FreightWaves Today

In this episode, we kick things off with heartbreaking news from the freight analysis community as Donald Broughton, the bowtie-wearing analyst of freight markets, has died suddenly at home on May 30th. Broughton, who founded Broughton Capital in 2017 and was not known to have been ill, had spoken at the Transportation Intermediaries Association's annual meeting in mid-April and appeared on CNBC i...

In this episode, we kick things off on the rails, where a powerful House committee is backing strict scrutiny for the proposed Union Pacific-Southern Pacific merger. The bipartisan House Appropriations Committee added language to the fiscal 2027 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill during markup on June 2nd, urging the Surface Transportation Board to conduct a rigorous...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's rocky debut of its new Motus registration system. Since launching in mid-May, the platform has sparked widespread industry frustration as carriers struggle to link their DOT numbers and access critical registration tools. While FMCSA leadership praised the rollout as a major milestone, industry consu...

In this episode, we kick things off with a grim warning from Wall Street about one of the industry's more specialized logistics players. S&P Global Ratings has slashed Odyssey Logistics' debt rating to CCC+ and warned of a possible default in 2027. The third-party logistics provider faces $125 million in revolving credit maturing in July 2027 and a massive $490 million term loan due that October,...

In this episode, we kick things off with a major private equity play in the intermodal freight space. Open Road Ventures announced it has acquired Double-Stack Logistics, an intermodal freight broker with direct rail relationships and a fleet of over 150 containers. The company specializes in converting freight that typically moves over the road into intermodal shipments, and the backing will allo...

In this episode, we kick things off with a major legal victory for shippers facing liability exposure in Texas. Just one day after Alabama's Supreme Court expanded broker liability in safety incidents, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Home Depot cannot be held liable for a fatal crash involving Werner Enterprises. The court determined that simply hiring an independent contractor to haul freight...

In this episode, we kick things off with a massive strategic move in the air cargo sector as Atlas Air, the world's largest Boeing 747 freighter operator, acquires a forty-nine percent stake in Iceland-based Air Atlanta and purchases its fleet of fourteen widebody aircraft through Titan Aviation Leasing. The partnership strengthens Atlas's ability to provide freight service at a time when many lar...

In this episode, we kick things off in Washington, where federal regulators have conditionally accepted the massive Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application, but with major strings attached. The Surface Transportation Board accepted the merger paperwork Thursday, but only on the condition that the railroads submit significantly more information across nine distinct areas of concern by Jul...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining Amazon's aggressive push into urban micromobility with a ten-month e-cargo bike pilot program in Washington, D.C. deploying up to fifteen battery-powered bikes through independent delivery partners. This marks Amazon's second U.S. pilot following Brooklyn in 2024, and builds on a global network that delivered 170 million packages via micromobility i...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a sweeping piece of legislation that just cleared its first major hurdle on Capitol Hill. The House Transportation and Infrastructure committee has overwhelmingly approved the BUILD America 250 Act by a decisive sixty-two to two vote, drawing rare bipartisan praise from both OOIDA and the American Trucking Associations. Two provisions in the sprawli...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a massive late-stage funding round that's positioning a fast-growing logistics specialist to take on Amazon's e-commerce dominance. Atlanta-based Stord announced it has raised $250 million in Series F venture capital funding that values the company at $3 billion, doubling its valuation in just twelve months. The new funds will go towards launching S...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining the brutal reality of commercial trucking insurance as premiums have surged at double the rate of inflation while insurers themselves operate deep in the red. The American Transportation Research Institute documents an average annual premium increase of eight point three percent between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty-five, with smaller fleets be...

In this episode, we kick things off with a massive compliance crackdown hitting the trucking industry, as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration added twelve electronic logging devices to the revoked list in the largest single-day event since May 2025. All twelve failed to meet minimum technical requirements, bringing the total to seventy-nine devices removed since January 2025 at an aggr...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining autonomous trucking's major geographic expansion as Einride deploys cabless electric trucks in Ohio in partnership with EASE Logistics. This proof-of-concept deployment represents a significant shift beyond the Sun Belt, bringing SAE Level 4 autonomous technology to the industrial Midwest for the first time. Operating between warehouses in Marysvill...

In this episode, we kick things off in Washington, where the U.S. House of Representatives has just unveiled the BUILD America 250 Act, a sprawling federal surface transportation reauthorization package. This massive legislation allocates $240 billion in authorized and direct funding for trucking, rail, aviation, and ports, including a historic $102 billion investment in passenger and freight rail...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a brutal wave of workforce cuts hitting the U.S. supply chain sector. More than 5,183 freight-related workers have been affected by shutdowns, restructurings, and contract losses spanning at least twenty states across logistics, manufacturing, and transportation. The largest single reduction came from California-based FreshRealm, which filed for Cha...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a landmark Supreme Court decision that fundamentally reshapes liability for the freight brokerage industry. The Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that the safety exception of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act includes freight brokers, settling conflicting circuit court cases and clearing the way for negligent-hiring claims in s...

In today's episode, we cover: FedEx Freight Spinoff: We kick things off with the major corporate shakeup at FedEx Corp., whose board of directors has officially approved the spinoff of its less-than-truckload (LTL) unit, FedEx Freight. We discuss the details of the separation, which is set to conclude by June 1, and how the new standalone company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a massive technology leap in truck terminal automation as Outpost unveils its second-generation gate kiosk that deploys in just one day and slashes gate operating costs by up to seventy percent. This marks a seismic shift from traditional automated gate systems that require months of installation work, and the Austin-based company now processes more...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining the escalating regulatory battle over the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern mega-merger. Canadian National is urging federal regulators to reject the amended application, arguing that the filing still omits critical information needed to assess competitive impacts. CN criticizes the proposed Committed Gateway Pricing program as temporary and h...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining the severe financial pressures facing trailer manufacturer Wabash National as Moody's slashes its debt rating for the third time in twelve months, dropping the corporate family rating to B3 on May fifth. The rating agency warns that Wabash's credit metrics will remain at unsustainable levels as trailer shipments have collapsed from over thirteen tho...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a major compliance crackdown that has shaken up the electronic logging device market. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration revealed that a staggering 67 devices have been revoked since January 2025, with two more manufacturers just added to the list for failing to meet minimum technical requirements. Carriers currently using these revoked...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a major freight broker navigating a brutally tough first quarter but projecting a significant turnaround ahead. RXO released its earnings Thursday morning, reporting a first-quarter adjusted EBITDA of just six million dollars, down sharply from twenty-two million dollars a year earlier. Despite compressed margins, the company aggressively shifted it...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a critical early bellwether for the logistics sector as GXO Logistics posts double-digit revenue growth in the first quarter, easily topping Wall Street expectations. The Greenwich-based contract logistics giant reported revenue of three point three billion dollars, up nearly eleven percent year over year, while swinging back to profitability with f...

In this episode, we kick things off by examining Union Pacific's massive eighty-five billion dollar acquisition of Norfolk Southern and the railroad's newly disclosed conditions for walking away from the deal. UP has made clear it will abandon the merger if the Surface Transportation Board orders widespread trackage rights or line sales as approval conditions, though it would accept a requirement...