helping operators identify a first use case — often a start-of-shift briefing — before expanding to fuel efficiency, safety scoring, and other workflows as customer familiarity grows.

  • Samsara’s Agent Studio no-code AI builder is now free for all customers, with platform agent usage up sevenfold since June.
  • Jordan Carriers, a 1,000-driver fleet, reported 30% fewer crashes after deploying Samsara voice agents for automated safety coaching.
  • Aspertrum Foods cut manual HOS compliance review time by 80–85% using an agent that flags potential violations up to three hours in advance.

This Summary is generated thanks to a transcription of the interview, for the full interview please enjoy the video above.

Is Your Trailer Leasing EXPOSURE Covered?

Freight brokers stepping into trailer leasing face significant new liabilities beyond just arranging transportation. From critical maintenance issues to relying on inadequate insurance, the risks are substantial. Learn why dedicated coverage and robust processes are essential to protect your brokerage from unexpected exposures.

Freight brokers who lease trailers to build a pool for motor carrier customers are taking on liability exposure that their existing contingent insurance policies likely do not cover — and in many cases, neither the broker nor the leasing company has caught the gap. That is the warning from Andy Kuchar, President of Centerline Insurance Company, who said a recent audit of freight broker certificates of insurance at one trailer leasing company found that every single certificate on file failed to cover the leased trailers.

“Every single certificate of insurance that those freight brokers had did not cover those trailers and they didn’t know it,” Kuchar said. The brokers had cleared the leasing company’s onboarding process, but compliance staff — not insurance specialists — had accepted documentation tied to commercial auto policies never designed to cover leased trailer fleets.

“The last thing you want, I think, is that — is to have an accident, the leasing company gets pulled in, you get pulled in, and only then you find out you’re actually not in compliance with the lease.”

Kuchar outlined two primary reasons trailer leasing raises the liability stakes for brokers. First, maintenance obligations typically fall on the lessee, meaning a brake or bearing failure that causes an accident — something Kuchar said he personally witnessed twice on Interstate 24 near Chattanooga — could trace directly back to the broker. Second, providing equipment moves a broker out of the role of pure transportation arranger, adding a layer of legal exposure that arranging-only brokers do not carry.

On the insurance side, Kuchar urged brokers to avoid relying on motor carrier commercial auto policies, even when named as additional insureds. Carrier policies often require every trailer VIN to be listed, and a leased trailer’s VIN will not appear on the carrier’s policy. Premium-financed carrier policies can also lapse without the broker’s knowledge. He said brokers should instead obtain a dedicated policy specifically designed for the trailer-leasing exposure, and cautioned that any policy containing the word “contingent” warrants close scrutiny of its exclusions and conditions. Contingent policies are cheap, he noted, for the same reason a $25 U-Haul damage waiver is cheap — low limits and narrow coverage.

Beyond insurance, Kuchar stressed the need for a documented trailer maintenance schedule. Visual inspections by truck drivers can catch obvious defects such as rotted tires, but cannot detect imminent bearing failures. Some leasing companies bundle maintenance tiers into their agreements, which can help brokers demonstrate that equipment is being kept roadworthy.

Kuchar also flagged leasing companies themselves as an emerging risk category. In the three to four months prior to the interview, Centerline had issued roughly a half-dozen policies to protect lessors directly, not just the brokers leasing from them. He tied the trend to post-Montgomery ruling litigation, in which courts have increasingly sought to extend liability to shippers, brokers, and now equipment lessors. Leasing companies typically operate on five-year contracts, meaning insurance compliance must be re-verified at every annual renewal — a process that can fall through the cracks when compliance staff are managing hundreds or thousands of client files.

  • Every freight broker certificate of insurance reviewed at one trailer leasing company failed to cover the leased trailers, according to Centerline’s Andy Kuhar.
  • Brokers should obtain a dedicated trailer-leasing policy and avoid relying on motor carrier commercial auto coverage, which may exclude unlisted trailer VINs.
  • Centerline issued roughly six lessor-side policies in the past three to four months as courts increasingly pull leasing companies into accident litigation post-Montgomery ruling.

This Summary is generated thanks to a transcription of the interview, for the full interview please enjoy the video above.

Fleetworthy expands Expedited Inspection to five states

Tablet and phone show a Fleetworthy Expedited Inspection report as an enforcement officer walks toward a semitruck

Fleetworthy expanded its Expedited Inspection program to California, Michigan, Vermont and Maine on Tuesday, bringing the automated roadside inspection tool to five states. Nevada, the first, has used it since June 2025.

When a truck is selected for inspection, the program sends fleet and vehicle data and the driver’s electronic Record of Duty Status (eRODS) directly to the officer. Eligibility rests on two conditions: a fleet must use Fleetworthy’s Weigh Station Bypass service, which operated as Drivewyze before Bestpass-Fleetworthy Solutions bought it in 2024, and, for now, it must run ELDs from Geotab or Platform Science.

Fleetworthy called the Nevada launch the industry’s first automated roadside inspection solution and said enforcement officers there are already reporting time savings.

“With Expedited Inspection, we’re easily saving about 15 minutes per inspection. That’s time our officers get back to focus on enforcement, and time drivers get back on the road,” Sgt. Scott Keane of the Nevada Highway Patrol said in the release.

How it differs from standard ELD transfers

Drivers already send their logs to officers electronically. Under federal hours-of-service rules, a driver must produce and transfer hours-of-service records from an ELD when an authorized safety official asks. In a standard telematics transfer, the officer gives the driver a routing code and the driver starts the upload to an FMCSA server, according to FMCSA guidance. Officers review the file in eRODS, FMCSA’s software for opening ELD records.

Fleetworthy says its version automates that handoff and adds to it. The eRODS file reaches the officer once a truck is selected for inspection, and the program also sends fleet and vehicle registration data that pre-fills inspection forms, according to the company’s June 2025 Nevada launch release. Fleets activate the feature once through their ELD.

The idea has a predecessor: before the acquisition, Drivewyze’s e-Inspection program let drivers send inspection data from their ELDs to officers for Level III inspections, FreightWaves reported in 2021.

Expedited Inspection’s Virtual Vehicle Enabled label refers to Platform Science’s platform that pulls live data from trucks’ built-in telematics. Emilie Campbell, vice president of marketplace for Virtual Vehicle at Platform Science, said the expansion “helps get accurate information into officers’ hands the moment it’s needed, without adding steps for drivers.”

The expansion also adds Inspect Queue, a view of every truck flagged for inspection that lets officers pick up an inspection on a separate device. It is live in all five states.

Fleetworthy’s cost estimate

Each inspection saves a fleet about $22.82, Fleetworthy estimates, and the company said the savings can compound for fleets running frequent lanes through participating states. That equals the 15 minutes Keane cited at $91.27 an hour, the marginal cost of operating a truck in the American Transportation Research Institute’s 2024 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking. That edition reflects 2023 costs, when ATRI put the per-mile cost at $2.270.

ATRI has published two editions since, and Fleetworthy used the older figure. The 2026 update, released in July, put 2025 costs at a record $2.336 per mile, up from $2.260 in 2024, FreightWaves reported. ATRI’s public summaries of the newer editions do not list an hourly cost.

Availability

The program is free to state transportation departments and state police. For fleets, it is available at no additional cost in Nevada, California, Michigan, Vermont and Maine with Weigh Station Bypass and a participating ELD provider. More states and ELD integrations are planned, Fleetworthy said.

“Expanding Expedited Inspection from one state to five shows how this technology can scale to reduce roadside friction for fleets and law enforcement,” said Miranda Leadbeater, a product manager at Fleetworthy. “Every minute saved means less downtime for drivers and more predictable operations for fleets.”

Why it matters: Drivers already must transfer ELD logs when officers ask. Fleetworthy’s program sends them, along with fleet and vehicle data, once a truck is selected. A Nevada officer says that saves about 15 minutes per inspection, though only two ELD providers support it so far.

Penske Automotive accepts offer, will be bought out

Penske Automotive Group (NYSE: PAG), a publicly-traded company that includes the current Penske-related companies involved in a closely-watched liability case, will become a private company with a buyout from two of its current corporate owners.

After a review of the July offer from Penske Corp and Mitsui & Co. Ltd., PAG said Thursday it had accepted the offer to sell itself to those two companies. What is being sold is the approximately 27.8% of Penske Automotive those two companies do not currently own.

After the deal is completed, Penske Corp., which is a private company, will own 64% of Penske Automotive. Mitsui will own the balance.

The purchase price is $212 per share. When the offer to take PAG private was first announced in July, the share price in the deal was $210 per share.

That price, according to the prepared statement released by Penske Automotive, is a premium of approximately 20.09% to the 60-day average and 26.17% to the 90-day volume average weighted prices of PAG stock for the period ended July 21, when the offer was made.

According to the company’s 10-K report to the Securities & Exchange Commission, Penske Automotive, whose key activity is automotive retail, had revenue in 2025 of approximately $27.5 billion from retail automotive dealerships, $3.4 billion from retail commercial truck dealers, and $922.6 million from commercial vehicle distribution and other operations. 

Its truck dealership operates as Premier Truck Group, which primarily sells Freightliner and Western Star trucks, both manufactured by Daimler Truck (DTG.DE).

Penske Automotive holds a 28.9% share in Penske Truck Leasing. In the 10-K, the company said Penske Transportation Solutions (PTS) is the “universal brand name for Penske Truck Leasing’s various businesses, which articulates the breadth of their services.”

“PTS is capable of meeting customers’ needs across the supply chain with a broad product offering that includes full-service truck leasing, truck rental, and contract maintenance along with logistics services, such as dedicated contract carriage, distribution center management, supply chain management, and dry van truckload carrier services,” the 10-K said.

It is carrier Penske Logistics and its brokerage affiliate, Penske Transportation Management (PTM), which are part of PTS, that find themselves in a case involving carrier liability that has drawn strong interest across the industry.

The chain of events in the case is that Penske Logistics secured a load of automotive seats, which it then brokered out to its affiliate PTM.

PTM then brokered the load to another carrier who in turn brokered the freight to yet another carrier. That carrier was involved in the fatal 2018 crash.

After a lower court victory that found Penske was not liable, the Penske companies were defeated on appeal by the Fifth Circuit, which ruled Penske Logistics, several steps away from the carrier that killed Lyndon Dean Meyer on the day after Christmas, could be held liable for that fatal crash.

Penske Logistics  is asking the full circuit for an en banc hearing to reconsider the appellate court decision in the Fifth Circuit.

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