On the earnings front, Kodiak posted 74 percent revenue growth quarter over quarter in the first quarter of 2026. Revenue increased to $1.8 million, driven primarily by the expansion of its Driver-as-a-Service revenue as it deployed eight additional fully driverless trucks during the quarter.

Kodiak also accumulated more than 23,500 cumulative hours of paid driverless operations, representing a 120 percent increase from the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, and delivered more than 15,600 cumulative loads.

The company remains pre-profit, reporting a first-quarter GAAP operating loss of $37.9 million. Free cash flow was a loss of $35 million.

The $100 million common stock and warrant private placement financing included participation from existing investors, including an affiliate of Ares Management, and several new institutional investors.

“This financing will provide us with additional flexibility to execute on our operating plan and will support our next phase of growth,” said Surajit Datta, chief financial officer of Kodiak. “We believe that the equity financing combined with our continued progress in scaling our business will enable us to make progress toward profitability and generating free cash flow over time.”

Kodiak previously used PIPE financing when it went public via a SPAC merger with Ares Acquisition Corporation II in September 2025 that included $145 million in PIPE financing from institutional investors.

This comes as the autonomous trucking technology company pushes toward a late-2026 launch of driverless operations on long-haul highways. The additional financing from institutional investors is a positive signal despite the company’s current cash burn rate.

Kodiak ended the first quarter with $90.2 million in cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities, excluding the PIPE proceeds.

“We delivered significant revenue growth and continued to scale driverless operations in the first quarter, while raising additional capital that will fund our growth,” said Don Burnette, founder and chief executive officer of Kodiak. “We are executing on our strategy while maturing our Physical AI-powered technology and adopting additional AI tools to further increase the pace of development.”

Roehl Transport Partnership Targets Dallas-Houston Lane

In addition to earnings, Kodiak announced it began hauling freight autonomously with Roehl Transport. The Wisconsin-based carrier is one of North America’s leading truckload companies and hauls dry van, flatbed and other freight.

Trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver now haul freight four round trips per week between Dallas and Houston.

“Working with Roehl Transport reflects a shared commitment to safety in trucking,” Burnette said. “By combining our AI-powered autonomous capabilities with Roehl’s safety approach, we’re proving how our technology can enhance efficiency while making meaningful progress toward safer roads at scale.”

Kodiak’s safety-first approach was one reason behind the partnership. Roehl Transport was a recent recipient of the American Trucking Associations’ President’s Award, the industry’s highest safety honor.

“Roehl Transport is built on values, and Safety is our cornerstone value,” said Rick Roehl, chief executive officer of Roehl Transport. “The Kodiak Driver was built with this same philosophy. Kodiak’s safety-first approach was a key factor in our decision to partner with Kodiak.”

Another factor is the high rate of human error in truck crashes. In October 2025, the Kodiak Driver earned a VERA (Visually Enhanced Risk Assessment) score of 98 out of 100. That tied for the highest recorded score in an independent evaluation by Nauto that examined more than 1,000 commercial fleets.

Kodiak Enters Logging Industry With West Fraser Pilot

In its first international operations and entry into the timber industry, Kodiak will pilot its autonomous technology at West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.’s log-hauling operations in Alberta, Canada. The pilot will transport timber from forest sites to processing facilities later this year.

“We built the Kodiak Driver to be the most versatile autonomous system on the market, capable of handling everything from interstate highways to the toughest industrial environments, from arid West Texas to the forests of Western Canada,” Burnette said.

Logging truck routes often involve challenging, remote resource roads with uneven and rough terrain. These are conditions Kodiak says its modular technology can handle after proving itself in West Texas’s Permian Basin, where it scaled operations to 20 driverless trucks by the end of 2025.

FPInnovations, a private nonprofit research and development center supported by federal and provincial governments and more than 50 forest-product companies, facilitated the collaboration.

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In both cases, the rate adjustment would take place on July 12 if the Postal Regulatory Commission approves the requests.

On Monday, the Postal Service filed notice to eliminate ounce-based rate differentiation for published commercial Ground Advantage prices, implement a 3% price increase for parcel PO Box service and make other changes. 

The elimination of ounce-based pricing will not impact customers that have negotiated commercial rates for USPS Ground Advantage, the organization’s economy delivery model that offers merchants two-to-five-day transit times with pound-based, ounce-based and cubic pricing options for parcels weighing up to 70 pounds. The decision aligns Ground Advantage with the rate structure of Parcel Select, the Postal Service said.

For the first half of the fiscal year, Ground Advantage volume was up 19.5% and revenue grew 23.6%, according to USPS financial reports filed last week, while total parcel volume is down 8.1%.

The price moves are part of the Postal Service’s 10-year modernization plan. Postmaster General David Steiner has made revenue growth a priority, saying that cost-saving measures aren’t sufficient to restore the organization’s financial health.

“It is important for all users of the USPS that it grows its parcel business because it would help its overall financial situation, and reduce pressure to increase prices on the monopoly (mail) side of the business.  Nonprofit organizations have seen compounded price increases since 2021 that range from 47% to105%, which has had a devastating impact on their ability to use mail to accomplish their critical nonprofit missions,” said Kathleen Siviter, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, in an email. “Despite that level of price increase on mail, the USPS is in a precarious financial position.  The USPS is trying to grow the parcel side of its business by leveraging its last mile network, but its parcel volume has declined by 8.1% since October. Today’s parcels price increase announcement would increase commercial USPS Ground Advantage prices by over 11% as well as increasing costs for transporting hazardous materials and increases in other fees.  We are concerned these types of changes will make the USPS less competitive in the parcels arena.”

The USPS also said the price for forwarding and returns under Parcel Select will increase from $3.80 to $6.00. For customers using Address Correction Service with shipper paid forwarding/return, the price will increase from $3.20 to $5.40. 

Additionally, new fees will be established to cover the additional cost associated with transporting hazardous materials for Priority Mail Express and Priority Mail, as well as a noncompliance fee for improperly prepared hazardous material items shipped using parcel products. 

The Postal Service also said it will update an address enhancement offering through which shippers can validate and correct addresses under a monthly tiered pricing model. And it will align the formula for dimensional weight pieces to industry standards for Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, Ground Advantage and Parcel Select. Reducing the divisor in the formula will raise shipping rates, which the filing acknowledged “may shift those packages to our competitors in the future.”

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

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

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“Near-term volumes on affected lanes have softened, but the complexity of navigating new trade routes, customs regimes, and compliance requirements increases the premium on experienced, technology-enabled partners who can guide customers through the transition,” said Bohn Crain, Radiant founder and CEO, on a Monday call with analysts.

The Renton, Washington-based company reported adjusted net income of $5.3 million, or 11 cents per share, for the fiscal third quarter ended Mar. 31. The result was 4 cents ahead of the consensus estimate but 3 cents lower year over year. (Two analysts cover the stock.)

Revenue of $214 million was in line with the consensus estimate as well as the prior-year quarter. Management said the U.S. truckload market was slow in January and February, but experienced sequential improvement through March. It said it’s getting high-single-digit rate increases on its TL contractual renewals.

Radiant (NYSE: RLGT) reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $7.8 million, which was 18% lower y/y. The adjusted EBITDA margin fell 240 basis points to 13.8%.

Radiant’s proprietary global trade management platform, Navegate, continues to gain traction with shippers. The offering aggregates and organizes supply chain data, providing customers with better routing and capacity purchasing options.

The company ended the quarter with $40 million in cash, which exceeded debt, finance lease obligations and contingent earnout liabilities linked to prior acquisitions.

It will continue to use a $200 million credit facility to buy back stock, fund acquisitions and convert third-party agent stations into company-owned operations.

Shares of RLGT were up 3.9% in after-hours trading on Monday.

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

• Forward Air flags customer loss, stock plummets
• Freight capacity plummets, prices skyrocket in April
• Losses continue at TL carrier Pamt Corp.

The post Radiant Logistics beats FQ3 expectations appeared first on FreightWaves.

Montreal-based CN (NYSE: CNI) in a filing Monday said the application “continues to omit required information regulators and stakeholders need to meaningfully assess the competitive and operational impacts of this major proposed merger.”

The STB in January rejected the initial application from UP (NYSE: UNP) and NS (NYSE: NSC) for missing information on, among other elements, forward-looking market share data; details that would allow UP to walk away from the deal; and specifics on control of a terminal railway in St. Louis that interchanges traffic between railroads.  

CN said the revised application addressed only one deficiency by providing the complete merger agreement.

“Applicants still have not offered meaningful competitive enhancements, falling far short of the STB’s higher burden for Class I mergers to enhance competition and meet the public interest standard,” CN said.

The filing also lacks complete competition analyses and market share information, and instances where rail service to shippers would shrink from two Class I options to one, or from three to two. Also, it noted the absence of analyses of downstream competitive impacts from future potential rail consolidation.

CN criticized the proposed Committed Gateway Pricing (CGP) program, which it termed the sole alleged enhancement to competition, calling it a “temporary” and “highly limited” program that applies to less than 1% of U.S. rail traffic.

“CGP excludes major categories of traffic including finished vehicles, intermodal shipments, unit trains, and all customers currently served by CN, CPKC (NYSE: CP), and most short lines,” CN said. According to UP and NS, it claimed, “CGP will actually harm many shippers. Importantly, many shippers would face increases in rail shipping costs due to the CGP program, as shown in the state maps submitted with CN’s comments. 

“Rather than provide the required competition analyses, they recycled the same flawed approach the board already rejected,” said Olivier Chouc, CN executive vice-president and chief legal officer, in a release. “Rather than submit the required Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis application, they deleted their prior filing and offered a vague promise in its place. And rather than propose real competitive enhancements, they doubled down on a pricing program that will harm more shippers than it helps as shown by their own expert’s study. 

“This is not a serious effort to comply with the Board’s requirements – it is a disregard for the process and for the stakeholders who depend on it.”

The company said it expects the STB to conduct a thorough and fair review. 

“CN remains confident the board will hold applicants to the standards required by the board’s regulations and to reject this incomplete application.”

Subscribe to FreightWaves’ Rail e-newsletter and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox.

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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LA, with the Port of Long Beach half of the San Pedro Bay maritime gateway, saw consumer demand boost strong imports despite ongoing uncertainty around tariffs and trade policy.

The port handled 3,279,704 TEUs through the first four months of this year, 2% ahead of its five-year average for that stretch and 2% below the 2025 record pace when front-loading was spurred by President Donald Trump’s chaotic tariff policies.

“April was our strongest month this year and the highest cargo volume we’ve seen since last August, a clear sign that the American consumer remains resilient,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said Monday in a media briefing. “Retailers and manufacturers are continuing to move goods despite uncertainty, and based on what we’re seeing in Asia, the next wave of imports – from back-to-school to early holiday merchandise – is already beginning to build.”

That resilience is likely to be tested by soaring gas prices. Seroka said trucking companies, like airlines, could begin to pass on the added cost of diesel fuel, which has increased 50% from the beginning of the year.  

Cargo continues to move with no back-ups or delays, said Seroka, who recently visited Asia. “Factories are running at full capacity.”

April loaded imports totaled 459,825 TEUs, ahead by 5% y/y and up 21% from March. Loaded exports dipped 0.5% to 127,726 TEUs.

Empties surged 10% to 303,310 TEUs, said Seroka, as liners reposition assets to handle peak season eastbound goods on the trans-Pacific.

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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The post Retail imports fuel 2nd best April for Port of LA appeared first on FreightWaves.

Mike Fackler, Technical Director of Transportation for Travelers Insurance, joined FreightWaves’ Malcolm Harris on What the Truck?!? to break down why the solutions to distracted driving don’t start with the driver.

According to Fackler, the scope of the problem is bigger than a phone in someone’s hand. Yes, cell phones remain the dominant distraction on the road, but tight schedules, communication demands, and the operational realities of running freight make the picture far more layered.

Federal regulations already prohibit CMV operators from using hand-held mobile devices while driving — a rule that carries significant fines and penalties for both drivers and carriers. But Fackler argues that compliance alone isn’t enough.

“When you think about distractions as a whole, you have to think about all the responsibilities, all the things that drivers are trying to balance,” Fackler said. “With tight schedules and communication demands, they’ve got multiple responsibilities. They’re trying to juggle all these things at once, and they’re trying to safely get to where they’re going.”

Regulatory compliance and internal discipline are essential — and legally required — starting points. But approaching distraction as a systemic condition rather than an individual failing means going further than enforcement alone to build a culture where safe behavior is the norm, not just the rule.

The root of the problem, says Fackler, sits in the C-suite and in dispatch offices long before it lands in the cab of a truck. When a distracted-driving incident occurs, the default response tends to focus on what the driver should have done differently. Fackler argues, that’s looking at it backwards.

“Distraction is just a symptom of a bigger issue,” Fackler said. “If we want to address distracted driving, we have to step back and ask ourselves what kind of culture we’re building and what behaviors we’re reinforcing every single day.”

That question applies across every level of an organization. There’s often a direct line between leadership behavior and fleet outcomes, and the small, daily decisions made by executives, managers, and dispatchers are what ultimately shape how drivers behave on the road. Leaders who take calls while driving, fire off texts from behind the wheel, or dial into meetings on the move are, in effect, establishing the unwritten rules of their organizations.

“It’s the small everyday decisions that your culture gets locked into,” Fackler said.

Accountability, Fackler says, is a principle that has to be universal in order to be meaningful. He pointed to a lesson from one of his former football coaches that has stuck with him throughout his career.

“Accountability is the ultimate form of leadership,” Fackler said, crediting the coach. “Expectations cannot be implied and they cannot only be spoken.”

That philosophy extends to how organizations handle their best performers. Fleet leaders should understand that tension well. 

A veteran driver with a clean record and years of loyal service gets caught using a phone on the road. Do you enforce the same consequence you’d hand down to a first-year driver? Fackler said the answer has to be yes, every time.

“You can’t have different rules for different people, because when you do that, things start to break down,” he said. “You can’t make an exception and say, ‘Well, this is one of our best drivers.’ Allowing employees off the hook and failing to enforce your expectations is what undermines your safety culture and leads to the problems that we see.”

Drivers are perceptive. When leadership says one thing but does another, or when star performers play by different rules, the message that reaches the driver’s seat is that distracted driving is tolerable.

“When you have an organization that lacks a clear strategy and clear policies around expectations for distracted driving, you’re effectively telling drivers that staying connected and staying distracted is more important than staying safe,” Fackler said.

He offered a simple, practical example of what right looks like at the leadership level: “Leaders should say, ‘Hey, I’ll call you back when I’m parked’ instead of responding in the moment.”

There’s a broader picture beyond individual incidents to the long game of organizational safety culture. Perfection isn’t the target, according to Fackler. Progress is.

“The goal should be to build culture over time and try to enforce the expectations that we do the right thing even when no one’s watching,” Fackler said. “It’s not one single instance that defines an organization, but it’s the thousands of small decisions that happen up before it.”

Fleet operators, then, have a challenge and an opportunity simultaneously. Distracted driving isn’t going to disappear overnight. The technology, the communication demands, the operational pressures that create distraction are only intensifying. What can change is how organizations position themselves relative to those pressures. Leaders are responsible for whether they treat distraction as an inevitable cost of doing business or as a cultural problem they have the power to address.

Fackler left leaders with three questions to pressure-test their own organizations: “Companies need to ask themselves: Do we have clear policies around distracted driving? Are the expectations communicated and are they reinforced consistently? Is leadership actively involved?”

Safety performance directly impacts insurance outcomes, regulatory standing, and public perception in the freight industry. The answer to distracted driving begins behind the desk.

Click here to learn more about Travelers.

The post Fighting Distracted Driving Starts with Leadership appeared first on FreightWaves.

“After extensive review, the FAA approved Boeing’s protocol for safely returning MD-11 airplanes to service,” the agency said in a statement provided to FreightWaves. Airlines must replace a structural component before they can fly the aircraft.

FedEx (NYSE: FDX) conducted a short test flight in and out of Memphis International Airport on Saturday evening. FreightWaves previously reported that FedEx was on the cusp of resurrecting its fleet of 29 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft after jointly developing with Boeing a new part aimed at correcting a flaw that led to fatigue cracks in the airframe. FedEx told employees during a town hall last week that it would gradually phase in the remaining planes after they go through maintenance facilities to replace the component and pilots complete a refresher training course.

FedEx on Sunday operated one MD-11 from its super hub in Memphis to Los Angeles International Airport, according to data on aircraft tracking site Flightradar24. A second plane flew from Memphis to Miami.

UPS Flight 2976 crashed during takeoff from Louisville airport in Kentucky when the left engine detached from the wing.. A preliminary finding by the National Transportation Safety Board last year found fatigue cracks in the pylon holding the engine to the wing. The problem was traced to a bearing in one of the lug nuts that holds the pylon together. FedEx last week said it will remove the pylons from planes where they are parked around the world and ship them to its maintenance hubs in Memphis and Indianapolis for the bearing replacement.

FedEx says it will keep operating the aging MD-11 aircraft until 2032 because it needs them to meet rising demand for cargo. UPS opted to retire its fleet of MD-11s.

Western Global Airlines is the only remaining airline with an MD-11 fleet.

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

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

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The bodies were discovered Sunday afternoon during a routine inspection by a Union Pacific employee before the train was scheduled to continue north, according to the Laredo Police Department, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Police said officers and emergency crews responded to the Union Pacific rail yard around 3 p.m. Authorities confirmed six fatalities — five men and one woman — at the scene.

Jose Espinoza, public information officer for the Laredo Police Department, told reporters the investigation remains in its early stages. The identities, ages and immigration status of the victims had not been released as of Monday morning.

Temperatures in Laredo climbed into the low-to-mid 90s Sunday afternoon, although officials have not determined whether heat played a role in the deaths. Autopsies are expected to be conducted by the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Union Pacific said it is cooperating with law enforcement agencies investigating the incident.

“Union Pacific is saddened by this incident and is working closely with law enforcement to investigate,” the railroad said in a statement.

Federal agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Texas Rangers, are assisting with the investigation, according to reports.

Laredo is one of the country’s busiest trade gateways with Mexico and a major rail crossing hub for North American freight traffic. The city handles billions of dollars in cross-border commerce annually and sees roughly a dozen freight trains arrive daily from Mexico.

The post Six found dead inside cargo train near Texas-Mexico border appeared first on FreightWaves.

Proficient Auto Logistics’ (NASDAQ: PAL) earnings report and conference call with analysts sounded very similar to others that have been heard this quarter: tough quarter overall, January and February were terrible, March was better and it’s looking good into April and May.

The difference is that Proficient’s stock price was pummeled as a result, while others, like RXO (NYSE: RXO), rebounded on the stronger outlook.

Proficient’s stock dropped Friday after the earnings release and conference call late Thursday. On Friday, the price fell almost 19%, to $5.95, a decline of 1.39%. 

At about 2:20 pm EDT Monday, Proficient had rebounded 4.03% to $6.19. However, earlier in the day it had hit its 52-week low of $5.72.

It has been a rough ride for Proficient shareholders who held the stock after the company went public.

A long slide

In August 2020, Proficient stock, according to Yahoo Finance, touched $20 during intraday trading. The gap between that price and Monday’s earlier 52-week low is a decline of more than 71%.

On the earnings call, CEO Richard O’Dell’s first comments were about the bad news. “The first two months of the quarter were affected by extended automotive plant shutdowns, weaker-than-expected industry seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR for auto sales), severe winter weather and a slow recovery of the rail and sea transportation pipelines that feed our network,” O’Dell said. “These factors constrained volumes and resulted in revenue levels below the comparable periods of 2025 and below comparably higher fixed cost coverage levels with the Brothers acquisition reflected in our 2026 expense base.”

Improvement in March

But in line with what other transportation-related companies have noted this quarter, “revenue and volume trends improved in March,” O’Dell said. As a result, revenue was only 2% less than a year earlier, he added. “Looking to the second quarter, recent trends indicate more stable volume levels, supported by seasonal strengthening, improved weather, dealer inventory and strong tax refunds,” O’Dell said. 

O’Dell also said the annual SAAR for April was 16.1 million vehicles, compared to 16.3 million in March, both a healthy number.

Some of the data comparisons year-over-year were positive, even as sequential numbers took a hit.

Total deliveries, both by company drivers and subhaulers, were up 1.5% from a year ago, with company deliveries up 14.3% and subhaulers down 4.8%. But deliveries were down 13.5% sequentially from the fourth quarter.

The growth in company deliveries is part of the company’s strategic plan to bring more business in house. 

But revenue per unit was down 1.8% year-on-year for company deliveries and down 4.3% for subhaulers. That figure rose slightly from the fourth quarter, up 2.9% for company deliveries and 2.7% for subhaulers. 

OR exceeds 100%

The worst number was in operating ratio: it deteriorated to 103.4% for the first quarter, compared to 98.7% a year earlier and 98.6% sequentially. 

O’Dell echoed a theme heard from other trucking executives this earnings season: capacity is tightening even in the fairly niche market of auto transportation. 

“The rebound in volumes in March and April made capacity tightening more evident, exposing underlying supply loss that had previously been less visible,” O’Dell said. “Supply losses appear to be driven by a combination of factors, including financial pressure from low volume, compounded by relatively weaker rates, increased relative scrutiny or regulatory scrutiny and driver migration towards other forms of trucking as the broader trucking rates have improved.”

More than with most trucking companies, Proficient spoke openly about the “headwinds” created by fuel surcharges. While the anomalies of surcharges mean that it can benefit some trucking companies beyond passing higher pump prices down to the shipper, Proficient appears to have been negatively impacted by the rise in retail diesel. 

Impact of higher fuel

O’Dell put a number on it: higher fuel prices had a $1 million hit on the company’s profitability in the first quarter. (It wasn’t clear what measure of profitability O’Dell was referring to. Proficient had EBITDA of $4.47 million in the quarter, for an EBITDA margin of 4.8%, and a net loss of $8.3 million before income taxes. The operating loss was $3.17 million).

He said the lag between changes in the fuel surcharge and what was paid to secure those supplies hurt Proficient.

“In Q1, fuel started to increase markedly in March,” O’Dell said. “And because the indexes that set the fuel surcharge don’t reset until the beginning of April, we were paying out real-time fuel costs during the month of March that didn’t have a comparable increase in the reimbursement.”

O’Dell spelled out how Proficient sees a shift in the market that can benefit auto haulers.

What he described as “third party capacity” would be pulled from contracted markets, as it moves toward  higher levels in the spot market. Those contracts at lower-priced numbers, in turn, according to O’Dell, “have struggled to secure consistent capacity when seasonal volume returns and in several instances leading to a redistribution at market-level economics.”

He added that situation “is clearly a turning point in the auto haul market.”

Amy Rice, the company’s president and COO, said that change in market structure was not opening the door to new business opportunities for Proficient, as it mostly has stuck with what it already had on the books. 

She said spot business was less than 5% across Proficient’s activities in the quarter, “so it continues to be a very small portion of the portfolio.”

Proficient said the company’s estimate on second quarter revenue is between $105 million and $110 million. First quarter revenue before fuel surcharge revenue was $86.2 million. 

Second quarter 2025 revenue was $115 million, though Proficient executives said on the call that the 2025 numbers were inflated by “pull forward” activity by auto buyers trying to get ahead of tariffs.

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The post Proficient’s 1Q earnings: tough quarter, better 2Q ahead, stock takes a dive appeared first on FreightWaves.

The product is the culmination of more than 18 months of agent deployment across the project44 network. According to the company, that work has already produced a 4% reduction in freight spend, a 70% reduction in manual coordination, sourcing cycles up to 75% faster and as much as a 40% reduction in disruption-related costs.

But Autopilot is more than another feature release. It is project44’s bet on what the next decade of supply chain software looks like. It is also a direct challenge to the wave of agentic AI startups that have raised hundreds of millions over the past two years to automate the very workflows project44 is now automating itself.

(A screenshot of project44’s Autopilot. (Image: project44)

What Autopilot actually is

Autopilot gives users a visual workflow canvas where AI agents respond to real-time logistics signals (a late shipment, a missing PRO number, a container dwelling too long at the port of discharge) and act on them autonomously. Customers configure the triggers, set conditional branching by carrier or lane, define escalation paths and choose post-agent actions like notifications, task creation or routing work to a human operator. A draft-and-publish model lets teams iterate on workflow configurations without disrupting live operations, and every agent action is logged and auditable through project44’s Movement Collaboration Center.

The pre-built library covers about 40 workflows today, including collecting truck milestones, late shipment reason codes, missing PRO numbers, and carrier outreach for ETA confirmation. Project44 says it is shipping two to three new ones a week. Administrators can toggle any of them on with a click and tailor the steps to fit their own escalation paths and notification preferences. No prompt engineering. No TMS integration project. No data normalization.

Eastman Chemical Co., an early customer, said in the launch announcement that the platform let its team expand into APAC and onboard less-technical carriers without adding operational complexity. “The right work reaches the right people without manual intervention,” said Josh Moss, Eastman’s process lead for global supply chain.

Signal, trigger, action

In a conversation previewing the launch, founder and CEO Jett McCandless walked me through what he called the signal-trigger-action evolution of project44’s platform, and by extension of supply chain visibility itself.

“Signal” is the network. It’s the data graph project44 has spent more than a decade building, which now connects 259,000 carriers and processes 1.5 billion shipments a year across 186 countries and territories, ingesting more than 700 million logistics events a day. McCandless calls it the world’s largest synchronous logistics data graph, and he is not subtle about what it cost.

“It costs me a billion dollars to build this layer here,” McCandless said. “Maybe even more, but that’s the context that we need for everything.”

“Trigger” is what project44 layered on top during the COVID era: an exception engine, released around 2022, that turned the firehose of raw shipment data into prioritized work items. “Action,” the new layer, is Autopilot.

McCandless’ framing captures something most supply chain software companies dance around: visibility didn’t solve the underlying problem. It exposed it.

“When we turn the lights on, what came back was chaos,” he said. “Right now you can see everything that’s going on. But how do you separate noise from signal? How do you know what the actual exceptions are?”

By the time exception engines arrived, customers had a different problem: they could see what was wrong, but they couldn’t process it fast enough. “Humans don’t have the ability to process as much as that’s there,” McCandless said. “So you’d actually have to hire more humans.”

Autopilot, in his telling, is what closes that gap, turning the action layer into something that scales with the work rather than with headcount. “People have been buying technology to help humans do jobs,” he said. “Now we’re finally at the point where you can buy this technology and it will do the job.”

(Image: project44)

The competitive claim

The most provocative thing about Autopilot isn’t the product. It’s the competitive claim project44 is making around it.

McCandless argues that the agentic AI startups crowding logistics conferences, are not really competitors. They are, in his framing, blank-canvas tools without the underlying data, system of record or distribution to deploy at scale on their own.

McCandless stated, “They don’t have any context. So all these companies have to create data lakes, normalize the data, sync it with their TMS and their CRM and all these other systems. Then they have to hire prompt engineers. They have to connect into project44 and extract the data. And then piece agents together to communicate and hand information back and forth. Most of the projects are failing.”

The wrinkle: project44 actually uses some of those same vendors inside Autopilot. The platform routes specific tasks, like a carrier callback in a particular language or an inbound voice agent for a fleet that won’t take a webhook, to whichever agent vendor performs best for the job. All the top agent vendor brands all show up in the routing layer. Customers never see them and never get a separate invoice.

That is a meaningful repositioning. McCandless is effectively arguing that the agent companies aren’t a layer; they are a commodity input, features inside a larger platform. He cited a line he attributes to logistics-tech investor Art Mesher: “One man’s product is just another man’s feature.” “The answer,” he said, of whether project44 has built a defensible platform versus a feature, “is yes for us. 

Why not “control tower”

Notably absent from project44’s positioning is the phrase the rest of the category has spent five years trying to own: control tower. FourKites uses it. So do most of the legacy TMS vendors. McCandless rejects the framing.

Control towers, in his telling, evoke air traffic: tens of thousands of human controllers operating a system built on 1960s technology. That is the opposite of what Autopilot is designed to do. When project44 rebranded from a visibility company to a “decision intelligence platform” last summer, McCandless said the company seriously considered calling itself an “intelligent operating system,” and held off only to make sure it could ship product that delivered on the framing first. “When you look at what this is,” he said, “this is that intelligent operating system. And we haven’t rebranded to that.” Yet.

The business backdrop

Autopilot arrives at an interesting moment for project44 commercially. McCandless said the company has reached cash flow break-even and is growing its shipper business, a strategic cohort segment of its book, at 20% +  year over year.

Headcount, which peaked at 1,200, now sits at 582. McCandless said the company will never exceed 600 people. The reason: AI now writes roughly 85% of project44’s code. And we leverage AI for Operations. McCandless argues that as the cost of building software trends toward zero, the moat shifts to three things: distribution into the largest shippers and LSPs, proprietary data and a culture that can absorb constant change. The first two are defensible by the same billion-dollar data graph that underwrites Autopilot.

And there is one more wrinkle that may matter most for shippers evaluating the platform: Autopilot is currently free. “We actually don’t charge for it at all right now,” McCandless said. The implied pricing model is outcome-based. Project44 will share in the savings or efficiency Autopilot delivers rather than billing on seats, tokens or per-agent fees. That is consistent with where AI software broadly is heading, but freight tech vendors have been notably slow to commit to it.

What to watch

Autopilot is a category claim. Project44 is arguing that the action layer, not the visibility layer, is where the next wave of supply chain software value will be captured, and that the only companies positioned to capture it are the ones with all three:  the data graph,  the distribution into the largest shippers and 3PLs and the culture of self disruption.

The bet is not unreasonable. The agentic AI vendors raising aggressively against this thesis will need to prove they can do more than build standalone tools. Legacy TMS players will need to figure out how to bolt agents onto on-premises architectures that were never built for it. And for shippers and 3PLs, if Autopilot delivers anything close to the freight-spend, manual-coordination and sourcing-cycle improvements project44 is advertising, the math on staffing logistics operations teams changes quickly. The action layer, as McCandless puts it, finally has infinite labor.

The post Project44 launches Autopilot, an AI-enabled logistics operating system that offers infinite labor appeared first on FreightWaves.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — May 12, 2026 — SONAR today announced the launch of its new Carrier Safety Dashboard, a comprehensive intelligence tool that centralizes Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) data — including crashes, carriers and census, roadside inspections, and an in-depth view of out-of-service (OOS) violations — into a single, interactive platform.

The dashboard goes live on the opening day of the 2026 CVSA International Roadcheck, the largest targeted commercial motor vehicle enforcement event in the world — and at a moment when the non-domiciled CDL crackdown is already driving structural change in carrier safety compliance across the country.

Access the Carrier Safety Dashboard now at sonar.surf/fmcsa-dashboard.

What’s Inside the Carrier Safety Dashboard

The dashboard is organized into three primary modules, each filterable by current year, last 12 months, last 3 years, all time, or a custom date range.

Crashes

The crash module presents federal recordable CMV crash data across five key metrics: total crashes, fatal crashes, injury-only crashes, hazmat-involved crashes, and tow-aways. Over the last 12 months, SONAR’s dashboard shows 158,338 total federal recordable crashes, including 3,916 fatal crashes (2.47% of total), 60,386 injury crashes (38.14%), 740 hazmat incidents, and 146,967 vehicles towed.

A monthly crash trend chart breaks out total crashes, fatal crashes, and hazmat releases over time, while lower-panel charts display hazmat releases by month, crash severity split, and cargo body type — with refrigerated trailers representing the highest-volume crash category at 63,378 incidents over the period.

Carriers & Census

The carriers module provides a full view of the registered carrier population. Over the last 12 months, 172,689 carriers have been registered across all operating types: 99,358 interstate (A), 67,325 intrastate non-hazmat (C), and 4,027 intrastate hazmat (B). A geographic heat map illustrates carrier concentration by state, with California and Texas leading all other states by a significant margin.

Inspections

The inspections module aggregates roadside inspection data across driver and vehicle categories. Over the last 12 months, the dashboard shows 2,908,513 total roadside inspections, with 579,831 OOS violations and 13,220 hazmat violations — including 4,236 hazmat OOS orders. California and Texas lead all states in inspection volume, followed by North Carolina, New York, and a cluster of southern and midwestern states. By inspection level, walk-around (Level II) inspections account for 36.0% of all inspections, driver-only (Level III) for 35.2%, and full (Level I) for 25.8%.

OOS Violations — Deep Dive

The OOS module provides the deepest analytical layer in the dashboard. With 2,284,768 total OOS violations recorded and an overall OOS rate of 17.5%, the data surfaces which regulatory categories are generating the most enforcement action — and where that enforcement converts most aggressively to trucks being pulled from service.

By CFR Part, §393 (Parts & Accessories — Brakes, Lights, Tires) is the leading source of both all violations and OOS violations, followed by §392. A side-by-side bar chart for the top 10 CFR Parts makes the gap between total violations and OOS conversions immediately visible.

By CSA BASIC category, Vehicle Maintenance leads at 20.7% of OOS violations, followed by Unsafe Driving (14.2%), Hours of Service (11.3%), Hazardous Materials (8.5%), Driver Fitness (6.1%), Driving of CMVs (4.5%), and Lights/Electrical (4.0%) — with all other categories comprising the remaining 30.9%.

Why the Timing Matters: International Roadcheck Begins Today

The 2026 CVSA International Roadcheck runs May 12–14, during which certified inspectors across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico will conduct an average of 15 inspections per minute over 72 hours. This annual enforcement blitz is the single largest concentrated data-collection and enforcement event in commercial motor vehicle safety — and its results flow directly into CSA scores, OOS records, and FMCSA databases that now live inside SONAR’s new dashboard.

This year’s Roadcheck carries two areas of special enforcement focus:

Driver Focus: ELD Tampering, Falsification, or Manipulation — Inspectors will scrutinize driver records of duty status for anomalies, suspicious edits, and patterns inconsistent with routes and timing. Last year, falsification of records was the second most-cited driver violation across all of North America at 58,382 violations. A driver found with a falsified log faces a 10-hour out-of-service order — harsher than the 4–5 hours typically imposed for an underlying HOS violation — plus a more damaging entry on their inspection record.

Vehicle Focus: Cargo Securement — In 2025, 18,108 violations were issued for cargo not secured to prevent leaking, spilling, or falling, and 16,054 more for unsecured vehicle components or dunnage. The 2026 Roadcheck will emphasize that loads must be contained, immobilized, and secured against all forms of roadway hazard.

Roadcheck week has historically tightened spot freight rates as some drivers elect to park their trucks rather than risk inspection, capacity temporarily exits the market, and tender rejection rates rise. With the freight market already showing signs of structural tightening — OTRI.USA running at 14.43%, approximately 12% above its 6-month average — the enforcement event lands on an already sensitive capacity environment. For a full analysis of what Roadcheck week means for freight rates and market dynamics, see FreightWaves’ Chart of the Week: What Roadcheck Week Means for the Freight Market.

The CDL Crackdown: A New Layer of OOS Exposure

The dashboard launch comes as the non-domiciled CDL enforcement wave introduces a category of OOS risk that did not exist at scale one year ago — and that makes the Driver Fitness BASIC category inside SONAR’s OOS deep dive one of the most closely watched data points in the industry right now.

On March 16, 2026, an FMCSA Final Rule took effect limiting non-domiciled CDL eligibility to a narrow set of verifiable nonimmigrant visa categories. FMCSA estimates that 97% of the approximately 200,000 non-domiciled CDL holders nationwide will not qualify under the new requirements. California cancelled 13,000 licenses in early March. New York lost $73.5 million in federal highway funding after refusing to revoke approximately 17,000 contested CDLs — licenses that a federal audit found were issued with a 53% failure rate against lawful presence documentation requirements.

The enforcement consequence is direct: a driver operating with an invalid CDL during a roadside inspection — including during Roadcheck week — is placed out of service immediately. In severe cases, carriers can receive acute violation status, limiting fleet-wide operations. SONAR’s ELPVOOS.USA index — which tracks English Language Proficiency and driver qualification OOS violations — has spiked 110% above its pre-2025 baseline and remains structurally elevated at +71% above pre-2025 levels. Each OOS event removes a truck for the day and triggers a compliance review. The new Carrier Safety Dashboard is the first SONAR tool to bring this enforcement data into a centralized, filterable visual environment where carriers can benchmark their own exposure and monitor the national trend.

For the full analysis of the CDL crackdown, its regulatory timeline, state-by-state enforcement actions, and freight market implications — including J.B. Hunt’s projection of 214,000–437,000 drivers potentially removed from the workforce over the next two to three years — read the SONAR blog: The CDL Crackdown Is Here. Here’s What It Means for U.S. Freight.

For the live SONAR Sitrep — tracking OTRI, NTIL, VCRPM1, ROTRI, ELPVOOS, OTVI, and CDNCA signals as the supply correction unfolds — visit: sonar.surf/sitreps?tab=cdl-crackdown

And for context on the deferred maintenance backlog that carriers are carrying out of the freight recession — a compounding risk factor heading into peak Roadcheck enforcement — see the SONAR Fleet Maintenance Sitrep: SONAR Sitrep: Fleet Maintenance — Behind the Curve Post-Freight Recession

Access the SONAR Sitrep on Maintenance and Trucking safety here.

Why SONAR Built This Now

The regulatory environment has fundamentally changed what it means to operate a compliant fleet in 2026. Between the CDL enforcement wave, Roadcheck’s ELD and cargo securement focus, and a freight market where capacity tightening is already visible in SONAR’s leading indices, the need for a single source of truth on carrier safety data has never been more acute.

The SONAR Carrier Safety Dashboard gives freight stakeholders the centralized, up-to-date intelligence they need — whether evaluating their own compliance posture, assessing the carrier base supporting a routing guide, managing broker risk, or monitoring the national enforcement environment heading into the most active inspection period of the year.

Access the Dashboard

The SONAR Carrier Safety Dashboard is available now to SONAR subscribers at sonar.surf/fmcsa-dashboard.

Not yet a SONAR subscriber? Schedule a consultation at GoSONAR.com to see the full platform — including the Carrier Safety Dashboard, SONAR Sitreps, and the full suite of freight market intelligence tools.

The post SONAR Launches Carrier Safety Dashboard — Right on Time for International Roadcheck Week appeared first on FreightWaves.

At UPS (NYSE: UPS), Connelly developed air freight, ocean freight, parcel and third-party logistics capabilities and played a key role in reshaping the UPS domestic network to handle the rise in e-commerce shipping. 

“Matt’s expertise will help us sharpen our network planning, execution and alignment across operations, sales and marketing as we continue driving service excellence,” Steiner told the board of governors while presenting the organization’s second-quarter fiscal results.

Connelly has worked as a special advisor to Steiner for the past seven months, according to his LinkedIn profile. Steiner spent several years on the board of directors at FedEx before becoming postmaster general. 

The Postal Service lost $2 billion in the second quarter and has lost more than $30 billion since the close of fiscal year 2021. Steiner has said the agency can’t simply cut its way to financial stability and has made parcel revenue growth a key priority. 

Last month, the USPS named Pete Routsolias as chief logistics officer, a role he filled on an acting basis since December. He joined the organization in 2020 after holding senior transportation leadership positions at Ashley Distribution Services, Univar Solutions and XPO Logistics.

In 2022, Connelly helped found Vesta Freight, a truck brokerage based in Nashville, Tennessee, and served as its chairman. Prior to that he spent nearly three years as CEO of non-profit organization Good360, where is credited with significantly expanding its reverse logistics capabilities. He was co-chairman of the board between 2011 and 2019.

From January 2017 to July 2019, Connelly served as vice president of network planning at UPS, where he was responsible for the design and performance of the North American transportation network. His duties included the sourcing of more than $1 billion in annual surface transportation spending and optimizing UPS private fleet and partnerships, developing e-commerce delivery strategies, and providing zone-skipping solutions for UPS’s 80 largest customers.

He also managed the UPS integration of truck brokerage Coyote Logistics in the middle of last decade. (UPS has since sold off Coyote.) Connelly spent more than 12 years as vice president and general manager of UPS Supply Chain Services in the Americas region, helping to integrate the acquisition of Menlo Forwarding and otherwise directing the company’s freight forwarding business. 

Earlier in his career at UPS, Connelly held several leadership positions, including senior director, managing domestic small package operations.

(Correction: Connelly’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.)

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

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

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The post Postal Service hires former UPS logistics exec as chief strategy officer appeared first on FreightWaves.

The UK’s Maritime Operations Center on Monday said the Safesea Neha, a 590-foot bulk vessel sailing under the Marshall Islands flag and managed by U.S.-based Safesea Group, was reportedly struck by a projectile on May 10 near Doha, Qatar. The incident caused a small fire but no injuries aboard the 16-year old ship.

The incident is the first against a merchant ship with U.S. ties since the peace process between the U.S. and Iran began.

The ship provides logistics support for United Nations peacekeeping missions, the World Food Programme, and the U.S. General Services Administration.

Based in Piscataway, N.J., Safesea provides vessel management and other maritime logistics services. 

Global shipping rate futures have seen some stabilization over the past week, an indication that carriers are managing the ongoing conflict in the Strait of Hormuz in an effort to moderate price surges. An estimated 1,500 vessels remain trapped in the gulf.

The U.S. Central Command said it disabled two Iranian tankers over the weekend, while three naval vessels came under attack by Iran.

President Donald Trump rejected the latest peace proposal by Tehran. The government there said it would not submit to U.S. demands, particularly over possession of its uranium stockpile.

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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The post U.S.-managed bulk ship attacked in Persian Gulf appeared first on FreightWaves.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, 41-year-old Aivaras Zigmantas used multiple aliases between 2020 and 2023 to gain control of shipments moving across state lines. Prosecutors said the scheme relied on impersonating both real and fake logistics companies in order to convince victims to release freight.

The stolen shipments included liquor and commercial-grade copper. Authorities said the group intended to steal at least $14.6 million in goods and successfully stole more than $10.1 million before the operation was stopped.

Zigmantas pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges in December 2025. U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo sentenced him this week to 60 months in federal prison.

the theft started with identity, not force

The case highlights a growing pattern across the transportation industry. Many modern cargo theft cases no longer begin with a stolen truck or warehouse break-in. They begin with identity manipulation.

According to prosecutors, Zigmantas falsely presented himself as a representative of carriers and brokers offering transportation services. Once the freight was released, the shipments were diverted away from their intended destinations and stolen.

That method continues to appear across the industry. Criminal groups are increasingly using fake dispatch operations, stolen identities, spoofed communication, and carrier impersonation to gain access to freight before pickup even takes place.

In many cases, the paperwork, carrier profile, and communication appear normal on the surface. That creates a dangerous gap between what companies believe they verified and who is actually controlling the shipment.

The case also shows why many thefts are difficult to stop once freight is released. By the time companies realize something is wrong, the shipment has often already been redirected, split apart, resold, or moved into secondary markets.

federal enforcement around freight fraud continues to grow

Federal officials tied the prosecution to a larger push against trade fraud and organized cargo theft.

The case was prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice Trade Fraud Task Force, which focuses on groups attempting to evade or undermine federal trade and customs laws. Federal officials also recently announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which will focus on investigating and prosecuting fraud cases across the country.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate McClelland said in the government’s sentencing memorandum that Zigmantas “stole more than $10 million in shipments of copper and liquor by fraudulently posing as employees of both legitimate and fictitious logistics companies.”

The case comes as cargo theft and freight fraud continue to rise across the transportation industry. Investigators and industry leaders have increasingly warned that many organized theft groups are now exploiting weaknesses in identity verification and communication systems rather than relying only on physical theft methods.

For many companies, the larger concern is not just the value of the stolen freight. It is how easily legitimate systems can be manipulated when identity becomes the entry point.

Click here for more articles on cargo theft and freight fraud by Phillip Brink.

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The post Inside the $10m freight fraud that rocked Chicago appeared first on FreightWaves.

Authorities in the U.S. reported multimillion-dollar drug seizures hidden in produce, construction materials and commercial trailers at ports of entry in Texas and California, while Canadian border officials intercepted large cocaine shipments moving through marine terminals and commercial trucking lanes. 

In Mexico, security forces arrested alleged cargo theft suspects linked to organized criminal groups operating along key trucking routes in Puebla and the State of Mexico.

The total estimated street/retail value of the drugs and counterfeit goods seized during the April enforcement actions was $51.4 million.

United States

Texas

At the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility in South Texas, CBP officers seized more than 908 pounds of methamphetamine concealed inside tile shipments arriving from Reynosa, Mexico. Authorities valued the narcotics at approximately $8.1 million.

CBP officers at the same crossing also intercepted nearly 298 pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside a shipment manifested as carrots, with an estimated street value of $2.6 million.

Another enforcement action at Pharr uncovered 83 pounds of cocaine concealed inside the floor of an empty commercial trailer arriving from Mexico. The cocaine was valued at more than $1.1 million.

At the Laredo Port of Entry, CBP officers seized more than $1.3 million worth of methamphetamine and cocaine in two separate enforcement actions involving a tractor-trailer hauling leather bags and a passenger vehicle crossing at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge.

Meanwhile, CBP officers at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry seized more than $2.8 million in cocaine and methamphetamine in separate cases involving concealed narcotics hidden inside vehicle floorboards and trailers.

California

CBP officers at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility near San Diego seized more than 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine concealed inside a cargo trailer manifested as corrugated cardboard boxes. Authorities estimated the load’s street value at nearly $5 million.

In separate back-to-back enforcement actions at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, officers also intercepted more than 430 pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine hidden inside passenger vehicles. The seizures carried a combined estimated street value of $2.8 million.

The San Diego CBP Field Office said officers seized more than 6,100 pounds of narcotics worth over $14 million during March enforcement operations at ports of entry in San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Calexico.

Illinois

At Chicago O’Hare International Airport, CBP agriculture specialists intercepted a monkey carcass and 125 pounds of prohibited meat concealed in passenger baggage arriving from Africa.

Chicago CBP officers also reported seizing 351 shipments totaling 455 pounds of unapproved human growth hormones and steroids during March. Most shipments originated in China and were intended for domestic parcel distribution within the U.S.

Florida

CBP officers at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale seized more than 8,500 counterfeit designer perfume products arriving from Singapore and destined for Miami. Authorities estimated the fake goods would have been worth more than $1 million if authentic.

New York and Connecticut

At the Peace Bridge cargo warehouse in Buffalo, CBP officers seized nearly 1,000 counterfeit electronic devices, including smartphones and streaming devices, with an estimated retail value of $150,000 if genuine.

Buffalo CBP officers also intercepted nearly 350,000 noncompliant hearing-aid batteries that violated federal child-protection packaging standards. Authorities valued the shipment at approximately $100,000.

At John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, CBP officers intercepted a concealed firearm suppressor shipped from Hong Kong that led to a broader investigation in Connecticut. Authorities later seized 39 firearms, explosives, narcotics and other contraband during a search of a Branford residence.

Kentucky

CBP officers in Louisville intercepted more than 1,500 counterfeit jewelry items arriving from Hong Kong and destined for New York. Authorities said the fake luxury goods would have carried a retail value exceeding $9.2 million if authentic.

Pennsylvania and Massachusetts

In Philadelphia, CBP officers seized gamma-butyrolactone, or GBL, concealed inside parcels manifested as skincare products arriving from Spain and destined for Massachusetts. GBL is a precursor chemical used to manufacture GHB, a controlled substance commonly associated with sexual assaults and party drugs.

Canada

Nova Scotia and Ontario

The Canada Border Services Agency and Royal Canadian Mounted Police dismantled an organized crime group after officers discovered 547 pounds of cocaine concealed inside flatbread shipments arriving from the Dominican Republic through Halifax, Nova Scotia. Authorities arrested three suspects from Quebec and Ontario in connection with the investigation.

At Toronto Pearson International Airport commercial operations, CBSA officers intercepted seven fraudulent passports hidden inside sandals within a 1,600-kilogram shipment arriving from Nigeria.

Alberta

CBSA officers at the Coutts port of entry in Alberta seized 192-pounds of suspected cocaine hidden inside suitcases concealed within a commercial produce shipment headed to Calgary.

Mexico

Puebla

Mexican authorities announced the arrest of a total of seven members of the criminal group called “Los Bukanas,” during a coordinated operation involving state police, the Mexican Navy, the National Guard and federal prosecutors. Officials said the alleged criminal group was tied to cargo theft operations in Hidalgo and along the Puebla border region.

Authorities arrested seven suspected members of the organization and seized assault rifles, pistols, ammunition and a GMC truck with Tamaulipas license plates. Officials said the group was also linked to fuel theft, kidnapping, extortion and vehicle theft.

State of Mexico

In Cuautitlán Izcalli, authorities conducted a coordinated anti-cargo theft enforcement operation along the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense trucking corridor. The operation involved municipal police, state police and prosecutors targeting freight transportation robberies. Two suspects were arrested on alleged drug-related charges and one vehicle was seized.

April 2026 North America cargo crime seizures

The post Crime wave targets North American freight lanes in April appeared first on FreightWaves.

As of today, five cases are confirmed by testing, and three additional suspected cases are under investigation. Health officials in at least a dozen countries, including the United States, are tracing passengers who disembarked at various ports before the outbreak was identified. Seventeen Americans remain aboard the vessel under what the operator Oceanwide Expeditions describes as strict precautionary measures. Former passengers have been identified in Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia.

NPR ran a headline today asking the question everyone is thinking: “Is hantavirus the next COVID?” The answer, based on what we know right now, is no. It is not, but that is the wrong question for passenger carriers to be asking.

Hantavirus is not new. CDC surveillance in the United States began in 1993 during an outbreak in the Four Corners region, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. Between 1993 and 2022, the CDC documented 864 confirmed cases of hantavirus infection in the U.S. During 2023 and 2024, more than 60 additional cases were reported across Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, and California.

The mortality rate for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is approximately 38 percent. There is no vaccine. There is no specific antiviral treatment. Early detection and supportive care improve outcomes, but one in three people who develop respiratory symptoms from hantavirus die from it.

The virus spreads primarily through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings, and nesting materials. When those materials are disturbed, infectious particles can become airborne. That is how most people get sick. You breathe it in.

Human-to-human transmission is extremely rare. The World Health Organization notes that, when it does occur, it has been associated with close, prolonged contact, particularly among household members, intimate partners, and people providing medical care. A 2020 study in the New England Journal of Medicine documented person-to-person spread during a 2018-2019 outbreak in Argentina among birthday party guests seated near each other.

This is not an airborne respiratory virus that spreads through casual contact on a bus or in a terminal. This is not COVID. The transmission profile is fundamentally different.

Here is what passenger carriers need to understand. It does not matter whether hantavirus becomes a pandemic. What matters is whether the next thing that does become a pandemic finds you with clean vehicles, a financial cushion, and a plan, because the motorcoach, airport shuttle, and rideshare industry already found out what happens when you do not have those things.

In December 2019, there were 3,878 motorcoach carriers registered with FMCSA in the United States. By early 2022, there were 1,940. Half the industry is gone.

The American Bus Association documented that between 80 and 95 percent of motorcoach trips were canceled or simply not booked during the initial COVID shutdown. The industry lost $4.8 billion in the first four months. The projected total of lost revenue through the end of the pandemic exceeded $10.9 billion. Approximately 62,800 jobs were eliminated. The number of motorcoach drivers nationwide fell by 62 percent between February 2020 and December 2021.

Congress approved a $2 billion grant program for motorcoach, school bus, and passenger vessel operators. The CERTS program required that at least 60 percent of the funds be allocated to payroll. PPP loans kept some companies afloat temporarily. But many took on debt that they are still paying off today. Peoria Charter, one of the most recognized brands in the motorcoach industry, filed for bankruptcy in late 2025 specifically because a CARES Act loan it took in 2020 at 3.1 percent was restructured to 8.44 percent, making it impossible to repay within the five-year federal window.

Coach USA, one of the largest operators in the country, completed its bankruptcy proceedings in August 2024, with its assets carved up and sold to affiliates of The Renco Group, AVALON Transportation, and Wynne Transportation.

These were not small operators running three buses out of a strip mall. These were major companies with decades of operating history. COVID did not just reduce their revenue. It eliminated their revenue model entirely. People stopped traveling. Period.

While passenger carriers were bleeding out, property freight carriers were experiencing the opposite.

The COVID-era freight boom flooded the trucking market with volume. Stimulus checks. E-commerce. Supply chain disruptions created urgency and drove rates up. Spot market rates hit levels that drew tens of thousands of new entrants into the market. People bought trucks. People who had never been in trucking bought trucks. Authority applications at FMCSA surged.

Then the boom ended. What followed was a freight recession that lasted roughly four years. Overcapacity. Collapsing rates. Carrier failures. The property freight market is only now beginning to show signs of recovery.

As freight volumes contracted and property carriers struggled, people started traveling again. Leisure travel recovered. Business travel slowly came back, but it did come back. Cruise lines filled their ships. Airlines filled planes. And the motorcoach operators who survived COVID found themselves in a market where demand was returning, and half their competition had disappeared.

The passenger carrier market is currently in a stronger competitive position than it has been in the past five years. The operators who survived did so by tightening belts, controlling costs, structuring furloughs, eliminating waste, and being financially disciplined with whatever revenue they generated during the worst period in the industry’s history. The ones who did not do those things were acquired for pennies on the dollar by private equity funds, or they simply closed.

That financial discipline is the single most important asset a passenger carrier has as it enters whatever comes next. Do not abandon it.

I spent part of my career managing risk for passenger and property transport operations within a private equity portfolio. We ran buses, shuttles, and rideshare vehicles. One of the simplest and most effective things we did was use battery-operated sanitizing sprayers after every passenger turnover. The bus empties out. Crew walks through with a sprayer. Takes two minutes. Kills everything on contact surfaces. Same protocol airlines adopted during COVID for cabin turnarounds.

This is not expensive. This is not complicated. This is basic vehicle hygiene that should be standard operating procedure, whether there is a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship or not.

Here is what passenger carriers should be doing right now. Not because hantavirus is the next pandemic, but because this is how professional operations run.

Clean your vehicles between passenger loads. Not a quick wipe of the steering wheel. A systematic spray-down of all high-touch surfaces: handrails, armrests, seat backs, tray tables, window latches, overhead bins, restroom surfaces, door handles, and driver controls. EPA-registered List N disinfectants are effective against a broad spectrum of viruses and bacteria. A bleach solution of one part bleach to nine parts water works if commercial products are unavailable. CDC guidance recommends wet cleaning methods over dry methods like sweeping or vacuuming, which can push infectious particles into the air.

Inspect vehicles that have been sitting idle. This is the hantavirus-specific concern. Rodents build nests in parked vehicles, particularly in engine compartments, air filter housings, HVAC ducting, and trunk compartments. If a bus or van has been sitting in a lot for weeks or months, it needs to be inspected before returning to service. Open the hood and doors, let it air out for 20 minutes, then inspect with gloves and long sleeves. Spray any rodent droppings, nesting material, or urine with disinfectant, let it soak for five minutes, then remove and dispose. Do not sweep dry droppings. That is how hantavirus goes airborne.

Stock PPE for your cleaning crews. Gloves, masks, eye protection. Your drivers and maintenance staff should have access to hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol. This is not pandemic theater. This is occupational health.

Review your HVAC systems. Cabin air filters on buses and motorcoaches should be replaced as part of regular maintenance. If a vehicle has been in storage or parked in an area with known rodent activity, replace the cabin air filter before returning it to revenue service. Rodent nesting material inside HVAC ducting can push contaminated particles directly into the passenger compartment through the vents.

Hantavirus is not going to shut down the travel industry. Eight confirmed or suspected cases on one cruise ship, while tragic for those affected, is not a pandemic. The WHO said Tuesday that the outbreak is being managed. CDC data shows 864 total confirmed cases in the U.S. across 30 years. This is a rare disease.

If COVID taught the passenger carrier industry anything, it is that the time to build financial resilience is before you need it. Not during a crisis.

The carriers who survived COVID were those with cash reserves or who moved immediately to cut costs and preserve liquidity when revenue disappeared. They structured furloughs rather than layoffs, preserving their workforce for the recovery. They renegotiated leases. They deferred non-critical maintenance without deferring safety-critical maintenance. They communicated with lenders early rather than defaulting silently.

The carriers that did not survive were those already burning cash before COVID hit. They had thin margins, high fixed costs, aging fleets with deferred maintenance, and no contingency plan for a revenue disruption. When revenue went to zero overnight, they had nothing to fall back on.

It is May 2026. Travel demand is healthy. Load factors are up. The competitive landscape has fewer operators chasing the same demand. This is the moment to build the cash reserve you did not have in March 2020. This is the moment to negotiate your credit facility, not when you need to draw on it. This is the moment to review your insurance program, your fleet maintenance schedule, and your driver training protocols, not when a crisis forces you to.

It is also an election season. Every health scare between now and November will be amplified, politicized, and weaponized by people who benefit from fear. That has become the norm. Do your own research. Read the CDC guidance directly at cdc.gov/hantavirus. Read the WHO situation reports. Look at the actual case numbers, the actual transmission data, and the actual mortality statistics.

Hantavirus has a 38 percent mortality rate in people who develop pulmonary symptoms. That is terrifying at the individual level. But it is also a disease that produced 864 cases in the United States over 30 years. It primarily spreads through rodent contact, not through casual human contact. The cruise ship outbreak appears to involve a novel pattern of person-to-person transmission that scientists are still studying, but the WHO has not declared a public health emergency, and health officials across multiple countries have described the situation as being managed.

Do not buy into panic. Do not ignore it either. The professional middle ground is simple. Clean your vehicles. Inspect your idle fleet. Stock basic PPE. Review your finances. Build a contingency plan you hope you never have to use.

The companies that do these things will be the ones still operating when the next disruption comes. Whatever it is. Whenever it comes. That is not a prediction. That is what COVID has already proved.

The post Hantavirus and passenger fleets: What passenger carriers should be thinking about appeared first on FreightWaves.

Trailer manufacturer Wabash National had its debt rating downgraded by Moody’s for the third time in a year, almost to the day, while executives on a company earnings call with analysts a few days earlier tried to make a case for a turnaround that would start next year.

The latest Moody’s move, announced May 5, is a downgrade of its corporate family rating to B3 from B2. Moody’s downgraded Moody’s to B1 on May 7, 2025 and then to B2 on November 5. 

Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings cut the Wabash debt rating to B+ in May of last year and B soon after Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) made its move to B2 in November. That latest rating for Wabash is still in effect at S&P Global. The B rating at S&P Global Ratings (NYSE: SPGI)  is considered a notch above Wabash’s B3 grade at Moody’s.

The B3 rating at Moody’s is six notches below the cutoff line between investment grade and non-investment grade debt.

‘Very weak’ credit metrics

“The rating downgrade reflects our expectation that Wabash’s credit metrics will remain at very weak, unsustainable levels over the next 12 months,” Moody’s said in its report. “Wabash’s earnings have evaporated and cash burn has persisted during a prolonged down cycle in new truck trailer production as the company’s customers defer investments in their transportation fleets.”

Moody’s said trailer production at Wabash (NYSE: WNC) should increase sequentially during the year, though the latest quarterly data continues a long slide.

Wabash data on trailers shipped has been declining steadily for many months. It was 5,378 in the first quarter, down from 5,901 in the fourth quarter of 2025. Its recent high-water mark was 13,670 in the third quarter of 2022. 

Financial measures have also been grim at Wabash. It reported cash and cash equivalents on hand at $31.9 million at the end of 2025. A year earlier, it was $144.5 million. At the end of 2022, cash and cash equivalents were $58.2 million.

Net sales in its Transportation Solutions segment, which includes its truck manufacturing operations, were $250.1 million in the first quarter of 2026. Sequentially, that is less than the $262.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2025.

In the third quarter of 2022, Transportation Solutions reported net sales in Transportation Solutions of $611.8 million. 

Wabash’s net income last year was impacted positively by the settlement of the nuclear verdict it faced in Missouri. But more reflective of its operations, the company posted a gross profit of $69.9 million in 2025 for all operations, down from $265 million a year before. In 2022, gross profit was $322.7 million. 

Company seeing ‘early stabilization’

In Wabash’s first quarter earnings call, when the company posted an operating loss of $37.3 million in its Transportation Solutions segment, which contains its trailer manufacturing activities, CEO Brent Yeagy acknowledged the poor performance but sought to forecast better days.

“Order patterns were uneven, asset utilization inconsistent and capital decisions across the industry were being evaluated carefully,” he said. “At the same time, we were encouraged by early signs of stabilization and improving fundamentals that typically precede a broader recovery. Now as we move into the second quarter of 2026, both our customers and our visibility continues to improve. And it shows an environment that is building the set up for a constructive 2027 as spot rates, contract rates, capacity and demand, all are coming together and drive back to replacement demand for equipment and possibly beyond as fleets begin to plan more confidently.”

Wabash is not followed closely by equity analysts; only one was on the earnings call.

Rising backlog

Yeagy said the company’s backlog in the quarter was $837 million, which was up 19% from the fourth quarter of 2026. He added it was the highest quarter-to-quarter gain in backlog growth for the first quarter in the company’s history .  

Even with an improvement in market conditions, Moody’s said it still expects Wabash’s debt/EBITDA ratio to be 6X at the end of 2027 “though trending in a positive direction.” The agency said it expects free cash flow to remain negative, “as the company’s working capital needs to support growth outweigh the recovery in earnings.”

Moody’s also said at the end of 2023, that ratio was 1X.

The debt issue also was raised in terms of Wabash’s short term needs. Moody’s said Wabash has “adequate liquidity to bridge the company to what we expect will be a meaningfully improved production environment in 2027.”

But it’s going to need to rely more on a $350 million asset-based revolving credit facility, Moody’s said. That ABL expires in September 2027, “which introduces refinancing risk in the near-term.”

Moody’s added that it expects Wabash’s revenue would be “slightly down in 2026, with negative earnings and free cash flow.”

Wabash’s stock is only down 9.37% in the last 52 weeks. But the more recent trends have been brutal: down 17.58% in the last month and 31.55% in the last year. According to Yahoo Finance, its five-year rate of return exceeds negative 58%.

Wabash declined comment on the Moody’s rating change.

More articles by John Kingston

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ORBCOMM pulls in new financing, replaces all publicly-traded debt

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Trade, trucking dominate Port of Eagle Pass annual summit 

EAGLE PASS, Texas — Nearshoring growth, cross-border infrastructure investment and ongoing driver capacity concerns were among the top issues discussed during the “State of the Trucking Industry” panel at the 2026 Port of Eagle Pass Trade Summit on Thursday.

The annual summit, hosted by the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, and WorldCity Inc., brought together more than 500 trade stakeholders focused on trade growth and infrastructure development along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Representing FreightWaves, Noi Mahoney moderated the panel discussion featuring Jazz Sidhu, vice president of operations at Fisher Brothers Trucking and Logistics; and Jeff Langloss, vice president of policy, regulatory affairs and safety compliance at the Texas Trucking Association.

The Port of Eagle Pass consists of international vehicle bridges, a rail bridge and a foreign trade zone connecting Eagle Pass with Piedras Negras, Mexico. The trade corridor has become increasingly important as manufacturers continue shifting production closer to the U.S. market.

According to WorldCity data, Eagle Pass ranked as the nation’s 10th-largest border crossing by trade volume in March and handled $3.77 billion in total trade. 

Nearshoring drives cross-border expansion

When asked about the biggest trends shaping trucking and cross-border trade in 2026, Sidhu pointed to nearshoring and the need for expanded freight infrastructure.

“For me, I think it’s nearshoring, right? Where we’ve got manufacturers looking at geographically closer countries that they can move their operations to,” Sidhu said during the panel. “And then what follows is the infrastructure that’s needed when they are moving their operations to other countries, especially in Mexico, and now having to expand facilities and infrastructure in the port of Eagle Pass.”

Langloss, a former truck driver and longtime Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration official, said the rapid growth of cross-border freight has transformed Eagle Pass and the broader North American supply chain over the past four decades.

“I think something that comes to mind to me is just this growth,” Langloss said. “The growth of the trans-Canadian border … it helps not only Eagle Pass and important cities, but I think it helps the U.S., Mexico, Canada.”

Langloss also shared an anecdote about hauling freight through Eagle Pass roughly 40 years ago, when drivers from the U.S. and Mexico would simply exchange trailers at the border with little technology or electronic documentation involved.

Sidhu said Fisher Brothers Trucking and Logistics has been expanding operations into Eagle Pass because of the region’s long-term growth potential and shorter border wait times compared to some larger crossings.

“We are moving our infrastructure here to Eagle Pass because it’s growing, right?” Sidhu said. “We want to be part of the community.”

Sidhu said additional transloading facilities, warehousing capacity and heavy-lift infrastructure will be needed as oversized and industrial freight volumes continue increasing through Eagle Pass.

Eagle Pass emerging as strategic freight gateway

Langloss said one of Eagle Pass’ biggest competitive advantages is speed.

“The wait times at the bridge are so much quicker here than some of the other bridges,” Langloss said.

The panel also focused heavily on trucking industry operational challenges, including non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, ELD compliance, recruiting qualified drivers and freight capacity constraints.

“For us, capacity, meaning drivers,” Sidhu said when discussing the industry’s biggest pain points. “Especially the impact of non-domiciled CDL holders … rates go up. Customers aren’t happy, but we’re not able to get that product moving as efficiently as we want.”

Langloss said ongoing regulatory changes and compliance uncertainty continue creating challenges for carriers.

“You’ve got equipment that’s brought in 48 states … and then trying to get all that equipment back and changed out before the 60 days, it makes it very tough,” Langloss said, referring to ELD-related compliance deadlines and out-of-service device removals.

The discussion also touched on autonomous trucking, electric trucks and future freight technology.

Sidhu said autonomous trucks could eventually help alleviate driver shortages, but widespread deployment will require significantly more infrastructure investment and maintenance support networks.

“Technology is definitely needed, but the infrastructure is needed to be built around it,” Sidhu said.

Langloss said autonomous trucks could initially become more common on long-haul freight routes, while electric trucks are likely to remain focused on short-haul and last-mile delivery applications in the near term.

Cargo theft, border security remain major concerns

Cargo theft and freight security in Mexico were also highlighted during the panel.

Sidhu said cargo security concerns and restrictions on nighttime driving in certain regions of Mexico can significantly impact delivery times and operational planning for carriers.

Langloss said cargo theft is becoming a national supply chain issue requiring broader federal coordination and legislative action.

The summit also featured discussions on trade, transportation infrastructure, rail freight and customs operations, along with a keynote address by former Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Avant Technology receives Texas grant for Pharr factory expansion

Avant Technology plans to invest more than $20 million to expand its semiconductor manufacturing facility in Pharr, Texas, after receiving a $4.83 million grant from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund.

The expansion is expected to create 250 jobs in the Rio Grande Valley and increase the company’s ability to manufacture advanced semiconductor assemblies, including solid-state drives and memory modules for automotive, industrial and enterprise markets, according to a news release.

Pflugerville-based Avant Technology said the project will include new construction and state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment at the Pharr facility.

SEG Solar to build 4 GW solar module factory in Houston

Houston-based solar manufacturer SEG Solar announced plans to build a new 4-gigawatt solar module manufacturing facility in Houston, expanding the company’s total U.S. production capacity to about 6 GW.

The nearly 500,000-square-foot facility represents an investment of more than $200 million and is expected to create up to 800 jobs, according to a news release. Commercial operations are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2026.

SEG Solar said the expansion is part of its long-term localization strategy aimed at strengthening domestic manufacturing and supply chain capabilities. 

Founded in 2021, SEG Solar is headquartered in Houston and said it shipped more than 7.5 GW of solar modules globally by the end of 2025.

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Chart of the Week:  National Truckload Index– USA SONAR: NTI.USA

International Roadcheck is a 72-hour period when members of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) conduct a heightened period of inspections on commercial vehicles. Since 2022, they have designated two primary areas of focus — one for the driver and one for the vehicle. Its impact on the domestic trucking market varies from a non-event (2020 did not produce a strong noticeable move in spot rates) to sharp 6-8% spikes in spot rates. This year’s period starts May 12 and focuses on ELDs and cargo securement.

The CVSA states that International Roadcheck inspects nearly 15 trucks and motorcoaches every minute during the 72-hour period throughout North America, making it the largest targeted enforcement program on commercial motor vehicles in the world.

Last year, there were 56,178 inspections with a vehicle out-of-service (OOS) rate of 18.1% and a driver OOS rate of 5.9%. The vehicle inspection focus was tires, which accounted for 21.4% of vehicle OOS violations, while hours of service (HOS) — though not a focus area — led driver OOS violations at 32.4%. The falsified logs focus accounted for 10% of total driver OOS violations.

For context, Roadcheck week tire violations accounted for roughly 4.5% of the entire year’s tire violations in just three days. False RODS violations accounted for roughly 5% of the year’s total false log violations in less than 1% of the calendar year. The 56,000 inspections represent approximately 1.4% of total annual inspections across North America.

So while this period does not represent a large share of annual OOS violations, the elevated OOS rate, heightened visibility, and concentrated enforcement do influence the market — as many drivers choose to avoid certain areas or take the week off, temporarily reducing capacity.

Roadcheck week does not affect all carriers equally. Larger fleets are generally more motivated to maintain compliance given the increased liability exposure they carry. Their scale makes them more susceptible to litigation when drivers or vehicles are found non-compliant. Smaller carriers and owner-operators carry less payout potential and are less likely to be involved in nuclear verdicts.

Tender data skews toward larger fleets given its reliance on electronic transmission infrastructure, which smaller carriers are less likely to have. So while tender rejection rates have increased just over a percentage point on average in recent years, this is driven more by the pull of elevated spot rates and increased load availability than by an actual reduction in capacity.

Last year’s inspection period started May 13 and produced one of the stronger increases in tender rejection rates for the period, with an approximately 117 basis point increase during the week. Rejection rates continued to climb heading into Memorial Day weekend, which complicates a clean analysis of Roadcheck’s standalone impact. Rejection rates increased from 4.48% on May 11 and peaked at 6.25% on May 25, with Memorial Day falling on May 26. 

Dry van spot rates were the least responsive last year, increasing roughly 7%, including the Memorial Day effect. Reefer had the strongest response at just under 9%, and flatbed came in around 7.5% higher. Separating Roadcheck’s influence from Memorial Day’s is difficult given the proximity of the two events.

It should be noted that not all inspection focus areas generate OOS violations — ABS systems in 2023 being one example. One of this year’s focus areas, cargo securement, has a relatively limited scope in terms of what can result in an OOS order.

In the bigger picture, the inspection period is short-lived, but its timing can make the impact feel larger than it is. It traditionally coincides with a period of rising freight demand and holiday-driven capacity disruption, which may amplify its perceived significance. Compared to broader market forces, the impact of this week is relatively modest — though it can make an already challenging environment more difficult and contribute to a more volatile start to the summer shipping season. 

About the Chart of the Week

The FreightWaves Chart of the Week is a chart selection from SONAR that provides an interesting data point to describe the state of the freight markets. A chart is chosen from thousands of potential charts on SONAR to help participants visualize the freight market in real time. Each week a Market Expert will post a chart, along with commentary, live on the front page. After that, the Chart of the Week will be archived on FreightWaves.com for future reference.

SONAR aggregates data from hundreds of sources, presenting the data in charts and maps and providing commentary on what freight market experts want to know about the industry in real time.

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The postal organization on Friday reported an operating loss of $642 million, a significant year over year improvement. The net loss, which includes certain mandated obligations outside management’s control also fell — to $2 billion from $3.3 billion. The Postal Service attributed the decreased loss to a $463 million revenue gain and a $1.3 billion cut in workers compensation expense, partly offset by an increase in retiree health benefits and other operating expenses. 

Total operating revenue was $20.2 billion for the quarter, an increase of 2.3%, compared to the same quarter last year. The increase was largely due to price increases in parcel shipping, marketing mail and First-Class mail. 

Shipping and Packages revenue increased $348 million, or 4.5%, on a volume decline of 22 million pieces, or 1.4%. First-Class mail volume fell 6.3%. And parcel volumes likely will continue to decline after Amazon recently re-enlisted for last-mile postal delivery, but said it would hand over about 20% less volume than in recent years. 

“During the quarter we were able to get revenue, cost and service results moving in the right direction,” said Postmaster General David Steiner in a statement. “However, the scale of our financial improvements compared to the prior year was modest and we have a long road [ahead] to achieve anything close to long-term financial sustainability. It is a simple fact that we are in a cash crisis, and we are now taking serious and appropriate steps to conserve funds to operate. To avoid disruption and to sustain our role supporting American commerce and the public, we require urgent Congressional action to expand our borrowing authority and to address outdated constraints on the organization.”

The USPS has a statutory debt limit of $15 billion, pays a disproportionate share of pension coverage compared to private companies, is subject to antiquated workers’ compensation requirements and can only invest retirement funds in Treasury notes. Management again pressed the Postal Regulatory Commission to eliminate the price cap on mail or allow other rate adjustments so the agency can capture more revenue. 

Steiner warned Congress in March that the Postal Service could run out of money by next spring, citing the increase in digital communication that has caused a 50% drop in mail volume, costly policy mandates and the universal service obligation. Officials say a decision is pending on whether to exercise a Postal Regulatory Commission waiver on certain pension payment obligations so the money can be used for operations and capital expenses. The Postal Service also temporarily suspended retirement contributions to the federal retirement fund, which is expected to conserve $2.5 billion in cash for the remainder of the fiscal year and help maintain liquidity.

The postmaster general reiterated that Congress has two options: allow the Postal Service to reduce service levels and charge higher rates so it can become profitable or provide subsidies, what he called a “public service reimbursement.”

But Steiner isn’t laying all the blame on Congress, saying there is much the Postal Service needs to do on its own to become a financially sustainable organization. The USPS, for example, plans to raise mail and package prices by 4.8% in July and recently implemented an 8% transportation surcharge on all parcels, largely in response to higher fuel prices triggered by the Iran war. It has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation, operations and labor costs. And it recently launched an auction for e-commerce shippers to bid on last-mile delivery, part of an effort to grow volume and revenue.

“I continue to believe the market wants to do business with a postal service that is competitive, responsive and easier to work with. And we’re seeing movement in that direction through major commercial relationships and partnership opportunities. We’ve seen encouraging developments in certain key customer relationships, including Amazon and DHL,” Steiner said during a presentation to the postal board of governors.

“How do we become easier to do business with? How do we fit our network to customer needs? How do we create more value from the assets that we’ve built? If we’re going to grow, we have to be more responsive, more transparent, more market aware, and less burdened by unnecessary friction. That is why we’re working to ensure that our network responds to the needs of our customers rather than forcing customers to fit the wants of our bureaucracy,” he added.

Keep US Posted, an advocacy group of nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, catalogs and other small businesses, said in a news release that the Postal Service’s main problem is spending and productivity, not revenue. It urged Congress not to provide financial relief that doesn’t include spending reforms.

“Raising the Postal Service’s borrowing authority or providing funds without guardrails would be a blank check that only delays the inevitable collapse of the agency’s finances and leads to a massive taxpayer bailout. USPS has already maxed out its borrowing, which is currently capped at $15 billion. Given that it faces $8 billion in projected losses this year, even doubling its borrowing authority would buy months, not years, without key reforms,” said Executive Director Kevin Yoder. “USPS needs help from Congress, but any financial assistance should be tied to a CPI-based price cap, stronger Postal Regulatory Commission oversight, and measurable cost controls that protect universal service and affordability.”

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

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

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As the freight cycle recovers and utilization rises, the industry is confronting a massive accumulation of deferred maintenance from the prolonged freight recession of 2022–2026.

During that time, a squeeze on carrier margins forced widespread deferral of equipment upkeep. As high-frequency data confirms, that risk is now coming back online.

This maintenance crisis is showing up clearly in enforcement data. High-frequency SONAR indices, including the ELP Enforcement Index, track a tightening regulatory environment. The current Vehicle Out-of-Service (OOS) rate has hit 21.6% across 3.3 million inspections, resulting in over 700,000 vehicles being removed from the road annually.

The risk is compounded by an enforcement lag. The system currently audits just 1.5% of carriers per year, meaning the average carrier will not face a comprehensive audit for 65 years at current staffing levels.

This technical crisis is unfolding alongside the most consequential stretch of safety policy in a generation. In April 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order which fundamentally shifted the focus to English proficiency and non-domiciled CDL irregularities to prevent catastrophic failures caused by “chameleon carriers.”

A recent fleet management study by J.J. Keller also shows that visible executive commitment to fleet safety culture has declined over the past two years.

Want to understand how these maintenance economics and regulatory shifts will reshape capacity and your safety-market cycle? Read the full sitrep by signing up for SONAR or request a demo here.

The full report includes deeper dives into:

• The Maintenance Feedback Loop: The economics of deferred maintenance during freight recessions and how that risk manifests as utilization rises.
• Regulatory Compliance Shocks: Deeper analysis of the 2025 Executive Order’s impact on carrier operating authority and driver credentials.
• C-Suite Safety Visibility Gap: Why executive engagement is the thread separating fleets that adapt from those that fall behind.
• Actionable Safety Forecasting: Using SONAR’s OTRI, OTVI, and ELP Enforcement Index to anticipate market-wide safety risks.

Sign up for SONAR today to access the full Freight Intelligence Report and keep your supply chain ahead of the curve.

The post SONAR Sitrep: Fleet safety behind the curb post-freight recession appeared first on FreightWaves.

On Thursday, the U.S. Court of International Trade struck down a second round of 10% global tariffs imposed by the Trump administration after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February that the president lacked authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to enact sweeping worldwide duties.

The split 2-1 ruling found Trump exceeded the tariff authority delegated by Congress under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which the administration used to replace the broader tariffs invalidated earlier this year. The court described the tariffs as “invalid” and “unauthorized by law,” according to 

The latest tariffs were temporary 10% duties applied globally and scheduled to expire July 24. The administration imposed them after the Supreme Court struck down broader double-digit tariffs Trump had placed on nearly every country in 2025.

The ruling directly blocks tariff collection from the plaintiffs in the case — the state of Washington, toy company Basic Fun! and spice importer Burlap & Barrel — although legal experts said additional importers are likely to seek refunds and broader relief.

“This ruling will open the door for more companies to request that the tariffs be thrown out and that any payments they’ve made be refunded,” trade attorney Dave Townsend told the Associated Press.

The legal setback adds another layer of uncertainty for transportation providers and importers already navigating volatile freight demand, shifting sourcing patterns and rising customs compliance costs tied to Trump’s evolving tariff policies.

According to NPR, the administration argued the replacement tariffs were justified under a law permitting tariffs in response to balance-of-payments deficits, but the trade court ruled those conditions did not exist.

The government is already preparing to refund more than $166 billion tied to earlier tariff collections invalidated by the Supreme Court, with initial payments expected to begin next week, NPR reported.

Related: Tariff turmoil: Refunds, lawsuits and new duties ahead

Trump pressures EU for trade deal

At the same time, Trump is intensifying trade pressure on the European Union.

In a Truth Social post late Thursday, Trump said he would give the EU until July 4 to ratify its trade agreement with the United States, warning tariffs would “immediately jump to much higher levels” if the bloc failed to comply.

The comments came shortly after Trump threatened to raise tariffs on cars and trucks imported from Europe to 25%, accusing the EU of failing to uphold terms of a trade agreement negotiated in Scotland last year.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU remained “fully committed” to implementing the deal and that “good progress” was being made toward tariff reductions ahead of the July deadline.

Automakers urge Trump to extend trade deal with Mexico, Canada

Also on Thursday, seven major automotive trade groups, first reported by Reuters, urged the Trump administration to extend the USMCA trade pact with Mexico and Canada, arguing the agreement remains critical to North American manufacturing competitiveness.

The groups, representing automakers, dealers and suppliers including General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Tesla and Hyundai, warned against fragmenting the regional trade framework into separate bilateral agreements.

“Dividing USMCA into distinct trade deals would introduce unnecessary complexity, increase administrative burden, create divergent regulatory regimes, and undermine the very supply chains the agreement was designed to strengthen,” the organizations wrote in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

The push comes ahead of a July 1 review deadline for the six-year-old trade pact. Mexico and the U.S. are expected to begin formal bilateral negotiations later this month in Mexico City.

Automakers have increasingly warned that Trump’s 25% Section 232 tariffs on imported vehicles and parts are disrupting the highly integrated North American automotive supply chain built over decades under NAFTA and later USMCA.

Trucking market is tightening ahead of peak season

For freight markets, the latest legal and geopolitical trade developments are likely to sustain volatility in cross-border trucking volumes, customs brokerage activity and sourcing decisions across manufacturing sectors ranging from automotive to consumer goods.

As of Thursday, SONAR’s Truckload Tender Volume Index (STVI.USA), a real-time indicator measuring the percentage of loads carriers turn down from shippers, was at 13.24% and about 13% higher year over year. The data shows significant capacity tightening ahead of the peak season for imports, which typically runs from July through August.

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Truck transportation jobs in April rose by an amount that has not been seen for a long time. 

The jobs total of 1,496,600 jobs was 4,300 more than in March. To find a one-month gain of more than 4,300 jobs in truck transportation, you need to go back to September 2023, when the BLS reported a jobs gain in that sector of 6,000 jobs.

But that number carried something of an asterisk: it came after a job reduction of 32,700 jobs a month earlier on the back of Yellow Corp. closing. So the big increase the next month could have been driven in part by some of those laid off Yellow truck transportation workers finding other employment.

To find a one-month increase as large as the 4,300 increase from April without an extraneous one-time factor, you’d need to go back to October 2022, when the great post-pandemic freight market was slowing. The truck transportation sector added 6,400 jobs that month, one month after losing 6,100 jobs. 

It’s been mostly down arrows recently

April’s increase was even more notable because it is a much higher number in what has been a stretch of mostly lower figures. 

In the 12 months, starting with the May 2025 report, the number of truck transportation jobs declined from the prior month nine times. And the two increases during that period were small, 300 and 200 jobs in October and March, respectively.

The increase in April jobs came after an upward revision of February and March jobs as well. But that wasn’t enough to make up for the fact that despite the big April increase and those revisions, April jobs this year were still 2,100 jobs less than last year.

Stronger freight market driving numbers

David Spencer, the vice president of market intelligence at Arrive Logistics, pointed to the signs of trucking market strength as driving the higher number.

“This increase in hiring reflects growing confidence across the industry, supported by nearly six months of steady rate improvement and gradually tightening capacity conditions,” Spencer said in an email to FreightWaves.

Carriers that strategically add capacity now will be well-positioned to capitalize on what could become the strongest rate environment the industry has seen since the pandemic-era surge.”

He also said shippers that are going to “reevaluate contract allocations” and who will also “scale efficiently, will have a meaningful opportunity to strengthen customer relationships and capture additional market share.

Steady figures in warehouses

Warehouse jobs, which for several years have been subject to large up and down movements, have stabilized over the last three months. 

April warehouse jobs were up 500 jobs from March at 1,830,700 jobs. But the latest March figure comes after a downward revision, as well as a February reduction. The end result is that April jobs were 800 jobs less than February, and remain well below last April’s figure of 1,881,200 jobs.

The truck transportation jobs increase came against a background of a strong jobs report in general.

Aaron Terrazas, an independent economist, noted that the jobs report suggested so far there is no impact from higher oil prices. 

“There was effectively no signal in April of any spillover from surging energy prices into the job market — the only transportation sectors that lost jobs were the least oil sensitive industries: Rail, water and pipeline transportation, public transit, and sightseeing transportation,” Terrazas said in an email to FreightWaves. “Trucking and parcel delivery firms added payroll jobs at a healthy clip; warehousing was stable.”

But he cautioned that risk hasn’t disappeared. “It may just be a matter of time before we start to see the passthrough of late February’s oil shock into the labor market, but it’s not happening yet,” Terrazas said. “Hiring plans take a minimum of 2-3 months — and often longer — to germinate from idea into action. Much of the hiring that we saw this spring was the result of business plans laid in late 2025 as Liberation Day fears of an economic collapse faded.”

In other highlights from the report:

• The rail jobs shift mentioned by Terrazas was a decline of 600 jobs from a revised March figure of 149,900 jobs. What’s most notable about the rail jobs is how much they’ve fallen in the last year: down 6,400 jobs. That’s 4.1%.

• Terrazas also mentioned parcel deliveries, which are under the BLS report as couriers. They rose to 1,096,000 jobs, up 37,900 jobs. That  helped increase the year-on-year comparison to a positive 23,300 jobs. 

• Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees in truck transportation inched up to $32.18 in March from a revised number in February. That hourly wage is now $1.51 more than it was a year ago.  

More articles by John Kingston

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The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Maritime Administration has launched an initiative to develop Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) for commercial shipping.

The Maritime Administration (Marad)’s Request for Information (RFI) seeks to develop a practicable SMR as part of the Trump administration’s plans to revitalize U.S. shipbuilding.

DOT Secretary Sean Duffy in a release said that innovative thinking is needed to secure the future of the American shipbuilding industry. 

“To successfully introduce SMRs, we must view this through a system-transition lens rather than just as a technology demonstration,” said Marad Administrator Stephen Carmel, in the release. “We are seeking critical insights on how the government can help reduce systemic uncertainty, align regulatory structures, and enable the market conditions necessary for private capital and operators to scale these groundbreaking technologies.”

In the U.S., Kairos Energy is the only firm actively building an advanced small modular reactor, and it is constructing demonstration reactors in Tennessee. X-energy is planning reactors with partners such as Amazon and Energy Northwest in Washington state, with operations expected in the early 2030s.

The NS Savannah remains the only U.S. nuclear-powered civilian vessel. It was launched in 1959 under the Eisenhower administration’s postwar “Atoms for Peace” program, and is one of only four such ships ever built.  

MARAD Administrator Stephen Carmel in the release re-emphasized a core tenet of the the administration’s Maritime Action Plan, that the U.S. sector must establish a new “system of systems”, with nuclear power serving as a transition agent in the process.

“To successfully introduce SMRs, we must view this through a system-transition lens rather than just as a technology demonstration,” Carmel said. “We are seeking critical insights on how the government can help reduce systemic uncertainty, align regulatory structures, and enable the market conditions necessary for private capital and operators to scale these groundbreaking technologies.”

The RFI highlights a number of ways nuclear power would advance the maritime agenda:

• Efficiency: Deploying reliable, high-power energy to allow commercial ships to travel farther and faster
• Affordability: Small modular reactors that will largely eliminate fuel costs and reduce maintenance requirements
• National Security: Reinforcing American supply chains and securing energy independence to bolster national defense
• Scalability: Identifying streamlined deployment methods to integrate nuclear power across entire fleets and logistical networks
• Shipbuilding & Workforce: Integrating SMNR production into U.S. shipyards to build strong robust workforce pipelines and new credentialing standards
• Regulatory Readiness: Establishing liability, insurance, and inspection frameworks to ensure seamless port access before construction begins.

“To secure this future for America’s shipbuilding industry, we need to innovate,” said Duffy. “By partnering with industry experts and outside-the-box thinkers to develop a strong SMR model, we will deliver a state-of-the-art energy source that cuts costs and bolsters national security.”

Marad is collaborating with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Department of Energy, and plans to collect additional input through public workshops, listening sessions, and technical exchanges.

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

Related coverage:

Georgia Ports’ $5B bet: Rewriting supply chain logistics

Weaker ocean rates hit Maersk Q1 profit

Panama container terminal bidding stacked against U.S. companies: Source

Tradepoint Atlantic, MSC break ground on Baltimore container terminal

The post Trump wants shipping to go nuclear appeared first on FreightWaves.

Forward (NASDAQ: FWRD) reported a $34 million net loss (“attributable to Forward Air”), or $1.09 per share, for the first quarter. Consolidated revenue of $582 million was down 5% year over year.

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $70 million was 4% lower y/y. Trailing 12 months’ EBITDA totaled $304 million.

During an analyst call on Thursday evening, management revealed that a contract logistics customer representing approximately 10% of Forward’s $2.5 billion annual revenue intends to diversify its logistics partners. The customer indicated the move is part of a broader internal strategy focused on risk management. While Forward has not received formal notice that a wind down will occur, it said any transition wouldn’t happen until next year.

“We believe the customer’s decision is entirely related to their own operation and supplier diversification initiatives and has nothing to do with the exceptional service we provide them during our long-term partnership,” said Shawn Stewart, Forward president and CEO.

The potential customer loss and other factors kept Forward from receiving a reasonable take-private offer. The company announced a strategic review at the beginning of 2025 as pressure from investors mounted following its contested merger with Omni Logistics. Potential outcomes under the initial plan called for the sale of part or all of the enterprise.

It will now look to sell its intermodal unit and two smaller legacy Omni businesses. The segments combined for $394 million in revenue last year. Management said the Omni units could be sold within the next 60 to 90 days, with the intermodal business hopefully being sold by the end of the year. Proceeds from the sales will be used to delever balance sheet.

Q1 by the numbers

The company’s expedited segment, which includes less-than-truckload operations, reported $273 million in revenue, a 9% y/y increase. Tonnage was down 2% as shipments fell 4% and weight per shipment increased 3%. Yield (revenue per hundredweight) dipped 1% y/y, excluding fuel surcharges. The increase in weight was a drag on the yield metric. Revenue per shipment (excluding fuel) was up 2% y/y.

The unit posted a 7.4% operating margin, which was 110 basis points better y/y. A 10.4% EBITDA margin was flat y/y. Purchased transportation expenses (as a percentage of revenue) increased 360 bps y/y.

Omni reported revenue of $302 million, a 7% y/y decline. Adjusted EBITDA of $25 million was 2% lower y/y. The adjusted EBITDA margin improved 40 bps to 8.3%.

Intermodal revenue fell 15% y/y due to a decline in port activity (drayage shipments down 20%). The unit reported a 10.1% EBITDA margin, which was 630 bps lower y/y.

Operating cash flow of $58 million in the first quarter improved by $12 million y/y. Liquidity increased to $402 million, up from $367 million at the end of 2025.

Net debt of $1.65 billion stood at 5.4 times last 12 months’ adjusted EBITDA. The company’s debt leverage covenant steps down 25 bps each quarter to 5.5 times by the fourth quarter.

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

• Freight capacity plummets, prices skyrocket in April
• Losses continue at TL carrier Pamt Corp.
• Schneider targeting significant rate recovery in bid season

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The move targets one of the most important freight regions in the country. The Dallas-Houston corridor sits at the intersection of freight moving from the West Coast, the Midwest, and across the U.S.-Mexico border. As a result, it ranks among the highest-volume commercial trucking routes in the nation.

“Our customers are making commitments to electrify their fleets. They need a charging network that can grow alongside them,” said Patrick Macdonald-King, CEO of Greenlane. “This is the first leg of the Texas Triangle. It is one of the more important freight arteries in the country. Bringing high-power charging here is the next logical step in building a network that serves how freight moves across America. Every site we develop follows a demand-based approach. This is a big next step to building out the broader network.”

Six to eight lanes and dual CCS/MCS charging in Texas

The new Texas locations will feature six to eight pull-through lanes with tractor parking and charging. Chargers will support both combined charging system (CCS) connectors for current-generation trucks and megawatt charging system (MCS) connectors for next-generation vehicles.

This dual capability serves two purposes. First, it lets fleets transition smoothly. Second, it helps maintain operational continuity as vehicle technology evolves. In addition, the high-power output allows electric trucks to recharge during driver rest periods. This reduces dwell time and aligns more closely with diesel fueling expectations.

Nevoya commits to multi-year I-45 corridor operations

Electric trucking carrier Nevoya has committed to multi-year operations on the Texas corridor. It is leveraging Greenlane’s expanding network. Each site will offer parking to support drop-and-hook relay operations and overnight stops. This gives fleets flexibility to run continuous freight operations along the corridor.

“Texas is where the future of zero-emission freight accelerates. It’s a critical trucking market and a proving ground for any operator serious about scale,” said John Verdon, chief commercial officer at Nevoya. “Our launch on the I-45 was sparked by GMA Trucking’s book-and-claim program. It shows what’s possible when the industry collaborates effectively. Greenlane’s Texas expansion gives us the key infrastructure to scale that model. This extends Nevoya’s electric trucking leadership from California into Texas.”

Greenlane Edge platform hits 99% uptime with SOC 2 audit

Every site in Greenlane’s growing network operates on the Greenlane Edge platform. It powers the Greenlane Fleet Portal and Greenlane Driver App. Fleet managers and drivers can reserve chargers in advance. They can also monitor charging activity in real time and manage billing from a single platform.

That operational infrastructure has helped Greenlane achieve 99 percent uptime across its network. It has also completed an independent System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type 2 audit. This verifies security and reliability standards behind every customer interaction.

Texas expansion builds on West Coast network

The Texas push builds on Greenlane’s growing West Coast network. It is anchored by its flagship Greenlane Center in Colton, California, which opened in April 2025. Additional sites expected later this year include Blythe, California. This location is strategically positioned midway between Los Angeles and Phoenix along the I-10 corridor. Another site is planned for the Port of Long Beach. It will support high-volume drayage operations from one of the nation’s busiest ports along with regional and long-haul fleets.

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The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay announced that the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port (PCIP) project has been awarded an $11.25 million grant through the Marad’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).

Calling it a “significant milestone for a major Oregon freight initiative with national impact,” the port in a release said that the funding supports rail infrastructure improvements on the North Spit of Coos Bay, site of the future terminal 200 miles south of Portland, and strengthens connections to the Coos Bay Rail Line, “for one of Oregon’s most significant trade and economic development opportunities.”

The state recently committed $100 million to the $2.3 billion project, following previous federal investments through INFRA and Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant programs. Permitting and environmental studies are underway on the project, which would take five years to complete.

“This award sends a clear message that serious infrastructure in rural Oregon matters and that the South Coast has a real role to play in the state’s economic future,” said Kyle Stevens, president of the Port Commission, in a statement. “It reflects ongoing public support for practical investments that create jobs, expand opportunities for producers, and strengthen infrastructure with growing national significance.”

The PCIP is a proposed ship-to-rail container terminal designed to create a new freight gateway on the U.S. West Coast, with connections directly to Midwest and other inland markets by rail.

The import flow is also designed to increase access to empty containers for agriculture exporters and other shippers targeting global markets.

The port is in Oregon’s District 4, represented by Democrat Val Hoyle, who sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Hoyle has said that the PCIP could create as many as 8,000 jobs throughout the supply chain. The project is also supported by Gov. Tina Kotek, and Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, also Democrats. 

Opponents have questioned the projects’s cost and long-term viability, as well as its environmental impact. The Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 has struggled to sustain business as container traffic flows to major hubs in southern California as well as Vancouver and Prince Rupert in Canada.

“We continue to see strong long-term market potential in Coos Bay and confidence in the logistics advantages this location offers,” said Chad Meyer, president of NorthPoint Development, the project’s private-sector partner, in a statement. “As global trade patterns continue to evolve, resilient transportation infrastructure becomes increasingly important. PCIP helps create the additional capacity, flexibility, and routing options needed for an ever-changing world.”

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

Related coverage:

Trump wants shipping to go nuclear

Georgia Ports’ $5B bet: Rewriting supply chain logistics

Weaker ocean rates hit Maersk Q1 profit

Panama container terminal bidding stacked against U.S. companies: Source

The post More federal funding for Oregon container port — and it’s not in Portland appeared first on FreightWaves.

Westerlund brings more than a decade of experience scaling high-growth companies, most recently serving as vice president of finance at Stax Payments. During his tenure, he helped build the company’s financial operations from the ground up, supporting its growth from an early-stage startup to a company that reached a reported valuation of up to $1 billion. That included multiple capital raises, acquisitions and a majority exit.

At Truck Parking Club, Westerlund will lead financial strategy and infrastructure development as the company enters its next phase of rapid expansion.

“Victor brings exactly the kind of experience we need at this stage of growth,” said Evan Shelley, founder and chief executive officer of Truck Parking Club. “His experience building financial systems, raising capital and navigating scale will be critical as we continue to expand our network and strengthen our position in the market.”

This news comes as the company recently announced it has surpassed 5,000 locations nationwide. The growth is part of its larger ambitions to double its network to more than 10,000 locations by the end of 2026.

“Truck parking is one of the biggest pain points in the logistics ecosystem, and the opportunity to solve it at scale is incredibly compelling,” said Westerlund. “There’s a large, underserved market here, and Truck Parking Club has built a strong foundation and a clear path forward. I’m excited to join the team at this stage and help drive the next phase of growth.”

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That is not news by itself. ELD revocations have been happening for years. What makes this one worth paying attention to is the number that FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs put on the record today. Sixty-seven devices removed since January 2025. In roughly 16 months.

When I wrote about the Gorilla Fleet Safety revocations last May, eight devices were removed from the registry at once. AllwaysTrack. Command Alkon Trackit. ELDX. Gorilla Safety Compact ELD. HCSS ELD. LB Technologies FleetTrack HOS. Simplex ELD 2GO. Trucker Path ELD Pro. That felt like a big number at the time.

It was a Tuesday afternoon compared to what has happened since. As of today, the FMCSA registered ELD list includes approximately 1,050 devices, all self-certified by manufacturers. The revoked list now carries over 250 devices. Sixty-seven of those revocations have come in the last 16 months alone. That is not a periodic housekeeping exercise. That is an enforcement campaign. And Barrs made clear in today’s announcement that it is not slowing down.

“Since January 2025, FMCSA has taken decisive action, removing 67 noncompliant devices that failed to meet federal standards, to protect the integrity of the ELD program, and we will continue to identify and remove any device that falls short,” Barrs said.

If you are running Safe ELD on iOS or Android, or MYLOGS ELD, here is the timeline.

Stop using the revoked device. Today. Revert to paper logs or compliant logging software to record your hours-of-service data. You need a record of duty status and the device you have been using no longer qualifies as one.

Replace the device with a compliant ELD from the FMCSA-registered list before July 7, 2026. That is a 60-day window. It sounds like a lot of time. It is not. Ordering a new device, getting it installed, getting your drivers trained on it, and configuring your back-office systems to pull data from it takes longer than most carriers think.

Between now and July 7, FMCSA is telling roadside enforcement officers not to cite drivers using the revoked devices for 395.8(a)(1) or 395.22(a). Instead, they should ask for paper logs or use the ELD display as a backup to review hours-of-service data. That is the grace period. Use it.

On July 7, the grace period ends. If a driver is still using Safe ELD or MYLOGS ELD after that date, the driver will be cited for operating without an ELD and placed out of service under CVSA criteria. That means the truck stops. The load does not move. And your company has a violation on its record that shows up in SMS, in inspection reports, and in every broker and shipper vetting system that pulls FMCSA data.

This keeps happening because the ELD certification model in the United States is fundamentally broken. I wrote about this a year ago and nothing has changed.

ELD providers in the U.S. self-certify their devices. That means the manufacturer completes a form stating that their device meets the technical specifications in 49 CFR Part 395 Appendix A. Nobody tests it. Nobody verifies it. Nobody from FMCSA plugs the device in and checks whether it actually does what the manufacturer says it does. The device is added to the registered list. Carriers buy it. Drivers use it. Then, months or years later, the FMCSA discovers that the device does not meet the standard and pulls it off the list.

At that point, the manufacturer has already collected the revenue. The carriers have already integrated the device into their operations. The drivers have already been trained on it. And now everyone has 60 days to start over.

Canada does not do it this way. Canada requires third-party certification before carriers can use an ELD. An accredited independent organization tests the device and confirms it meets the standard before it goes on the market. The manufacturer does not get to grade its own homework.

Sixty-seven revocations in 16 months is what self-certification looks like at scale. The manufacturers who cut corners on development get the same registry listing as the manufacturers who invest in quality. Carriers who buy the cheapest option receive the same registered device badge as those who vet their vendor. And when the device gets pulled, it is the carrier and the driver who pay the price, not the manufacturer who sold them a noncompliant product.

Every time one of these revocations happens, I hear from carriers who say they had no idea their ELD might not be compliant. They saw it on the FMCSA registered list. They assumed it meant it had been tested and verified. It does not. Registration is a filing, not an endorsement.

Here is what I tell every carrier who asks me how to choose an ELD provider.

Look at how long the provider has been on the registered list. A device that has been registered for five years without revocation is a different proposition than one that showed up six months ago. Longevity on the registry is not a guarantee, but it is the closest thing to a track record that the current system offers.

Look at who else uses the provider. The major fleet management platforms serving large carriers are scrutinized by enterprise customers with legal departments and insurance requirements for ELD compliance. That scrutiny is a form of quality control that the self-certification process does not provide. A provider that counts major fleets among its customers has more to lose from a revocation than one that sells a low-cost device through an app store.

Look at whether the provider has a support infrastructure. When a compliance question comes up, when a roadside officer has a question about your device, when an update changes how the device records data, you need a phone number that someone answers. The cheapest ELD on the market is not cheap if it costs you a load, a customer, or an out-of-service order because nobody was available to help you resolve an issue.

Look at the business model. If the device is free or nearly free and the company makes its money on monthly subscriptions, ask yourself what happens to your compliance if you stop paying. If the provider goes out of business, which has happened multiple times in this space, your registered ELD becomes an unregistered brick on your dashboard.

Ask the provider directly whether their device has been independently tested by a third party, even though U.S. regulations do not require it. Some providers voluntarily submit to independent testing because they know it differentiates them in the market. That voluntary step tells you something about how seriously the manufacturer takes compliance.

Barrs has now put the industry on notice. Sixty-seven revocations in 16 months is a rate of more than four per month. That pace suggests the FMCSA is actively auditing the registered list and removing devices that do not hold up to scrutiny. That is good for the program’s integrity. It is bad for carriers who picked their ELD based on price and assumed the registration was a seal of approval.

The registered ELD list is a filing cabinet, not a quality certification. Treat it accordingly. Check your device against the current registered list today. Not next week. Today. The list is at eld.fmcsa.dot.gov. If your device is on the revoked list, you are already behind. If your device is on the registered list, take five minutes to check whether the manufacturer is still in business, still providing updates, and still reachable by phone. The next revocation announcement is not a question of if. It is a question of when.

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Basic financial data about RXO/s first quarter can be found here. 

The first quarter earnings of 3PL giant RXO seemed to signal that a tough several years for the company, which saw its stock steadily erode even as that of its key competitor C.H. Robinson soared, might have come to an end on the back of two significant factors.

One is the freight market, which CEO Drew Wilkerson said has been strengthened not by a surge in demand, which he said repeatedly on the company’s conference call with analysts Thursday had been mostly flat. 

“For now, demand remains soft,” Wilkerson said in his opening remarks. “Our customers are still managing through macro economic uncertainty, and we have yet to see a sustained increase in the demand for goods.”

Supply-driven boost

Instead, Wilkerson said RXO (NYSE: RXO) is benefitting from “a supply driven recovery (that) is taking shape. Capacity continues to exit the market, a trend that began to accelerate late last year due to regulatory changes in enforcement.”

But the second factor that RXO officials on the call kept coming back to is technology, and that is where C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) loomed large.

Since the first quarter of 2024, C.H. Robinson has been a Wall Street star, with steady increases in its performance driven by several factors, including aggressive adoption of AI. 

Since May 1, 2024, when those first quarter earnings signaled the company had turned the corner, the stock is up about 141%, though at a price of approximately $172 on Thursday, C.H. Robinson is down about 15.6% from its 52-week and all-time high of $203.34 on February 6.

C.H. Robinson executives in various forums have been about as “on message” as might be found in any industry. In the company’s latest earnings call with analysts, CEO David Bozeman referred to “lean AI…our unique disciplined approach to AI innovation that is transforming supply chains.”

That term, or something similar, has been heard from C.H. Robinson officials repeatedly. 

At RXO, they have talked about the adoption of AI, but it’s never been as aggressive as heard from their competitor.

That started to change with the first quarter earnings call. And what investors heard and saw in the earnings was viewed as positive. 

At approximately 1:45 p.m. EDT, RXO stock was at $22.43, up $2.86 or 14.27%. It has more than doubled since a 52-week low of $10.43 on November 18. 

But even the current stock price, after its Thursday increase, is down significantly from its more than $31 high in late July 2024.

Investors presumably were reacting positively, among other things, to RXO’s forecast of EBITDA in the second quarter. 

Big jump foreseen in EBITDA

After coming in with a figure of $6 million in EBITDA for the first quarter, RXO is now forecasting, based on both a stronger market and its own productivity gains, EBITDA of $27 million to $37 million in the second quarter. That assumption is based on higher pricing and the waning of the brokerage squeeze that occurs when spot rates are rising but contract rates are not. 

Even if it came in at the high end of that range, EBITDA at RXO would still be below the second quarter 2025 EBITDA of $38 million. But it would be getting close. 

The company’s EBITDA margin in the first quarter was 0.6%, compared to 1.5% in the first quarter of 2025. For the full year 2025, it was 1.9%. 

Wilkerson said on the call that a normalized cycle would see RXO with an EBITDA margin in the mid single digit range, and an “upcycle” is high single digits to low double digits.

Gains starting to hit with AI

Technology will help drive those gains in EBITDA, company officials said.

“We made significant progress on our roadmap, especially when it comes to putting AI into action,” Wilkerson said. “The systems integration we completed last year (with the tech stack of Coyote Logistics, which RXO bought from UPS) has enabled us to move faster to build and launch smart AI tools that tap into RXO’s decades worth of data.”

Wilkerson made comments about AI similar to those heard from C.H. Robinson executives in its early adoption and touting of the technology, the type of boasting that has been more muted coming out of RXO, at least until this call.

“Everything our technology team is currently working on is centered around moving beyond basic repetitive tasks and toward smart, proactive decision making,” Wilkerson said.

One of the consequences of the move to Lean AI at C.H. Robinson has been a reduction in headcount. RXO does not release personnel numbers with its earnings, but C.H. Robinson does. 

In the first quarter of 2024, total headcount at C.H. Robinson was 14,990. In the first quarter of this year, it was down to 11,705.

Wilkerson said the brokerage headcount at RXO was down an unspecified double digit percentage in the first quarter compared to a year earlier.

Size of the downturn in workforce

In the company’s 10-K filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission earlier this year, RXO said as of December 31, 2025 it had 9,218 “team members” made up of 6,906 full-time and part-time employees and 2,312 temporary workers. 

A year earlier in its 10-K, RXO said the corresponding numbers were 9,873 team members of which 7,540 were full-time and part-time employees and 2,333 were temporary workers. That would mark a decline of about 6.6% as measured in the full count of team members. That figure would not have measured further declines in the first quarter or the current second quarter.  

Jared Weisfeld, the chief strategy officer at RXO, said on the call that productivity at RXO in the quarter was 15% percent improved over the prior 12 months, “benefitting from those investments.” In an interview with FreightWaves conducted in parallel with the earnings release, Weisfeld said productivity at RXO is measured as loads per person per day. 

Weisfeld said in the last 12 months, that productivity measurement is up “mid teens percentage.” As an example, he said agentic AI deployment automated more than 500,000 phone calls the company made during the quarter. 

“We are still in the very early days of enabling a lot of our AI driven incremental productivity,” Weisfeld said. He said the four “key pillars” of technology measurements at RXO are volume, margin, productivity and service. “And as we go ahead and deploy agentic AI across the organization, we’re very excited what that means to the long term incremental margin for the company.”

More articles by John Kingston

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In this article you’ll learn:  

• Ways to lower overhead by consolidating to a single logistics provider 
• How Amazon’s fast, reliable delivery network can reduce returns and product damage 
• How technology-driven logistics — from AI-powered forecasting to dynamic inventory placement — can help you scale and manage new sales channels 

Fill out the form to gain access.

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The meeting came as global trade faces persistent uncertainty and cost pressures, and highlighted the state’s strategic positioning as a gateway of choice for importers and exporters seeking reliability and economic efficiency.
“Innovation and port investments by the Georgia Ports Authority are helping to keep our state No. 1 for business while also positioning us as a true leader in global trade,” said Gov. Brian Kemp, in opening remarks at the event held in late April. “Our ports are an economic engine for the entire state, and we’ll continue to find ways to further their success and reach.”

Supply chain predictability a competitive advantage

In an environment where global disruptions have repeatedly tested supply chain resilience, Georgia Ports President and Chief Executive Griff Lynch framed the authority’s strategy around two core customer demands: Predictability and cost savings. 

“In today’s current global business environment, our customers require greater supply chain predictability and cost savings opportunities,” Lynch said. “We have the capacity and connectivity to respond quickly to disruptions and market fluctuations around the world, enabling our customers to adjust supply chain speeds and routings to win and retain business.”

The Port of Savannah has positioned itself to capture this redirected cargo by emphasizing its operational efficiency and multimodal connectivity.

Researchers at Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute found that routing cargo through the Port of Savannah saves shippers more than $1,000 per container when delivering to Atlanta, Memphis, and Nashville compared to West Coast gateways. Beyond pure cost savings, the research documented more predictable transit times through Savannah.

East Coast ports have spent billions of dollars over the past decade building up infrastructure to establish direct connections to global markets that used to rely on landbridge service from the West Coast.

Chris Gaffney, managing director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute at Georgia Tech, elaborated on the findings. “Our research shows that when shippers evaluate total landed cost and end-to-end reliability, routing cargo through Savannah provides a clear economic advantage compared with West Coast routes. For Atlanta, Memphis and Nashville, routing cargo through Savannah reduces congestion exposure, saves shippers money and delivers more consistent, predictable transit performance.”

These findings carry significant implications for supply chain decision-making. As shippers increasingly adopt total landed cost methodologies that account for transit variability and congestion risk, Savannah’s advantages extend beyond simple freight rate comparisons to encompass the broader operational and financial benefits of consistent, reliable service.

Operational velocity and multimodal connectivity

Savannah’s operational statistics demonstrate the scale and efficiency that underpin its competitive claims. Currently, 80% of Savannah’s cargo moves inland by truck, while 20% travels by rail. This modal split reflects both the port’s proximity to major Southeastern markets and the economics of transportation modes at varying distances.

With diesel fuel costs remaining a persistent concern for trucking operations, rail becomes increasingly attractive for destinations beyond 250 miles from the port. Savannah’s intermodal infrastructure supports this optionality with 42 doublestack trains departing weekly to connect with inland markets. The port claims the lowest rail dwell time in the nation at 20 hours or less, meaning containers spend minimal time waiting for rail connections after discharge from vessels.

Vessel activity at the port reflects its status as a major gateway, with 40 container ships calling Savannah each week. On the truck side, the port handles between 14,000 and 16,000 truck gate moves daily. The efficiency of these movements is notable, with dual moves – transactions involving both a container drop-off and pickup  – are completed in less than 50 minutes, while single moves take approximately 30 minutes. These processing times reduce driver detention and improve equipment utilization for trucking companies serving the port.

The Mason Mega Rail facility had a record year in 2025, handling 591,000 containers. This performance validates the authority’s strategic bet on rail capacity as a differentiator in serving inland consumer and manufacturing markets.

Gainesville Inland Port extends reach

The GPA opened the Gainesville Inland Port on May 4, adding another node to its distribution network with daily rail service provided by Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC). The facility represents a strategic expansion of the port’s reach into north Georgia’s manufacturing and distribution corridors.

In its first year of operation, Gainesville is expected to transition 26,000 truck moves from highways to rail. This shift will remove significant truck traffic from Atlanta-area highways, providing environmental and congestion relief while offering shippers a cost-effective alternative for moving containers to and from the port. For businesses located in the Gainesville region, the inland port will provide more convenient access to international shipping connections without requiring direct truck trips to Savannah.

The inland port concept has gained traction across major gateway ports as a strategy for extending market reach, reducing congestion at marine terminals, and providing value-added services closer to customer locations. Georgia Ports’ network of inland facilities positions the authority to serve a broader geographic footprint while maintaining operational efficiency at its Savannah terminals.

10-year investment plan

The authority outlined an ambitious 10-year investment plan that will fundamentally expand the port’s capacity to handle growing cargo volumes. The nearly $5 billion self-financed investment program will add five new big ship berths, the most of any U.S. container port, at Ocean Terminal and Savannah Container Terminal. This berth expansion supports a projected 54% growth in container throughput over the planning horizon.

Savannah harbor deepening study launched

Looking further into the future, GPA has initiated the process to study further deepening and widening of the Savannah Harbor shipping channel. On April 15, the authority submitted a Letter of Intent to Adam Telle, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, to formally begin the feasibility study process.

“We are excited to kick off this first step with the Army Corps of Engineers on the Savannah Harbor deepening and widening feasibility study,” Lynch said. “Our goal is to be the benchmark for deepening projects.”

Port officials explained that the shipping channel needs improvement to better serve the largest vessels currently calling Savannah and to prepare for even larger, more efficient ships expected to serve the U.S. East Coast in the future. The study will consider both deepening the channel and adding passing lanes to enable two-way ship traffic, which would significantly enhance the port’s vessel handling capacity.

State DOT infrastructure improvements

The Georgia Department of Transportation announced multiple infrastructure projects that will enhance access to the Port of Savannah and improve freight flows throughout the region.

The department will begin construction on a cable replacement project for the Talmadge Bridge over the Savannah River. While the bridge will remain operational during construction, the work will shorten the bridge’s cables, increasing air draft beneath the structure from 185 feet to approximately 205 feet. This modification will allow larger vessels to pass beneath the bridge, supporting the port’s ability to accommodate the growing vessel sizes calling Savannah. Completion of the bridge project is expected in 2029.

In August 2026, GDOT will open the $126 million Brampton Road Connector, a four-lane highway providing a direct link between the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal and the interstate highway system. The new connector will eliminate at-grade rail crossings and remove truck traffic from local neighborhoods, improving both freight efficiency and community quality of life.

GDOT plans to widen I-95 by one lane in each direction along a 22-mile stretch from Exit 90 to the South Carolina state line, with the project currently in preliminary design. The department also plans to reconstruct and widen portions of Interstate 16 west of I-95 toward State Route 67 in Bulloch County. This $522 million project will expand I-16 to three lanes in both directions, with construction expected to begin in 2027.

Separately, the Port of Brunswick is now the top U.S. port by annual automobile volumes. A fourth ro-ro berth is planned to meet future growth.

Positioning for growth

“All the pieces are coming together in Savannah as the gateway of choice for the Southeast region,” Lynch said. “With five container berths in the pipeline, along with a new Gainesville Inland Port and multiple GDOT infrastructure improvements, Georgia Ports is ready for the next 10 years with its $5 billion investment plan as the fastest growing port in the Southeast, serving 70% of the nation’s population east of the Mississippi River.”

The post Georgia Ports’ $5B bet: Rewriting supply chain logistics appeared first on FreightWaves.

The move comes as the Tesla Semi enters mass production at its Nevada factory. More than 300 of these WattEV Semis will operate under a joint program with the Port of Oakland.

To charge them, WattEV plans to open truck-charging stations at the Port of Oakland and in Fresno. Once the stations come online, they will be equipped with Tesla’s Megawatt Charging System (MCS) chargers. These chargers can add 300 miles of range to a Semi in about 30 minutes.

“We selected the Tesla Semi based on cost, performance and availability after issuing a public request for proposals,” said Salim Youssefzadeh, WattEV’s CEO, at ACT Expo in Las Vegas.

WattEV plans to open additional charging depots later this year in Stockton and Sacramento, with the latter breaking ground in 2026. The company operates a vertically integrated model that combines vehicle deployment, megawatt-class charging infrastructure and full-service leasing. This creates a turnkey path for carriers with no capital risk.

WattEV’s strategic bet is that these battery-electric trucks will lower energy costs and reshape long-haul trucking economics within this decade.

In 2025, WattEV’s 75-truck fleet of EV tractors and drayage trucks surpassed 7 million miles to date. “This deployment is a major step toward WattEV’s national expansion into long-haul electric transportation. We intend to be the operator that builds the infrastructure, the fleet and the logistics platform for electrified freight delivery at scale,” Youssefzadeh said.

The post WattEV orders 370 Tesla Semis in record California EV deployment appeared first on FreightWaves.

Financial terms of the transaction were not provided.

The deal comes as the industry is moving beyond simple tracking to a model where visibility data automatically triggers operational responses. These companies are looking to solve the problems created by fragmented systems with inconsistent updates.

“We’re committed to empowering the people behind supply chains to keep the world moving,” said Lucien Besse, co-founder of Shippeo, in a news release. “With Logward, we take another step towards that goal by helping customers not only trust what they see is happening, but act on it faster and with more confidence.”

Logward has more than 80 employees in Europe and India. It also operates an engineering hub in Bangalore.

“Logward has always focused on helping supply chain teams of complex global businesses execute faster and with less manual effort,” said Logward CEO Jonas Krumland. “Together with Shippeo’s trusted visibility, we can help customers identify what matters sooner, coordinate the right response more effectively, and drive stronger operational and business outcomes.”

Shippeo connects with over 228,000 carriers and 1,100 TMS, ELD and telematics platforms to track more than 100 million shipments each year.

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

• Freight capacity plummets, prices skyrocket in April
• Losses continue at TL carrier Pamt Corp.
• Schneider targeting significant rate recovery in bid season

The post Shippeo acquires AI-powered workflow platform appeared first on FreightWaves.

The repair plan was presented during an afternoon town hall meeting in Memphis held to inform airline employees about Boeing’s engineering analysis and FedEx’s timeline for restarting MD-11 operations after a six-month flight ban stemming from the Nov. 4 crash of UPS Flight 2976 in Louisville, Kentucky. FreightWaves was able to listen to the event after being provided unofficial access to a simultaneous livestream.     

FedEx (NYSE: FDX) last week notified flight operations, maintenance and air safety personnel that it intended to gradually return MD-11s to commercial service, starting with two aircraft towards the end of May — pending Federal Aviation Administration approval of Boeing’s corrective action for the aircraft. The company also said MD-11 pilots will be required to take a three-day training course to refresh their skills, according to internal memos. 

“Boeing has completed its analysis and submitted its means of compliance to the FAA for review. This means of compliance provides the necessary path to restore the aircraft to an airworthy condition for safe and reliable operations,” said Justin Brownlee, senior vice president of airline planning and flight operations, during Wednesday’s presentation.

The FAA has been publicly silent about the status of the MD-11 inspections or next steps and has declined to respond to media queries about the matter.

Collaborating with Boeing on replacement part

The engine and pylon separated from the wing of the UPS MD-11 as it lifted off from Louisville airport, igniting a fire and sending the plane into a closeby industrial park. Fourteen people died in the crash, including the three pilots. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation is focusing on fatigue cracks in the pylon bulkhead’s aft lug nut, according to a preliminary report soon after the Flight 2976 accident. The lug and the metal ring housing the section’s roller bearings were fractured. When the ball ring cracks, the ball elements naturally spread the halves of the forward and aft lugs.

The aft lug is subject to high tension because it balances engine torque, weight and variations in engine thrust, acting as a force stabilizer.

Boeing warned MD-11 operators in 2011 about a broken engine attachment but never flagged the failure as critical to flight safety, the NTSB said in January. Boeing issued a service bulletin that identified four previous separations of a spherical bearing assembly that helps hold the engine to the MD-11’s wing. The manufacturer said two sections of the assembly came loose on three different aircraft. The letter advised airlines to conduct visual inspections of the part at 72-month intervals.   

FedEx’s standard operating procedure since 2008 has been to do some work and some level of inspection on the engine pylon at every “C Check,” a heavy airframe maintenance check conducted every two years. Where FedEx had early indications of wear it replaced the bearings, and in one case the lug, according to a town hall presenter. Boeing’s service advisory added a detailed visual inspection to the aft lug and bearing every third “C Check.”

FedEx officials say they have worked hand-in-hand with Boeing from the beginning to understand the extent of the metal fatigue issue and develop a fix that would allow the planes to reenter commercial service.

That’s noteworthy because FedEx has been the only operator to publicly express interest in flying the tri-engine MD-11 again. In fact, management has repeatedly cast the aircraft’s return to service in optimistic terms since late November, while UPS opted to retire its fleet and Western Global Airlines was silent.

FedEx had 29 MD-11s in service, including spares, when the FAA issued the no-fly order. The integrated logistics giant last year extended the phased retirement of the MD-11 from 2028 until 2032, citing the need for more widebody capacity to meet rising demand as it made a strategic shift to capture more international non-parcel freight from logistics providers. Despite its age, lower maintenance reliability and high fuel burn compared to modern twin-engine planes, the freighter remains highly desired because of its long range capability and high cargo capacity. Together, FedEx’s MD-11 fleet carried 3 million pounds of volume each day.

He acknowledged that the MD-11s have gradually been displaced on many international routes by more efficient Boeing 777 twin-engine aircraft, with the MD-11s becoming more of a “workhorse” for longer-range U.S. domestic runs “where we have high density, high population and high volume markets.” Last October, about 18 of 25 active MD-11s were operating in the U.S., with ad hoc flights to supplement the international fleet.

“Besides the 777, we don’t have a unit of capacity that large. It’s actually what’s been difficult from a network planning and execution perspective to operate the system without them. A (Boeing) 767 doesn’t fully move the same amount of capacity. So we’ve had to stitch the network together,” Brownlee explained.

The hiring of third-party airlift, pilot overtime, aircraft repositioning and other contingency plans to compensate for the lost MD-11 capacity cut FedEx’s by $175 million during the third quarter, which included peak shipping season.

Technicians inspecting FedEx planes found no bearing or lug problems. Sixteen bearings have been removed so far. In one case the beginning of separation in the bearing was noticed, but they caught it at an early stage — before there were any cracks. Within a week of the UPS accident, FedEx’s engineering team shared detailed maintenance records and inspection data with Boeing. Since then, some members have spent the past four months at Boeing’s manufacturing site in Seattle, technical operations managers said during the presentation. 

The company has also shared data, lessons learned and best practices with the FAA and other operators of the MD-11. 

In November, quality control and engineering teams developed an additional layer of testing using newly designed probes to conduct ultrasonic testing that can provide an even earlier indication of fatigue in the inner surfaces of the bearing and outer ring.

The critical safety analysis relied on the original certification data for the aircraft that McDonnell Douglas designed and that Boeing now owns, as well as updated modeling and analysis based on FedEx’s detailed fleet maintenance history. Boeing validated load tests on the bearings using a die penetrant inspection to confirm there were no cracks. 

Eventually, Boeing engineers determined that if they could keep the bearing from fracturing the pylon assembly was safe. They changed the design to remove a lubrication groove that created extra stress and made the outer edge of the ring thicker

Although FedEx planes with 24,000 cycles — takeoffs and landings — had no visible safety issues, the company will now replace the bearing every 4,000 cycles as part of Boeing’s new repair procedure, with an inspection procedure performed every 450 cycles, said Josh Canfield, senior vice president of tech ops. The process will involve an eddy current inspection, which uses electromagnetic induction to detect surface and near-surface flaws in conductive materials, and ultrasonic inspection

“One thing about FedEx, there’s never any corners cut in the safety and inspection department. We go above and beyond,” said John Silvis, a quality control inspector.

FedEx’s maintenance and materials specialists were instrumental in developing the bearing fix and helping Boeing understand how to install them to ensure they would not degrade. The machine shop at FedEx’s Memphis superhub tested installation and removal of the bearing 30 times to determine the best method for installing the bearing without doing damage. And the Indianapolis maintenance facility built a bearing removal tool, he added.

Repair campaign

The company’s 29 MD-11 freighters are spread across 16 locations, including Singapore, Tokyo, Honolulu and Anchorage, according to the presenters and flight tracking databases. The aircraft are scattered because the FAA wouldn’t even issue ferry permits for the aircraft to return to home bases for inspection and repair, out of apparent concern about their safety, according to a FedEx pilot interviewed months ago without attribution to avoid potential employer retaliation. 

“We do not anticipate getting a ferry flight (permission). Regardless of the low risk we see in ferrying the aircraft one cycle after doing inspections, we believe the best policy is to just go ahead and fix these aircraft in place,” said Leo Warmuth, vice president of aircraft engineering.

Maintenance personnel are conducting stationary engine runs at high power settings, fixing inoperative components and constantly monitoring the aircraft.

“The aircraft in these locations are being maintained in accordance with our aircraft parking and storage programs as outlined in our aircraft maintenance manual, and we’re preserving these assets with the same precision we use to fly them and maintain them when they’re active,” said Brownlee, the senior vice president of airline planning and flight operations. 

FedEx will dispatch six teams of maintenance technicians to the sites over several months, Canfield said. They will lower the thrust reversers on the engines and put them on stands so they can remove the pylons and ship them to the Indianapolis and Memphis hubs, where the bearings will be replaced. Two pylon sets for the aircraft scheduled to fly in May have already been sent to the maintenance hangars. 

Materials specialists have worked with vendors to make sure mechanics have the correct tools and parts needed to do the repairs. And machinists are working to build the necessary tooling to support the repairs, following Boeing’s approved specifications, and practicing final bearing installations and the reinstallation of the pylon on the aircraft, Canfield explained. 

“While we wait for the FAA’s review to be completed, we continue to prep and complete as much of the work as we can to be ready for a test flight and to return these aircraft back to service,” he told the audience.

Ground and flight testing 

The final phase of FedEx’s MD-11 reintroduction plan is aircraft and flight crew testing. 

Aviation safety teams will conduct the same routine ground checks and post-maintenance flight checks on the MD-11s that they do when planes exit heavy maintenance appointments, including checking the pneumatic, electrical, hydraulic and flight control systems. Afterwards, they will take the planes in the air for a series of tests to include shutting down the motors in flight and doing engine air starts and go-around capability when aborting a landing. Once all the tests are completed, safety teams will sign off each aircraft and give them to flight operations, presenters said.

The crew training refresher course will include a focus on flight management system drills and procedures, use of full motion simulators, and practicing a range of scenarios, Mike Cruff, the managing director of flight operations, said.

“As of today, our maintenance team has completed repairs on two aircrafts, which have been pushed out of the hangar,” the flight ops chief added. “Boeing has submitted the repair procedure as means of compliance to the FAA, and that repair procedure is currently under review. As we await the final review by the FAA, we’re preparing for two test flights, which will then be followed by the revenue flights targeting some routing in Memphis-Miami and Memphis-Newark (New Jersey).” 

The first flight of a resurrected MD-11 is scheduled for Miami, another official confirmed.

FedEx will meet with the FAA Aircraft Certification Office and Boeing on Thursday or Friday and could have an update after that, said Anne Bechtold, vice president of airline safety.

Brownlee said the goal is to get about 24 aircraft in operating condition for regular operations around the world and have the remainder of the fleet available to flex up capacity during the holiday peak season. 

“As we reintroduce the aircraft and they come online in larger quantities, during that ramp up, there will be a domestic focus. And then, once we get back to full complement, there’ll still be some international routings on those just out of the necessity of our network,” Brownlee said. The company is still targeting the MD-11s for retirement in 2032 as replacement aircraft join the fleet, he added.

Although the MD-11 has a history of higher risk during landings, including a fatal FedEx accident in Tokyo in 2009, FedEx has been very successful in mitigating that risk through training “to the point that the MD-11 is actually our best performing aircraft in the landing phase,” said Bechtold.

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

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

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The world’s second-largest box carrier (OTC: AMKBY) said that logistics and terminal revenue partially offset weaker liner results. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) slipped to $1.8 billion from $2.7 billion, while operating earnings (EBIT) was $340 million, down from $1.3 billion from the year-ago quarter. EBIT margin slid to 2.6% from 9.4%.

Geopolitics, demand uncertainty and over-capacity muted rates on benchmark east-west routes in the first quarter. The Iran conflict and rising fuel costs have lifted box prices in more recent weeks.    

“We’ve seen strong demand across most regions this quarter, supporting robust volume growth in our three business segments,” said Vincent Clerc, chief executive, in a release. ” Officer at Maersk.. “In Ocean in particular, market volatility remains high and industry oversupply continues to put pressure on rates. In this environment our disciplined focus on cost management contributes to resilient performance.”

Clerc said the carrier’s flexible network, which includes the Gemini Cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd, lowered ocean unit cost by 7% despite disrupted supply chains from the conflict in the Middle East.

The Copenhagen-based company maintained guidance of 2%-4% growth in container volumes in 2026. It added plans to buy back $1 billion in shares this year remains on track.

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

Related coverage:

Panama container terminal bidding stacked against U.S. companies: Source

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Port Houston lands $48M federal grant for Bayport expansion 

The post Weaker ocean rates hit Maersk Q1 profit appeared first on FreightWaves.

Inside the FAP Market Radar:

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• How to turn freight data into a decision advantage, not just a reporting exercise 
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• What’s hype vs. reality in AI and automation, and where it’s actually delivering results 
• How to navigate vendor risk, market consolidation, and provider selection with confidence 
• Which FAP providers are leading, and how they compare using the newly released BSC Nexus evaluation model 

Download now to see where you stand and what to do next with FAP. 

The post White Paper: The FAP Market Radar appeared first on FreightWaves.

RXO had the type of rough quarter that might be expected given rising spot freight rates against lower contract numbers, but it foresees a significantly better second quarter.

In its earnings released Thursday morning prior to an 8 a.m. EDT conference call, the company said it expected a second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $27 million to $37 million. That is coming after a first quarter EBITDA number of $6 million. 

It also would be accomplished with RXO (NYSE: RXO) expecting volume growth to be flat year-over-year. It also said it expects second quarter truckload gross profit per load would increase sequentially.

The downside of the market structure that hit RXO is that its revenue was flat at $1.4 billion, but its gross margin was 14.2%, compared to 16% in the first quarter of 2025.

The first quarter GAAP net loss was $36 million, compared to $31 million a year earlier. The figure for 2026 was impacted by $20 million in other charges. 

But the adjusted figure also was worse than the prior year, an adjusted net loss of $16 million compared to $5 million a year earlier. 

The adjusted EBITDA figure of $6 million was less than the $22 million in 2025’s first quarter.

RXO was able to increase its spot mix, which helped move it away from the contract business impacted negatively by higher spot rates. The company said its spot mix was 33% of volume in the quarter, compared to 28% sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2025. That helped produce what RXO said was “the largest sequential increase in gross profit per load in more than three years.”

The growth in truckload spot mix was 600 basis points year-over-year.

In its forecast, RXO said it expected contract rates to be up high-single digits for all of 2026, which is more than its earlier forecast of low to mid-single digits.

The type of conditions RXO faced were clear in its revenue figure of $1.425 billion. That was down slightly from $1.433 billion a year earlier. But its cost of transportation and services rose to $1.171 billion from $1.153 billion.

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The post First look: RXO optimistic about 2Q after a tough first quarter appeared first on FreightWaves.

MCoy had served as interim CEO and executive director since January 2026, following the departure of Stephen Edwards.

“We spoke to many very capable and experienced leaders inside and outside the maritime industry across the globe” said Board Chairman Bill Kirk, in a release. “We are very fortunate to have the best candidate for the job right here at the VPA. Sarah is an experienced and perceptive business leader and has the vision and skillset to lead The Port of Virginia into the next decade as we continue our work to make the Commonwealth of Virginia the best place to locate your business.” 

The port handled 3.23 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2025, ranking sixth among U.S. container hubs.

McCoy, 40, joined the VPA 12 years ago, served as general counsel from 2017-2022 and later as chief administrative officer.

“I am honored to serve as the CEO of one of the Commonwealth’s leading economic engines,” McCoy said in the release. “We have the infrastructure, people and performance to continue defining the future of American trade, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. I look forward to putting these advantages to work to attract business to Virginia and continue delivering for our customers and communities across Virginia.”

McCoy in 2025 led the team that helped the port renegotiate its lease for Virginia International Gateway including the sale of the terminal when the lease expires in 2065. She has also been an integral part of the team leading the port’s $1.4 billion Gateway Investment Program focused on expansion of cargo and rail capacity at Norfolk International Terminals, the port’s busiest terminal; deepening and widening of the Norfolk Harbor and shipping channels; and the conversion of Portsmouth Marine Terminal into a heavy-lift facility.

“The Port of Virginia is an important engine for trade, investment and job creation throughout the Commonwealth and having a leader like Sarah, who brings significant institutional knowledge to the leadership role, is important,” said Virginia Secretary of Transportation Nick Donohue, in a statement. “This decision also brings continuity with it, so the port will be able to continue on its path forward without any disruption in leadership. This sends a strong message that the port will continue to be a powerful economic engine for Virginia, helping attract new businesses and anchoring a healthy maritime trade industry on our shores.” 

The past two years have seen a changing of the guard of sorts among North American port leadership. In addition to Virginia, there has been a change of top executives in New Orleans, Charleston, Long Beach, Philadelphia, New York-New Jersey, and at Prince Rupert and Montreal in Canada.

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

Related coverage:

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The post McCoy new CEO, executive director of Virginia Port Authority appeared first on FreightWaves.

A request by two separate plaintiffs for a court to stay the enforcement of the federal government’s rule governing issuance of CDLs to most non-domiciled drivers has been denied.

The request came from two separate groups of plaintiffs. One is Martin Luther King County in Washington state, more colloquially known as King County, home of Seattle. That was filed in March in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The second motion for a stay was filed in February in the same court by three plaintiffs: the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees of the AFL-CIO; the American Federation of Teachers; and the Public Citizen Litigation Group. The primary named defendant in that case is truck driver Jorge Rivera Lujan.

A three-judge panel in the appellate court denied the request Tuesday. However, in a footnote to the order denying the request, the court said Circuit Court Judge Robert Wilkins would have granted the stay.

Schedule released

The combined cases will continue to move ahead, with the court spelling out in its order the schedule for briefing. It begins with petitioners’ briefs on June 15, respondents’ briefs from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration a month later, and final briefs on August 5.

Oral arguments are expected in September.

The court’s order also allowed several other parties to join as amicus curiae, including the Teamsters and the Sikh Coalition.

An interim final rule seeking to restrict the issuances of CLDs to non-domiciled drivers was first issued by FMCSA in October. But the Lujan plaintiffs requested a stay of that rule, which was granted. 

FMCSA followed up with its final rule, issued in February and effective March 16. It was that rule the two lawsuits were seeking to put on the shelf via another stay.

As the Lujan plaintiffs summed up the final rule in their request for a stay, “The Rule specifies that non-domiciled CDLs are available only to H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 visa holders, thereby excluding asylum seekers, asylees, DACA recipients, refugees, and people with temporary protected status.”

Arguing against the rule, the Lujan plaintiffs said FMCSA’s rule suggested the agency “first decided on the outcome of the rulemaking and only then looked for reasons to support it. Petitioners are likely to succeed on their claim that the Rule is arbitrary and capricious.”

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The post Request to block non-domiciled CDL rule denied; case heads to court appeared first on FreightWaves.

Deutsche Post acquired U.S. logistics company DHL (XETRA: DHL) in 2002 after the German postal operator, previously known as Bundepost, was gradually privatized during the 1990s. Two years ago, the company changed its brand name to DHL Group, but the corporate name remained Deutsche Post.

The official name change to DHL is expected to be finalized by Sept. 1, once it is registered with the German government.

The vote also allowed DHL to move Post & Parcel Germany from its odd place within the holding company to an equal footing with other divisions in the group organization, alongside Express, Freight, Global Forwarding, Supply Chain, and eCommerce. The postal group will adopt the Deutsche Post AG name.

CEO Tobias Meyer said the motivation behind the change is for the legal structure to resemble how management has been running the company for years. DHL AG will be the new listed name.

The global logistics provider now generates only a fifth of its revenues from traditional mail and parcel delivery. Deutsche Post faces similar challenges as other postal operators as the increased use of digital communications reduces mail and parcel volumes. Post & Parcel Germany revenue increased 3% year over year in 2025 despite a drop in combined volume primarily due to higher prices and an increase in cross-border parcel shipments.

Click here for more FreightWaves/PostalMag stories by Eric Kulisch.

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It also positions one of the nation’s largest private fleets to reshape how perishable food reaches America’s chain restaurants.

“The business of moving food is essential to our economy and our way of life. With a 134-year legacy, McLane is deeply woven into the American distribution industry,” said Ossa Fisher, president of Aurora. “We’re excited to enter the next chapter with McLane and transform the American food supply chain with autonomous trucks. Our collective momentum in logistics is palpable.”

The agreement enables McLane, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary serving convenience stores, mass merchants, and chain restaurants, to begin driverless hauls between Dallas and Houston using the Aurora Driver.

Pilot Performance Proves the Model

The companies launched their supervised autonomy pilot in 2023. Since then, the Aurora Driver consistently met McLane’s rigorous scheduling demands. The pilot then expanded operations to two round-trips daily between Dallas and Houston, seven days a week.

That track record opened the door for driverless approval on the Dallas-Houston corridor, with Aurora planning to expand to new routes between McLane distribution centers across the U.S. Sun Belt by the end of 2026.

“We’ve been thoroughly impressed with Aurora’s technology, exceptional safety performance and commitment to operational excellence,” said Susan Adzick, president of McLane Restaurant. “Autonomous technology helps us drive greater efficiency across the supply chain, while our drivers remain focused on the critical last mile—and continuing to serve as the face of our company to customers.”

Hybrid Model Keeps Human Drivers on the Front Line

The operational workflow divides labor between the virtual and human driver. Aurora’s self-driving system handles the long-haul “middle mile” between distribution centers. McLane’s human drivers manage local deliveries directly to customer locations. That hybrid structure will remain in place as the partnership scales.

This addresses multiple pain points: autonomous trucks moving refrigerated hauls 24/7 offer scalable, reliable capacity that flexes with demand. The consistent and predictable middle-mile routes keep freight flowing smoothly without pulling drivers away from customer-facing work.

Network Expansion Reaches Oklahoma City

Separately, Aurora and Volvo Autonomous Solutions (V.A.S.) announced earlier this week the launch of a new 200-mile autonomous route between Dallas and Oklahoma City. The expansion marks the first time V.A.S. is hauling freight directly to customer facilities in Oklahoma City. The route uses the Volvo VNL Autonomous integrated with the Aurora Driver.

The program currently runs five days a week in supervised autonomy. By operating directly to endpoints, V.A.S. reduces the need for drayage moves and handoffs that add complexity to logistics flows.

“Expanding our operations into Oklahoma City and adding customer endpoints is an important step for scaling autonomous transport,” said Sasko Cuklev, head of on-road solutions at Volvo Autonomous Solutions. “Running end-to-end requires a higher level of operational precision and integration, and it further demonstrates how autonomous trucks can operate reliably in real logistics environments. Together with Aurora we are focused on expanding our network and accelerating the adoption of this new and exciting technology.”

Aurora mapped the Dallas-to-Oklahoma City interstate route and began autonomous hauls within weeks. The speed highlights the system’s ability to scale into new markets quickly.

“Leveraging our technology to open new routes quickly and efficiently is a core part of our strategy,” Fisher said. “Aurora and Volvo are firing on all cylinders and our ability to execute together at scale is clear. As Volvo’s most advanced autonomy partner, we are proud to be the first to deploy the Volvo VNL Autonomous across multiple states.”

The post McLane and Aurora launch autonomous hauls in Texas as Volvo route reaches Oklahoma City appeared first on FreightWaves.

The software and industrial tech giant posted first-quarter revenue of $939.9 million, up 12% year over year, while adjusted earnings per share came in at 79 cents. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $257.7 million, representing 27.4% of revenue.

Trimble also raised its full-year 2026 guidance, citing strong recurring revenue growth and improving visibility into customer demand. The company now expects full-year revenue between $3.835 billion and $3.915 billion, with non-GAAP EPS projected between $3.47 and $3.64.

“We began the year with strong momentum, delivering record annualized recurring revenue of $2.435 billion in the first quarter, and surpassing expectations on both top and bottom lines,” CEO Rob Painter said in the earnings release.

Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) is a provider of technology solutions for trucking companies, freight brokerages and 3PLs. The company also operates in industries such as buildings and infrastructure, geospatial hardware and software, and resources and utilities.

Transportation and logistics revenue rose 7% year over year to $140 million during the quarter, while annual recurring revenue for the segment increased 9% to $525 million. Segment operating margins expanded 300 basis points to 24.2%.

Painter said Trimble’s transportation business is seeing improving momentum despite lingering softness in freight markets.

“While the macro environment remains challenged, the North American market is beginning to show some signs of market recovery,” Painter said during an earnings call before the market opened on Wednesday. “In Europe, we continue to hold our competitive win ratios and grow our network density.”

Painter also highlighted accelerating adoption of AI-enabled freight technologies within the transportation segment.

“With a couple of recent customer wins in selling autonomous procurement and autonomous quotation in North America, we are building momentum and demonstrating that we can bring Transporeon capabilities to North America and that we can cross-sell into our carrier base,” Painter said.

During the earnings call Q&A session, Painter said AI-driven transaction tools are generating stronger monetization rates than traditional software features in transportation.

“If you take autonomous procurement and autonomous quotation within transportation, I think that’s a great example of that because what we’re monetizing through those particular product motions is happening at a higher rate than the traditional non-AI capabilities that we have,” Painter said. “And we can charge more because we’re demonstrating a higher ROI to our customers when we do that.”

Painter said Trimble sees AI as a way to expand its addressable market across transportation and construction workflows.

“We think we can take market share over time,” Painter said. “We see opportunities to increase the size of the addressable market. We see opportunities to monetize through our fair share capture of the value of an ROI that we deliver to our customers.”

The company said more than 90% of transportation and logistics revenue is now recurring revenue, helping support margin expansion and earnings visibility.

Painter also pointed to accelerating adoption of AI tools internally across Trimble’s transportation software development operations.

“Today, the vast majority of new code is generated with AI tools, and our product development organization is fundamentally rewiring how we work, which in turn is increasing our velocity,” Painter said.

The company said transportation new-logo growth increased more than 50% year over year during the first quarter.

Outside transportation, Trimble’s largest segment — Architects, Engineers, Construction and Owners (AECO) — posted 14% organic revenue growth to $391 million during the quarter, while Field Systems revenue rose 12% to $409 million.

Painter said infrastructure projects, data center construction and road-building activity continue to support demand for Trimble’s field technology and machine-control products.

Trimble repurchased approximately $317 million of stock during the quarter and ended Q1 with net leverage of 1.1 times trailing adjusted EBITDA.

The post Trimble sees freight recovery signs as AI tools fuel Q1 beat appeared first on FreightWaves.

Uber Freight reported its financial performance on the basis of operating income rather than EBITDA for the first time, but the negative numbers came as revenue turned up after a long stretch of lower numbers.

The operating loss for the first quarter at the company known primarily as a digital broker was $30 million. While this quarter was the first time where Uber’s three segments–Mobility, Delivery and Freight–were reported on the basis of operating income rather than EBITDA, the company’s earnings statement did report operating income at Uber Freight for the first quarter of 2025 as a loss of $25 million.

In the company’s supplemental information released with the earnings, the operating loss for the second, third and fourth quarters of last year at Uber Freight was $26 million, $40 million and $18 million, respectively.

When Uber Freight (NYSE: UBER) reported income on an EBITDA basis, it only squeaked out a positive number in the third and fourth quarters of 2022, and was breakeven on an EBITDA basis in the fourth quarter of last year. Otherwise, it was negative each quarter since its inception.

But revenue rose to $1.34 billion from $1.26 billion a year ago. Freight revenue in the fourth quarter was $1.27 billion. 

Not since the third quarter of 2024 could Uber Freight do a year-on-year quarterly comparison and see revenue more than what it was four quarters earlier. Between the third quarter of 2023 and 3Q 2024, Uber Freight eked out a gain in revenue of $25 million. 

But in the first quarter of 2026, the year-on-year revenue gain was $47 million. 

In a post on LinkedIn, Uber Freight CEO Rebecca Tinucci was upbeat about Uber Freight’s prospects, noting that the year-on-year increase in revenue was the first for the group in two years. (Uber DEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who rarely mentions Uber Freight in the company’s earnings calls with analysts, also cited the revenue increase in this quarter’s session).

“At a high level, Freight delivered strong topline performance, driven by continued strength in enterprise demand and Managed Transportation — even as the market tightened in ways we haven’t seen in some time,” Tinucci said. “The team continued to lean in with customers through the tightening — maintaining service while others pulled back.”

Tinucci added that new enterprise customers came with about $165 million in “new addressable spend.” That figure was roughly equal to all new customer spend from 2025, Tinucci said.

The Managed Transportation group at Uber Freight has its roots in the legacy Transplace acquisition from 2021. Transplace is known primarily as a provider of transportation management systems to shippers.

Tinucci said Uber Freight has been seeing “a more unified approach across the business — bringing together Managed Transportation and brokerage in a way that’s driving growth across both and reinforcing the value of a more integrated model for enterprise customers.”

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The post After a long gap, Uber Freight’s revenue turns higher from year earlier appeared first on FreightWaves.

Total traffic for the week ending May 2 was 518,773 carloads and intermodal units, better by 3.9% compared to the same week in 2025.

Commodities came to 235,049 carloads, up 4%, while intermodal volume was 283,724 containers and trailers, an increase of 3.9% y/y.

Nine of 10 carload commodity groups finished ahead of the previous year. They were led by grain’s ongoing rally, 14.7%, and petroleum and related products, 8.6%.

U.S. grain transportation volumes on rail and barge are running above the recent‑year average, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with Class I rail grain carloads and inland barge tonnage up single‑digit percentages year‑over‑year, reflecting higher export‑driven flows. Vessel activity in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Pacific Northwest coast has also stayed firm, with visible gains in grain‑vessel wait‑to‑load numbers, which supports steady grain‑shipment throughput.

Forest products was the lone decliner from a year ago, off 2.6%, as a weak housing market continued to impact shipments of building materials.

For the first 17 weeks of 2026, cumulative volume of 3,837,643 carloads increased 3.6%, and 4,697,928 intermodal units improved 0.4% y/y. Total combined traffic year-to-date was 8,535,571 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.8%.

Weekly volume on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads improved by 3.9% to 345,137 carloads, and by 3% to 372,439 intermodal units. Total combined traffic was 717,576 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 3.4%. North American volume for the first 17 weeks of this year was 11,761,179 carloads and intermodal units, better by 2% from 2025.

Subscribe to FreightWaves’ Rail e-newsletter and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox.

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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The post U.S. rail freight stronger across the board appeared first on FreightWaves.

Lineage (NASDAQ: LINE) reported a net loss of $51 million for the first quarter on Wednesday before the market opened. Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), which exclude depreciation, acquisition and restructuring costs (among other items), of 78 cents per share, came in 8 cents lower year over year.

Consolidated net revenue of $1.3 billion was up less than 1% y/y and just shy of the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. A 17% y/y decline in container volumes negatively impacted drayage revenue during the quarter.

“In the first quarter, we delivered results ahead of our expectations while navigating a highly dynamic operating environment,” said Lineage President and CEO Greg Lehmkuhl. “We again saw core business trends align closely with typical seasonal patterns, further reinforcing our view that the industry is stabilizing.”

On a same-warehouse comparison, physical occupancy was 76.4% in the quarter, 30 basis points lower y/y and 290 bps lower sequentially. Occupancy normally declines 300 bps from the fourth quarter to the first quarter.

Pallet throughput declined 3% y/y, but storage revenue per pallet was up 2%. The metrics were up 2% and flat, respectively, from the fourth quarter. The company said it’s on track to achieve net price increases of 1% to 2% this year, noting that 70% of its revenue book has already been repriced.

Management said new cold storage space grew 15% from 2021 through 2025, while demand increased only 5%, leaving the market roughly 10% oversupplied. However, new capacity coming online is expected to represent less than 2% of the market this year and next. It said it is experiencing pricing pressure in only 15% of U.S. markets, which are still considered overbuilt.

Adjusted EBITDA of $314 million was 3% higher y/y, with the adjusted EBITDA margin increasing 70 bps y/y to 24.2%. The company has 22 facilities currently under construction, which will add $150 million in annual EBITDA. (Lineage reported $1.3 billion in adjusted EBITDA in 2025.)

Lineage reiterated full-year EBITDA guidance of $1.25 billion to $1.30 billion, and AFFO per share of $2.75 to $3.00.

Lineage manages more than 500 facilities with 3.1 billion cubic feet of space across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It also provides freight forwarding, customs brokerage, drayage and truck transportation.

Shares of LINE were up 3.3% at 11:52 a.m. EDT on Wednesday compared to the S&P 500, which was up 1.1%.

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

• Freight capacity plummets, prices skyrocket in April
• Losses continue at TL carrier Pamt Corp.
• Schneider targeting significant rate recovery in bid season

The post Lineage says cold storage market working through oversupply appeared first on FreightWaves.

The May 2026 “State of the Industry Report” — presented in affiliation with Ryder — shares an in-depth overview across the trucking, maritime and intermodal markets, as well as what to expect in the coming weeks. The data contained within the report provides breakdowns of capacity, volumes and rates.

In this report, you will find: 

• Spot and contract rates are rising as capacity stays constrained, with tender rejection rates still elevated, signaling continued pricing pressure through mid-year. 
• Long-term contract rates are up ~8% since last fall, with further increases likely as shippers rely more on secondary capacity amid persistent tightness. 
• Tight truckload conditions and attractive rate spreads are driving strong domestic intermodal growth, supported by improved service levels and available container capacity. 
• Diesel prices have been highly sensitive to geopolitical developments, complicating rate signals and reinforcing the need for cost and risk management strategies. 
• While global capacity remains oversupplied, routing disruptions and energy costs are supporting rates, keeping shippers cautious on import planning. 
• U.S. manufacturing activity has returned to expansion, supporting flatbed, rail, and LTL demand despite broader economic mixed signals. 
• Retail and consumer spending continue to hold up, even as inflation and energy costs pressure sentiment, helping sustain freight volumes in the near term. 

Download the complimentary report today to access the full insights.

The post White Paper: State of the Industry – May 2026 appeared first on FreightWaves.

The contract logistics provider reported first-quarter revenue of $3.3 billion, up 10.8% year over year, while adjusted EBITDA increased 23% to $200 million. Adjusted diluted earnings per share rose 72% to 50 cents.

GXO also raised its full-year guidance for adjusted EBITDA to a range of $935 million to $975 million and boosted adjusted diluted EPS guidance to between $2.90 and $3.20.

CEO Patrick Kelleher said GXO’s pipeline reached a record $2.7 billion during the quarter as the company expanded deeper into higher-margin verticals such as aerospace and defense, industrials, life sciences and data center infrastructure.

“2026 is off to a strong start,” Kelleher said in the earnings call on Wednesday. “In the first quarter, we delivered strong revenue growth and profitability, underscoring the strength and predictability of our business model.”

Greenwich, Connecticut-based GXO Logistics (NYSE: GXO) is one of the largest pure-play contract logistics providers in the world. It has more than 970 facilities totaling approximately 200 million square feet, with a global workforce of more than 130,000 people.  

GXO generated $227 million in new business wins during the quarter, with approximately 40% tied to strategic growth sectors including aerospace and defense, technology, industrial and life sciences.

Executives repeatedly emphasized GXO’s expanding role in AI infrastructure and data center logistics during the earnings call.

“In the first quarter, we added $227 million in new business wins across key verticals, including notable contracts in aerospace and defense, several technology wins, including further growth in AI cloud infrastructure with hyperscalers,” Kelleher said during the call.

Kelleher said the company’s sales pipeline is now at the highest level in GXO’s history, with more than $500 million tied to strategic growth verticals.

“Our total pipeline now stands at the highest level in GXO’s history,” Kelleher said. “And in the quarter, 40% of wins were in our strategic growth verticals, aerospace and defense, industrial, life sciences, and technology, particularly data centers.”

A major focus during the earnings call centered on Amazon’s recent expansion into broader third-party supply chain and warehousing services, which analysts questioned as a potential competitive threat to traditional contract logistics providers.

Kelleher dismissed those concerns, saying Amazon’s move validates the long-term outsourcing opportunity in logistics rather than undermining GXO’s business.

“I’ve been in this industry for 32 years, and I really viewed Amazon’s announcement this week as a fantastic validation of the opportunity that’s in front of GXO and of the contract logistics industry,” Kelleher said.

Kelleher noted that roughly 70% of the global contract logistics market remains insourced, representing a major long-term growth opportunity for third-party providers.

“Amazon is selling access to its supply chain, whereas GXO, we build custom solutions for our customers, and that distinction means everything to our blue-chip customers,” Kelleher said. “We’re not a one-size-fits-all provider. What we do is bespoke, operationally complex, and relationship-driven.”

Kelleher also said that many enterprise customers would be reluctant to provide Amazon with deeper visibility into their supply chain operations and data.

“For enterprise customers, protecting their data is a top priority,” Kelleher said. “Many companies are going to be reluctant to give a competitor deeper visibility into their inventory, demand patterns, sales channels, financials.”

Executives acknowledged GXO does compete directly with Amazon in shared-use e-commerce fulfillment through GXO Direct, which Kelleher said represents less than 6% of total company revenue.

“The area of the business where I do see us competing with Amazon going forward, and we have been in the past for a while, is with Amazon’s FBA product, which is very similar to our GXO direct product offering,” Kelleher said.

Still, Kelleher said GXO differentiates itself through high-touch logistics services tailored to premium brands.

“I think where we do competitively differentiate as GXO direct is that we are servicing high-value brands that leverage our value-added services in packaging, etching, and really white-glove type services for those very high-end brands,” he said.

Beyond e-commerce, GXO executives said the company continues to benefit from accelerating demand tied to industrial reshoring, defense supply chains and AI infrastructure expansion.

The company launched a Defense Advisory Board in the U.S. during the quarter and established the Taurus Defense Supply Chain Alliance in the U.K. following its acquisition of Wincanton.

GXO also continued scaling its GXO IQ warehouse platform, an AI-powered system designed to improve warehouse startup efficiency, automation deployment and productivity. The company said it expects GXO IQ to be deployed at more than 50 sites by year-end.

“Our first mover advantage is real and we are building on it,” Kelleher said regarding the company’s automation and robotics strategy.

Executives said GXO expects organic revenue growth to accelerate during the second half of 2026 as newly signed contracts ramp into production and implementation phases.

GXO ended the quarter with $794 million in cash and $1.6 billion in total liquidity while maintaining leverage at 2.5 times adjusted EBITDA.

The post GXO raises 2026 outlook, dismisses Amazon logistics threat  appeared first on FreightWaves.

“Fleet managers are operating in one of the most complex environments in recent memory,” said Josh Lovan, Industry Business Advisor at J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. “Regulation changes, driver shortages, rising equipment costs, and accelerating technology adoption are becoming increasingly challenging to deal with.”

The data from the company’s sixth annual State of Fleet Management study backs him up. The 2026 edition, conducted by the J. J. Keller Center for Market Insights, surveyed 550 industry professionals across private and for-hire fleets. Leadership engagement is the thread that separates fleets that are adapting from those that are falling behind.

The Job Isn’t Getting Easier

Two-thirds of respondents described their job as very or moderately challenging in 2026. The top pain points cited in open-ended responses were familiar ones: staying compliant with ever-changing regulations, recruiting and retaining qualified drivers, managing mountains of paperwork, and keeping up with maintenance demands.

What stands out is where fleet managers say the friction really lives. Many respondents pointed to difficulty getting buy-in from drivers, from peers, and critically, from the leadership teams whose support they need to actually execute on safety and compliance goals. Data shows that when executives actively champion safety and compliance rather than simply funding programs from a distance, the entire operation benefits.

Safety Culture Is Built From the Top Down

The study’s Overall Safety category makes a compelling case that culture is demonstrated in the values of leadership and cannot be delegated. Respondents chose up to three answers, and the top-ranked priority in that category (selected by 49% of respondents) was employees knowing they are valued and that safety matters because they matter. Right behind that at 46% is safety being prioritized above all else across the organization, employees consistently making safe choices at 44%, and leadership consistently showing that safety is important at 40%.

Leadership visibility around safety has appeared on the study’s “most important” list in all six years the survey has been conducted. It is, by that measure, one of the most durable priorities in the entire dataset. Still, the year-over-year trend lines tell a more complicated story. The importance respondents place on employees knowing they are valued has climbed for three consecutive years, while leadership consistently showing that safety is important has actually declined over the past two. Fleet managers want more visible executive commitment at a time when that commitment appears to be fading.

Nearly half of respondents said their company always chooses safety when it conflicts with customer service or profitability, and 54% said their company continuously strives to improve driver and employee safety. Those are strong numbers, but they coexist with a significant decrease in respondents who said their company takes a purely reactive approach to safety. The industry appears to be moving in the right direction, but the pace and consistency of that movement depends heavily on whether leadership is visibly driving it.

The Shift Toward Prevention Demands Executive Backing

The executive summary of the 2026 study identifies three macro trends: a growing focus on prevention and proactive management, a desire for real-time insights and visibility, and less emphasis on recordkeeping and documentation.

Knowing when a repair is needed before a breakdown or accident occurs rose to 43% in 2026, up seven points from the prior year, tying it for the top spot in the Vehicle Maintenance category. Avoiding injury while working and driving climbed to 26% in Driver Knowledge & Skill, up from 20%. Even fatigue avoidance saw a notable increase, rising from 5% to 9%. And in Managing Company Expenses, effectively managing preventative maintenance to avoid losses due to breakdowns or accidents led the entire category at 54%.

These are not trends that fleet managers can act on alone. Preventive maintenance strategies require long-term capital planning. Fatigue management programs require policy changes and scheduling flexibility. Injury prevention requires investment in training, equipment, and time. Each of these is a line item that needs executive approval. More importantly, executive conviction that prevention pays off better than reaction.

Compliance Pressure Is Accelerating the Urgency

If safety culture provides the moral case for leadership engagement, compliance provides the operational one. Staying up to date on changes in regulations was the number-one FMCSA compliance priority in 2026 at 49%. The single largest year-over-year increase across all categories in the entire study was knowing quickly when a driver is non-compliant, which nearly doubled from 16% to 31%.

At the same time, several recordkeeping-focused items saw dramatic declines in perceived challenge, (though not in regulatory importance or enforcement risk). Having accurate and well-organized DQ files fell from 48% to 25%. Drug and alcohol testing records dropped from 26% to 11%. This shift doesn’t suggest that recordkeeping has become less important, but rather that many fleets now view it as a foundational requirement that must be maintained flawlessly at all times. Documentation still ranked among the most important themes overall — a reflection of its continued regulatory and audit importance. However, fleet managers are increasingly relying on systems and technology to handle recordkeeping while they focus their energy on real-time risk visibility.

Real-time visibility requires investment in technology platforms, integration between systems, and policy alignment across the organization. Fleet managers can identify the tools they need, but procurement decisions, implementation timelines, and organizational change management all require executive sponsorship.

Training Is Moving From Checkbox to Outcome

The Driver Training category reinforces the same dynamic. The top priority in 2026 was ensuring that training results in fully qualified and compliant drivers, a new survey option that debuted at 47%. Meanwhile, several process-oriented training items declined: drivers applying what they learn dropped from 45% to 35%, having engaging training fell from 30% to 21%, accurate training records dropped from 26% to 18%, and being able to prove comprehension fell from 25% to 17%.

Fleets seem to be shifting their focus from documenting the training process to measuring whether training actually produces qualified, compliant drivers. That evolution requires leadership to hold the organization accountable for outcomes and not just completion rates. Training effectiveness improves when leadership models the behaviors being taught and reinforces expectations consistently.

Technology Adoption Reveals the Culture Gap

The study’s New Vehicle Technology findings add another dimension to the leadership conversation. The top priority in that category was drivers accepting and properly using new vehicle technology at 45%, followed by understanding how the technology can improve safety outcomes at 31% and knowing which technologies are the best fit at 29%.

Driver resistance to new technology is one of the most persistent challenges in fleet management. The data suggests it’s more cultural than technical. Drivers take cues from ownership and senior leadership. When executives explain the purpose behind a technology investment and demonstrate commitment to its adoption, buy-in increases. When leadership treats technology as a top-down mandate without context or communication, resistance hardens.

It’s worth noting that only 28% of respondents said their company is completely or mostly on the cutting edge of adopting new vehicle technology, while 29% agreed their company prefers proven methods and is reluctant to change. Technology adoption, like safety culture, reflects the values and priorities that leadership communicates every day.

What the Data Points Toward

The patterns in this data point consistently to the fact that fleets that invest in visible leadership commitment to safety and compliance, that adopt preventive rather than reactive strategies, that prioritize real-time visibility over manual recordkeeping, and that treat training and technology as strategic assets rather than cost centers are the ones best positioned to navigate the complexity ahead.

Fleet managers are looking up the org chart for reinforcement. The data shows they’re asking for presence, consistency, and alignment. Regulation, technology, and workforce dynamics are all shifting simultaneously, which means that leadership support is crucial. It’s the operational foundation everything else depends on.

“In 2026, the question is not whether leadership supports fleet managers,” Lovan said, “but how consistently and visibly that support shows up.”

Click here to learn more about J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

The post Fleet Safety Starts in the C-Suite appeared first on FreightWaves.

Sun Country Airlines expects to begin operating two Boeing 737-800 converted freighters on Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) behalf by the end of June, the company said in its first-quarter earnings report on Friday. 

Shareholders from both companies are expected to vote Friday on Allegiant’s $1.5 billion to buy Minneapolis-based Sun Country. The U.S. Department of Transportation signed off on the deal last month and executives say it could close as soon as May 13.

Sun Country operates 20 Boeing 737-800 passenger-to-freighter aircraft under a transportation services agreement with Amazon, which supplies the leased aircraft. At the time of the merger agreement in January, the ultra-low cost leisure carriers announced that Amazon had committed to place two additional cargo jets with Sun Country this year, bringing the narrowbody freighter fleet to 22 aircraft.

Following the transaction’s close, Sun Country will continue to operate separately until Allegiant is able to obtain a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, which could take 18 or more, an Allegiant spokesperson said. In the meantime, the freighter aircraft will remain on Sun Country’s operating certificate.

The newest freighters were previously operated in Europe by ASL Airlines Ireland before Amazon reclaimed them, according to Planespotters.net. 

The earnings report provided the first timeline for the planes’ entry into service.

Sun Country said it received the two planes in March and that they are expected to begin supporting Amazon’s logistics network by the end of June.

It can take several weeks or months to integrate aircraft on an airline’s operating certificate. Airlines have to review the maintenance history, thoroughly inspect the engines, systems and airframe, and update operational manuals to align the planes with the new operator’s maintenance program and specifications before receiving the approval of aviation regulators. 

Last year, Amazon transferred eight freighters under its control from Atlas Air to Sun Country.

Sun Country reported cargo revenue of $46.1 million during the first quarter, up from $28.2 million in the prior year. The eight new freighters were the primary reason for the large increase. 

Amazon has warrants for the right to purchase about 10 million Sun Country shares. When the merger with Allegiant is consummated any warrants that haven’t vested will automatically become fully vested. Amazon will receive Sun Country stock and then be compensated for its shares in Allegiant stock and cash.

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

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

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