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

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:

pic.twitter.com/yFYyjzYMWE
— Craig Fuller 🛩🚛🇺🇦 (@FreightAlley) May 11, 2022

#FuelShortage #DieselShortage #SupplyChainCrisis pic.twitter.com/zVmXlshXN0
— Don Ricardo 👑 🇺🇸 🇩🇴 (@NjPier) May 5, 2022

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.

Billionaire John Catsimatidis owns a small oil refinery in the US East Coast and several hundred gas stations from Pennsylvania to New York:

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see diesel being rationed on the East Coast this summer.” #OOTT #DieselCrisis https://t.co/9g1e5UIf20
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) May 11, 2022

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

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

Project44 expands real-time visibility into China

Project44 reels in Ocean Insights in ‘largest acquisition in visibility space’

‘Project44’s vision has always been global’

ACT Expo 2026 embraces the digital frontier for commercial fleets

Two speakers on stage at ACT Expo presenting key lessons learned in electric truck deployment, including matching innovation to application, early utility engagement, and scalable depot planning for commercial fleets

ACT Expo 2026 is shaping up to be the most comprehensive show in the event’s 16-year history. The transportation expo, held this year in Las Vegas, brings nearly 400 speakers, over 200 vehicles on display and in the Ride & Drive, and typically over 12,000 attendees. This year’s conference highlights a commercial transportation industry in the throes of technological transformation—and wrestling with what to do about it.

Beyond the sheer scale of the event, there’s also an expansion of what attendees will find on the show floor. Emerging green technologies will still be there, but ACT Expo will showcase the digital technology layer that sits on top of advanced vehicle platforms. This focus will make the show useful to any fleet that needs pragmatic advice about measurable returns of new technologies taking hold in the market.

Erik Neandross, president of Clean Transportation Solutions at TRC, and host of ACT Expo told FreightWaves in an interview that the event reflects a maturation of the industry’s approach to emerging technologies. As always at ACT Expo, fleet presentations on their experiences with new technology deployments will be a cornerstone of the conference. That real-world experience provides more insight than a showcase of innovation.

“There’s no end to the technology choices, fuel options and drivetrain options available to commercial operators,” Neandross said. “But the key is what really makes sense for them from a financial perspective. Where can fleets expect to achieve equivalent or improved Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and thus, a return on their investment in a given period of time?”

That question—where the value actually lies for fleet operators—will drive much of the conversation at this year’s event.

The Digital Frontier Expands to Fleets

A big focus of ACT Expo 2026 is what Neandross calls “the digital frontier”—a catch-all term encompassing software-defined vehicles (SDVs), real-time data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) in fleet management, the growing role of predictive maintenance, and a lot more.

“Last year we explored software-defined vehicles, which was kind of a new topic, and we will see continued progress in this area this year,” Neandross said. “While the digital frontier can be all-encompassing and overwhelming to fleets, especially given how loosely the term ‘AI’ is thrown around these days, when a customer is able to make the right technology selections to fit their application and operation, we have seen fleets reporting significant improvements in uptime, asset utilization and productivity, the driver experience, and safety. There is real value here, but it’s important for fleets to understand the landscape of the digital frontier and make the right selections in terms of technology and partners.”

Another big focus of ACT Expo 2026 will be driver assist technologies and autonomous vehicle (AV) commercialization. The conference will feature a main stage panel with leading figures in the autonomous space including Aurora, Kodiak, Waabi, Torc, and PlusAI. These industry leaders will be discussing where the technology stands as it moves beyond pilot demonstrations and into a commercialization phase. A key focus will be identifying where and how the technology best fits into a fleet’s operation, and ultimately, how to achieve the right ROI on the investment.

“Regardless of the product we’re talking about, ACT Expo has always served the market to showcase technologies moving from the R&D and pilot phases and into the commercialization phase,” Neandross explained. “Between the conference sessions and technology on the show floor, the event highlights how the industry will scale a technology from a handful of units, to dozens to then hundreds or thousands on the road.”

As part of this advanced digital transformation – which includes driver assist and autonomous technologies, the use of AI, and a lot more – safety is an area of focus that is gaining a lot more attention from fleets.

“That’s something we heard loud and clear last year,” he said. “In all of the conversations we were having about digital or autonomy, I just kept hearing safety, safety, safety.”

For an event historically focused on clean technology and alternative powertrains, the emphasis on safety represents a notable addition. The driving forces aren’t mysterious; nuclear verdicts in trucking litigation have become almost routine headlines, and fleets are looking for every available tool to protect themselves, improve driver and vehicle safety, increase uptime and reduce costs.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are at the center of this conversation. Lane-keeping technology, collision avoidance systems, automatic braking, and camera systems—both inside and outside the cab—are increasingly working together to create safer vehicles.

The economic benefits extend well beyond avoiding crashes. Neandross outlined a cascade of advantages for fleets that invest in safety technology: improved driver retention, reduced downtime and lower repair costs (the vehicle spends less time in the shop), happier customers (deliveries arrive as scheduled), reduced legal and public image liability, improved Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) scores (which attract more business), and better insurance outcomes.

“Fleets that operate more safely have better CSA scores, which they can then use to better retain existing customers, attract more customers, and develop longer-term, more robust relationships,” he said. “You’re avoiding litigation, lawsuits, nuclear verdicts, all those sorts of things. And then ultimately, we also see it helping with fleets having better access to insurance coverage options, and lower insurance costs.”

The challenge lies in quantifying these benefits. Unlike a 3% efficiency improvement from an aerodynamic package, the return on investment (ROI) for safety technology involves variables like mitigated repair costs and insurance savings that don’t fit neatly into traditional total cost of ownership (TCO) models.

“Those are things that are not necessarily easy to put into a TCO model,” Neandross acknowledged. “But they matter, they’re important, and the economic value is there. The challenge, and opportunity for us, is to help illustrate the business case for fleet safety investments, which will be a key area of focus for ACT Expo this year as fleet presenters will highlight their experiences with these technologies and their return on investment.”

2026 Brings an EV Reality Check

When asked about the state of commercial electric vehicles heading into ACT Expo 2026, Neandross noted that the event will take this topic head-on.

“Clearly the interest level in EVs is a bit reduced from frenzied pitch we saw a couple of years ago,” he noted. “The changes and removal of several EV-forcing regulations in California and other states, along with reductions in federal funding support for EVs and charging infrastructure are having an impact on the market.”

However, he pointed to data showing consistent growth in commercial battery-electric vehicle deployments.

“When you look at the data, that always tells the real story,” Neandross said. Market figures show commercial EV deployments rising year over year, from about 800 in 2021, to 13,500 in 2022, 26,000 in 2023, and more than 41,000 battery-electric commercial vehicles deployed in 2024, according to the 2025 edition of State of Sustainable Fleets. While many projected higher growth rates based upon the regulatory environment that previously existed, the industry is clearly maturing and has been roughly doubling year-over-year.

Much of this growth has occurred in the cargo van segment, driven by Rivian’s partnership with Amazon. Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe will deliver a keynote address at the conference.

The company committed to putting 100,000 electric delivery vehicles on the road, and that program is well underway.

In the heavy-duty segment, Tesla’s Semi program appears ready to drive significant growth in the Class 8 battery electric truck market, alongside OEMs like Volvo Trucks and Daimler Truck which have significant deployed fleets. Tesla recently announced a partnership with Pilot to install charging infrastructure across five states, and its Semi production facility is expected to begin commercial production in the coming months, poised to again shake up the market as this product begins to roll out to customers.

“As pricing decreases and a product’s operational capability improves, the EV business case becomes increasingly more attractive, even without incentives or regulations,” Neandross said. “As customers see the ROI on technology that meets their operational needs, and financial and environmental goals, we are going to see the needle really start to move in these applications. This, in turn, drives increased competition in the marketplace, which then further benefits the customers with improved products and lower prices.”

Gaseous Fuels, Alternative Powertrains and Clean Diesel

In addition to the attention paid to digital tech and electrification, ACT Expo 2026 will feature substantial programming on gaseous fuels—natural gas vehicles (NGVs), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and hydrogen—where significant activity continues.

Cummins has provided strong updates over the past year on its X15N natural gas engine product, with more deployments generating real-world data which prove the use-case, operational feasibility and ROI.

“Natural gas is one of the technologies that’s a great example of what we’re talking about—there’s real TCO there,” Neandross said. “In the right application, with the right project team and approach, we have seen tremendously positive economic outcomes for a customer. As one large over-the-road fleet once told me, ‘these things print money.’ ”

Clean and advanced diesel technology will also be given significant attention at this year’s ACT Expo, driven in part by the finalization of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2027 emissions standards.

“The OEMs are excited to talk about EPA 2027 compliant engine solutions they are bringing to market, as we all prepare for those federal standards to take effect,” Neandross said. “There is new technology that fleets need to know about, and increased costs, but some real benefits to these new engines. In addition to the technology aspect, we’re seeing more use of renewable diesel, B100, those sorts of things; so we’ll have a lot of coverage on diesel.”

Sessions will examine fuel efficiency and reliability improvements across advanced powertrains, along with how fuel management technologies and hybrid systems are improving uptime and reducing costs for diesel fleets.

Professional Development Opportunities

Another big addition to this year’s ACT Expo will be the introduction of a continuing education certification program.

More than 25 sessions have been approved by the NAFA Fleet Management Association for Continuing Professional Education hours applicable toward Certified Automotive Fleet Manager (CAFM) recertification. Additionally, Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) has also confirmed that 10 ACT Expo workshops meet its criteria for general continuing education hours.

“Given the massive array of technology that’s out there these days and all the different varieties—from the clean diesel to the gaseous fuels to the electric drive to everything digital overlaying all of the powertrain and fuel technologies—there’s just a ton going on,” Neandross said. “We’ve been talking about these continuing education credits for a couple of years, and the team was able to make it happen this year. It’s exciting because attendees can return home with stronger credentials and knowledge they can apply to their job right away. It provides even more value for fleets attending the event this year.”

The workshop programming spans practical applications of artificial intelligence and software-defined vehicles, automation and advanced safety systems, EV charging strategies and grid integration, alternative fuel pathways, cleaner combustion and vehicle efficiency, and market dynamics shaping fleet investment decisions.

“We realize fleets are pressed—frankly, everyone’s pressed—for time and budget,” Neandross said. “Our agenda puts people in a position to maximize their time and learn which new technologies will have the biggest impact on their financial returns and operational success. That’s what will allow for further investments in these advanced technologies, and what will ultimately make the industry stronger.”

To learn more, visit www.actexpo.com.

Paladin Capital files for Chapter 11 as trucking portfolio unravels

Paladin Capital Inc., a Tennessee-based private equity firm that owns multiple trucking and logistics companies, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, impacting hundreds of truck drivers, mechanics and logistics industry workers.

Paladin Capital filed its voluntary Chapter 11 petition on Jan. 26 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, listing between $10 million and $50 million in assets and between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities, according to court records.

Paladin Capital is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, and operates as the ultimate parent of a sprawling trucking and logistics platform.

Court filings show Paladin Capital owns 100% equity interests in more than 20 operating subsidiaries, including Robert Bearden Inc. and the Quickway family of companies. Those two carriers have each filed separate Chapter 11 petitions in recent weeks amid operational shutdowns, driver layoffs and equipment returns, as FreightWaves previously reported.

In filings outlining the events leading to bankruptcy, Paladin Capital cited prolonged freight market weakness, rising insurance and equipment costs, and liquidity pressures tied to its lending arrangements. The company said it defaulted under a credit facility with Truist Bank after insurers drew on letters of credit tied to accident claims, draining cash needed to service equipment leases.

As a result, Paladin Capital said it has been unable to make payments to major equipment lenders since mid-2025.

The filing also shows that Robert Bearden Inc. was a significant cash drain within the portfolio prior to the Chapter 11 filing, according to Paladin’s restructuring documents. The firm said it attempted to negotiate a workout with lenders but ultimately filed for bankruptcy protection to prevent widespread equipment repossessions and preserve remaining operations.

Paladin Capital reported employing approximately 912 workers across its portfolio at the time of the filing, including more than 150 employees at Robert Bearden Inc. and nearly 500 workers tied to the Quickway entities. The company said it plans to pursue Section 363 sales of individual business units rather than a single sale of the entire platform.

The Paladin Capital bankruptcy adds to a growing list of private equity-backed trucking platforms seeking court protection as the prolonged freight downturn continues to pressure highly leveraged carriers.

Increased Amazon flight activity boosts Sun Country cargo revenue

A light-blue Amazon Prime cargo jet takes off.

Sun Country Airlines on Thursday reported record cargo revenue of $48 million for the fourth quarter primarily driven by the addition of eight freighter aircraft last year under its transportation service agreement with Amazon.

Cargo has become an increasingly important prong in the Minneapolis-based carrier’s diversified business model — it is best known for passenger service to leisure destinations and also operates charter flights. It agreed last month to be sold to Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT), another passenger airline that mostly serves secondary markets. Allegiant has said it welcomes the Amazon business.

Cargo revenue increased 68% year over year behind 50.6% growth in flight hours. Sun Country (NASDAQ: SCNY) has operated a dozen Boeing 737-800 converted freighters in Amazon’s network for six years. Last year, Amazon transferred eight more aircraft from another vendor to Sun Country. Full-year cargo revenue jumped 44.6% to $155 million.

The carrier reiterated that it plans to add two freighters, supplied by Amazon, bringing the fleet to 22 cargo aircraft. The new planes are expected to be operational in July. One of the new freighters will be utilized as a spare to ensure schedule reliability for Amazon, according to the earnings report.

A new operations base at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, where Amazon’s North America super hub is located, is scheduled to open this month. Management said it will help improve efficiency for the Amazon operation. Sun Country currently shares facilities with other carriers.

Overall, Sun Country generated $281 million in revenue, up 7.9% year over year and its fourteenth consecutive profitable quarter, although net income dropped nearly 40% to $8.1 million.

The Allegiant transaction is expected to close in the second half, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

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

Allegiant to absorb Sun Country’s Amazon business

Alaska Airlines dissatisfied with Amazon cargo contract, executive says

EXCLUSIVE: BlackRock could bid for largest New York container terminal

In a case of terminal superlatives, the world’s largest asset manager could back a bid by the world’s biggest container line to buy the busiest container terminal at the top U.S. East Coast port.

BlackRock, the New York-based investment manager, could partner with Mediterranean Shipping Co. to purchase Maher Terminals, which handles more than a third of all box traffic moving through the Port of New York-New Jersey, sources told FreightWaves.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently signed a 33-year lease extension through 2063 with Macquarie Group, the Australian investor that acquired a controlling interest in Maher from Deutsche Bank in 2016 through its Macquarie Asset Management unit. An agency spokesman referred questions to Macquarie, which also owns Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) in California.

Maher processed more than 3 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) of New York’s total 8.7 million TEUs in 2024, making it the busiest terminal at the port complex.

GCT, one of the other four terminals in New York-New Jersey and about half the size of Maher, was sold to CMA CGM for $3 billion in 2023. An executive with knowledge of the prospective deal said that the lease extension spurred interest from prospective buyers, including private infrastructure fund managers. The executive added that the sale process is not yet underway and no timeline has been established.

Macquarie’s stake in Maher is through private infrastructure fund Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III, managed by Macquarie Asset Management. The sale of Maher and other investments coincides with the end of the fund’s term in 2030.

The Maher sale won’t affect Macquarie-owned LBCT, International Transportation Service in Long Beach, and TraPac at the Port of Los Angeles.

The Maher sale was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd of Germany (HLAG.DE), and terminal operators PSA International of Singapore and Dubai’s DP World are reportedly interested in Maher, the only New York terminal not controlled by ocean carriers.

BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), with $11-$12 trillion under management, emerged as a factor in global maritime infrastructure in 2025 when it teamed with MSC’s Terminal Investment Limited to buy most of the terminals business of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison (0001.HK) for $23 billion. Beijing later blocked the deal which included terminals at the Panama Canal, demanding a controlling stake for state-owned carrier Cosco (1919.HK).

A BlackRock spokesman said the company had no comment on the Maher report, or the Hutchison deal.

Media-shy MSC is controlled by the Aponte family out of Geneva, led by founder and chairman Gianluigi Aponte. The octogenarian has been on a spending spree fueled by a reported $75 billion cash reserve, including recent orders for six new cruise ships worth $16 billion, as well as new and second-hand container vessels totaling 2 million TEUs. The company is also constructing a new container terminal at the Port of Baltimore.

FreightWaves has reached out to the companies in this article for comment.

This article was update Feb. 6 to clarify that a sale of Maher would start at $3 billion, and delete a reference to NYK’s ownership stake.

Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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How St. Christopher Fund supports drivers beyond emergencies and its record-breaking support from TravelCenters of America

TravelCenters of America’s (TA) most recent charity golf tournament did more than set a fundraising record. It showed that industry support for driver health and hardship relief is not only growing, but becoming more intentional.

The tournament raised more than $100,000 for the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund, the largest single-year contribution since the partnership between TA and SCF began in 2017. For Courtney Niemann, executive director of SCF, the milestone is meaningful precisely because it wasn’t expected.

“We weren’t anticipating a record-breaking year,” Niemann said. “It speaks to how many people genuinely want to support drivers in any way they can. Someone got a good golf game out of it, and drivers got support when they needed it most.”

The balance of community engagement and tangible impact has defined TA’s relationship with SCF over the past several years. What began as a charitable partnership has evolved into a deeper alignment around driver well-being, with TA leaders and board members actively involved in supporting the organization’s mission.

Niemann said. “That kind of sustained involvement shows a growing awareness across the industry that driver health can’t be treated as an afterthought.”

For SCF, the funding directly strengthens a safety net designed specifically for over-the-road drivers who are sidelined by illness or injury. The nonprofit provides short-term financial assistance to drivers who have been taken off the road within the past 365 days, helping cover household expenses while they navigate recovery and, in many cases, the gap before other benefits begin.

Beyond emergency financial relief, SCF has increasingly invested in prevention and wellness programs aimed at addressing the long-term health challenges drivers face. The organization now operates five core prevention initiatives, including Rigs Without Cigs for nicotine cessation, vaccine vouchers for flu, COVID, pneumonia, shingles and other immunizations, diabetes prevention, chronic disease management through its Long Haul program, and at-home cancer screening for prostate and colon cancer, with cervical cancer screening for women set to launch soon.

“Drivers are still facing many of the same challenges we’ve seen for years,” Niemann said. “They’re on the road, they don’t always have a primary care provider, and when something comes up, they can’t easily make an appointment.”

That reality is compounded by the sedentary nature of the job and the difficulty of prioritizing rest, nutrition and movement while running long-haul schedules. According to Niemann, shifting that mindset, both individually and across the industry, is critical.

“We’re here for drivers who are over the road four days or more, whether they’re independent contractors or company drivers,” she said. “Sometimes we can offer programs or support that a company may not be able to. Our goal is to remove barriers and meet drivers where they are.”

Record contributions also give SCF room to plan beyond immediate needs. Niemann said the organization is looking at internal growth as well as expanded community engagement, including upcoming fundraising efforts like its auction at the Mid-America Trucking Show and a virtual walk in May.

“Being able to say we might have the opportunity to hire more staff, grow programs, and give more money to those in need — that’s huge,” Niemann said.

For Niemann, what stands out most about TA’s record-breaking donation isn’t just the amount, but what it represents within the broader trucking ecosystem.

“When larger corporations support smaller nonprofits, it matters,” she said. “Drivers are the backbone of America. They move everything we have. When organizations step up and say, ‘This is a cause we trust,’ it strengthens the entire community.”

Shares of Hub Group tank on accounting error

green Hub Group intermodal containers on a BNSF wellcar

Shares of Hub Group were off 19% in midday trading on Friday after the company flagged a $77 million understatement in purchased transportation expenses. It said the accounting error occurred in the first three quarters of 2025 and that its financial statements are under review. It has delayed fourth-quarter and full-year reporting until the matter can be resolved.

“Based on its analysis to date, the Company estimates the correction of the error will increase purchased transportation and warehousing costs for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, but cannot yet estimate what the resulting increase to purchased transportation and warehousing costs and accounts payable will be,” a news release said.

Hub Group (NASDAQ: HUBG) said it plans to restate financials for the first three quarters of 2025 and will “assess the potential impact” to 2024 and 2023 results.

The company does not expect any impact to its cash position or operating cash flows, which it said totaled $194 million in 2025.

A fourth-quarter update issued on Thursday after the market closed only provided select financial results for the period. Hub Group hosted a pre-recorded call discussing preliminary results and said updated results will be available “as soon as practicable.”

“Accuracy and transparency in reporting on our performance is of the utmost importance at Hub Group,” said President, CEO and Vice Chairman Phil Yeager. “We look forward to reporting our full financial results as soon as possible and are enhancing our processes. Our team continues to focus on serving our customers with innovative solutions and services.”

Following the announcement, some industry analysts downgraded Hub Group’s stock, and others worked to estimate the total impact.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) analyst Richa Harnain said the understated expenses could represent roughly 300 basis points of degradation to the company’s already depressed operating margin.

“This figure represents 2.8% of revenue or over 65% of HUBG’s EBIT [earnings before interest and taxes],” Harnain said in a Friday note to clients. “In other words, after fully adjusting for this cost, the company’s adjusted operating margins for the first nine months of 2025 would appear to have been 1.4%, significantly lower than the 4.4% originally reported.”

She said there could be other offsets and that the restatement may not be as bad as feared, “therefore implying the margin headwind could be smaller.”

Preliminary Q4 results

Intermodal and Transportation Solutions revenue “declined slightly” year over year in the fourth quarter. Intermodal volumes were up 1% y/y with revenue per load coming in flat.

Intermodal loads were off 4% y/y in January. January volumes were negatively impacted by winter storms. The month was also up against a difficult comp to January 2025, when “shippers pulled forward orders ahead of tariffs.”

Dedicated revenue was down in the fourth quarter. Brokerage volumes were down 10% y/y with revenue per load off 4%.

Hub Group said full-year 2025 revenue was approximately $3.7 billion, a 7% y/y decline. It guided 2026 revenue to a range of $3.65 billon to $3.95 billion, which bracketed the $3.77 billion consensus estimate.

Securities law firm, Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, announced it has launched an investigation to see if the company “violated the federal securities laws by making false and misleading statements to investors.”

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

Arrive Logistics trims Toronto headcount as it retools Canadian operations

Arrive Logistics has laid off five employees from its Toronto office as it reconfigures how the brokerage supports customers and carriers in Canada.

Evan Pundyk, the company’s vice president of marketing, told FreightWaves the staffing reduction followed a review of Arrive’s broader strategy and represents “a very small portion” of the company’s workforce of more than 2,000 employees.

“Following a review of the Arrive group’s strategy, we have retooled our Toronto office to support ongoing client interaction,” Pundyk said in an emailed statement.

The company declined to provide additional detail on how the Toronto office functions today compared with its original launch, but emphasized that it continues to maintain a physical presence in the city and remains committed to the Canadian market.

“Arrive remains focused on delivering industry-leading service at scale for thousands of shippers and carriers across North America,” Pundyk said. “Putting customers, carriers, and employees first and incrementally improving every day is our playbook.”

Founded in 2014, Arrive Logistics is a multimodal transportation and technology platform with over 1,700 employees, 4,000 customers and 40,000 carriers in its network. In addition to Toronto, the company also has a location in Guadalajara, Mexico; along with five offices across the U.S.

Arrive opened its Toronto office in October 2023, framing the expansion as a way to establish “boots on the ground” across North America and better serve Canadian shippers and carriers as nearshoring trends reshaped freight flows.

At the time, company executives described Canada as a growth market complementary to Arrive’s U.S. and Mexico operations.

Despite the staffing changes, Arrive said its Canadian business has continued to expand. According to Pundyk, Arrive achieved 26% volume growth in 2025 while remaining profitable, and its cross-border Canada business grew nearly 20% year over year. The company projects that segment will grow an additional 40% in 2026.

Canada is the second largest U.S. trading partner, with trade totaling $53.7 billion in November, according to the latest Census Bureau data.

Another tough quarter so RXO emphasizes its AI tools, spot market growth

With a fourth quarter earnings report and subsequent call with analysts that was as negative as anticipated, RXO took the approach in its public-facing actions that it would seek to highlight what is getting better.

In its prepared released disclosed late Thursday, in an interview with FreightWaves and on its quarterly conference call, RXO (NYSE: RXO) management tried to shift the focus away from another quarter with lower EBITDA and another net loss and instead look at changes in its own structure to say it is well positioned to benefit from a turnaround in the freight market.

That broader freight market strengthening is well underway. But for a broker, the early stages of that are not good news. Spot rates rise, contract rates are stuck where they were negotiated, and the squeeze is on.

Drew Wilkerson, RXO CEO, summed up the market situation for brokers in his opening remarks on the conference call. “In December, rates increased by about 15% month over month, much faster than our contractual sale rates,” he said. “At the same time, demand remains off with not enough spot loads to offset the rise of purchased transportation costs.”

Wilkerson said the strength of the market was visible in the “waterfall” of freight going through routing guides, “where it’s making past the second, third and fourth carrier.”

The strength of the spot market is most visible in the SONAR Outbound Tender Rejection Index, which has soared in recent weeks.

Jared Weisfeld, the company’s chief strategy officer, told FreightWaves in a pre-earnings call interview that RXO “did see spot loads increase sequentially slightly from the third quarter to the fourth quarter and then increase again in January.”

“If this persists in a better demand environment, you are going to see spot start to increase pretty significantly as a percentage of the mix,” he added.

But in setting its outlook for the first quarter, with a projected EBITDA less than in the fourth quarter, CFO Jamie Harris suggested the growth wasn’t enough to move the needle on the bottom line. “Within our brokerage business, we’re not assuming a meaningful increase in either spot opportunities or sale rates in the first quarter,” he said on the earnings call.

Pushing the AI story

A major challenge for RXO has been convincing investors who have pushed down the company’s stock by about 25% in the last year that like C.H. Robinson, RXO is using AI to vastly improve profitability. The message relentlessly pushed by C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) has been consistent enough that the company’s stock, up more than 100% in the last year, has been described as much of an AI stock play as it is a logistics exposure.

Weisfeld took on the challenge in the company’s earnings call, saying the RXO AI results in the quarter were “transformational” that “(drive) improvements across four key pillars: volume, margin, productivity and service.”

He rattled off several of the areas where he said RXO has been using AI to improve performance. A new “proprietary AI spot agent will unlock an incremental market opportunity,” he said. There are “improvements in our pricing engine and in the quarter we extended pricing tools for the RXO platform.” RXO automated “thousands of training updates” through an AI tool and “delivered generative AI tickets to support customer sales and operations.” Theft prevention was aided by an “identity AI solution,” Weisfeld said.

Cutback in employees

Part of the C.H. Robinson success story with analysts is that it has continued to grow its business while using AI to see a reduction in its workforce. C.H. Robinson’s quarterly earnings disclose the number of total employees at the company as well as a breakout of its brokerage operation, North American Surface Transportation.

While RXO does not match that level of transparency, Wilkerson said on the call that brokerage headcount at the company had declined by a mid-teens percentage in the last 12 months while achieving a 19% increase in productivity. Productivity at brokerages is generally measured by volume or transactions per employee.

“Our streamlined operations will provide us with substantial operating leverage,” Wilkerson said.

Another key point RXO management noted in its prepared statements and on the earnings call is that what it said was its “late stage” brokerage sales pipeline was up more than 50% year over year, “strong momentum as we start 2026,” Wilkerson said.

“While bid season is not yet complete, we’ve seen some early wins,” Wilkerson said on the call. “The strength and makeup of our pipeline gives us confidence that we will resume truckload volume outperformance as early as the middle of this year.”

Truckload was a weak point for RXO in the quarter, particularly in comparison to growth in LTL. Truckload volume was down 12% year over year, and Weisfeld said it represented 74% of brokerage volume. But he said truckload volume had increased 500 basis points sequentially from the third quarter.

Weisfeld, in his interview with FreightWaves, said the growth of the LTL business at RXO–up 31% year-on-year–in contrast to the weakness in truckload because “a lot truckload customers come to use because LTL is such a pain point for them in terms of that freight, when you think about claims and damages, so let RXO be your easy button.”

Wall Street reaction

While RXO stock Friday morning declined at first in reaction to the report, it shifted higher later. RXO’s stock was up more than 1% at approximately 11:20 a.m., to $16.75. It is down about 19.7% in the last year. It traded as high Friday as $17.40.

A report from Deutsche Bank’s transportation team noted that the 130 basis point decline in RXO’s gross margins was better than the brokerage segments at J.B Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) and Knight Swift, (NYSE: KNX), which reported declines in their brokerage gross margins of about 500 and 200 points, respectively.

Deutsche also noted that the net loss of 7 cents per share was worse than the consensus forecast of 4 cents per share.

More articles by John Kingston

Werner settlement ready to go in drivers’ lawsuit that dates to 2014

Amazon’s LTL offering reaching out to shippers as possible customers: report

NFI’s Brown, others win another round in dismissed New Jersey indictment

FMCSA taking comments on industry-wide ELD exemption

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is opening the floor for public comment on an exemption request which, if approved, would fundamentally change how truck drivers track their time behind the wheel.

The Federation of Professional Truckers (FOPT) is seeking a broad exemption from current electronic logging device (ELD) requirements, arguing that professional drivers should have the right to choose manual paper logs over digital tracking.

The law currently allows manual logs only for drivers who use them eight days or fewer in a 30-day period, or those operating engines manufactured before the year 2000. The exemption would remove those barriers by allowing any driver or motor carrier – not just FOPT members – the option of using a manual paper logbook for their records of duty requirement.

“Paper logbooks remain enforceable and understood by enforcement officers nationwide,” wrote Micheal Cobb, CEO of FOPT, a non-profit advocacy group based in Ohio, in their petition to FMCSA.

“Small carriers face disproportionate financial burdens from ELD requirements, as compliance costs exceed $500 annually per truck according to FMCSA’s Regulatory Impact Analysis. Technical limitations and frequent malfunctions highlight the continued necessity of paper alternatives.”

They cited an executive order (E.O. 12866) that requires agencies to avoid unnecessary regulations when there are “reasonable” alternatives. “Allowing drivers to use either method ensures compliance without undermining safety,” they asserted.

To address safety concerns, FOPT included a “Safety Assurance Plan” in its request:

FOPT will educate members on proper paper log completion.
Random internal audits will be conducted by carriers.
Violations of HOS will result in exclusion from exemption program.

Success in question

The success of the petition may hinge on whether FOPT can convince FMCSA that their “equivalent level of safety” – through education and internal audits – is as reliable as the digital systems the Trump administration is currently working to secure.

While the administration’s “pro-trucker” initiatives – such as shutting down speed limiter proposals and new restrictions on foreign-drivers – show a desire to help owner-operators, the recent focus on data-driven enforcement may make them hesitant to lose the digital visibility ELDs provide.

FMCSA also recently began tightening its vetting of approved ELDs, cracking down on fraud and removing dozens of non-compliant devices from the market – which may suggest the administration prefers fixing the technology over loosening restrictions.

The agency is accepting comments on the petition through March 11.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.

Werner Enterprises restructuring one-way fleet

a closeup of a white Werner tractor pulling a trailer near an underpass on a highway

Werner Enterprises announced it is restructuring its one-way truckload business in an effort to improve fleet utilization and return the unit to profitability. The changes are expected to be completed in the first quarter, but impacts on financial results may not be noticeable until the second quarter. The announcement was made in conjunction with the carrier’s fourth-quarter report released Thursday after the market closed.

Werner (NASDAQ: WERN) reported a headline net loss of $27.8 million, or 46 cents per share, for the quarter. However, the number included $44.2 million in restructuring and impairment charges, the bulk of which were noncash. Excluding the charges and other one-off items, adjusted net income was $3.3 million, or 5 cents per share. That was 5 cents below the consensus estimate and 3 cents lower year over year.

The company is transitioning its one-way business to more profitable services like expedited, cross-border, and long-haul delivery using driver teams. It is also looking for ways to better engage the unit with its power-only offering. Werner has begun exiting unprofitable regional and short-haul business, and it is continuing to further integrate past fleet acquisitions.

The move comes as Werner is making a bigger push into dedicated trucking—a more defensible business model featuring multiyear contracts with shippers.

Werner acquired dedicated carrier FirstFleet and its real estate last month in a $283 million deal. The transaction added over 2,400 tractors and $615 million in revenue, making Werner the fifth-largest dedicated provider in the U.S. The deal is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings and free cash flow.

Table: Werner’s key performance indicators

Q4 by the numbers; 2026 outlook

Consolidated revenue of $738 million was 2% lower y/y and below the $761 million consensus estimate.

Total TL revenue was down 3% y/y to $513 million. The segment reported a 97.2% adjusted operating ratio (inverse of operating margin), which was 30 basis points worse y/y.

One-way revenue fell 8% y/y as average trucks in service declined 10% and revenue per truck per week was up 2%. Miles per truck per week improved 2% but revenue per total mile was off slightly.

The one-way fleet topped out at nearly 3,300 tractors in 2022 but stood at less than 2,400 units in the recent quarter, a 28% decline. The company said that even after downsizing the one-way business, it still expects to be able to play in an improving spot market.

Dedicated revenue increased 1% y/y as a 2% increase in the average truck count was partially offset by a 1% decline in revenue per truck per week.

Chart: SONAR: National Truckload Index (linehaul only – NTIL.USA) *for 2026 (blue shaded area), 2025 (yellow line), 2024 (green line) and 2023 (pink line)*. The NTIL is based on an average of booked spot dry van loads from 250,000 lanes. The NTIL is a seven-day moving average of linehaul spot rates excluding fuel. Spot rates stepped higher through peak season as new constraints on the driver pool took hold. *Severe winter weather amid a tighter capacity backdrop is keeping rates elevated in recent days.*

Werner issued guidance calling for one-way revenue per total mile to be flat to up 3% y/y in the first half of 2026. Revenue per truck per week in dedicated is expected to be down 1% to up 2% y/y in 2026.

The guide assumes Werner will capture mid-single-digit contractual rate increases in one-way and low- to mid-single-digit increases in dedicated. Werner said there is a lag when implementing new contract rates and that efforts to extend length of haul in one-way will be a modest headwind to rate-per-mile results. Werner negotiates 25% of its bids in the first quarter and 33% in the second quarter.

Shares of WERN were down 7.1% at 10:29 a.m. EST on Friday compared to the S&P 500, which was up 1.2%. The stock was up 64% from the week before Thanksgiving into the Thursday print. The move was largely in lockstep with a steep rise in tender rejections and spot rates.