Stay In Your Lane

How will market slow-down and high interest rates/inflation affect bids and requests for proposals (RFPs)? Moving forward, refrigerated freight is expected to decrease while new union issues and legislation is expected to put even more stress on the industry. During times like these it's important to keep up to date on freight news and logistics updates. Thankfully, we have Joe Lombardo to ad...

What does the trucking & freight economy have in store for Q4 2022 and 2023? Bob Costello with the American Trucking Associations steps in to give us a glimpse into what we can expect for shippers, carriers and the whole supply chain over the next few months.  Learn more about how Triple T Transport supports their customers: https://triplettransport.com/freight-broker-logistics-3pl/ Looking to...

This month's episode of Supply Chain Squares features some of the top experts in the logistics industry. Will they lead our competitors to a win, or will they trick them into saying the wrong answers? Whichever route they choose, there will be many laughs along the way! We would like to thank our guests and contestants: Melissa Davis - Triple T Transport Lucas McCarty - Triple T Transport Pat...

Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) is a piece of legislation that will directly reduce independent contractors from the transportation industry in California. This affects both truckers and port workers. Thomas Kern, attorney with Kern Kendrick, LLC. discusses the avenues that both local contractors and business owners can take to try and reduce the high costs required by this bill. Learn more about how Triple...

Did the ELD mandate go too far? Did it have the impact that the lawmakers where anticipating? John and Wendy discuss where the law fell short on this particular instance of government intervention into the transportation & shipping industry. Wendy Workman is the Senior Director of Supply Chain at SK Food Group.  Learn more about how Triple T Transport supports their customers: https://triplett...

Wendy Workman, Senior Director of Supply Chain at SK Food Group offers her personal outlook on whether the government has overstepped into the transportation industry. John & Wendy discuss the ELD mandate and it's impact on the industry.  Learn more about how Triple T Transport supports their customers: https://triplettransport.com/freight-broker-logistics-3pl/ Looking to haul with Triple...

Joe Lombardo with Ege Avenue Associates has decades of experience in procurement across the transportation industry. He has worked for some major distributors and manufacturers through recessions and tough times. Joe walks us through some of the things to expect in shipping procurement as we head into a possible recession. Learn more about how Triple T Transport supports their customers https://tr...

Shippers are feeling the compression in the market! The transportation business is under more stress than ever as the cost of everything is increasing. Scott Oliver with HP Hood discusses some of the major challenges that he sees everyday as a Senior Director of Logistics at HP Hood, a large distribution company. Learn more about how Triple T Transport supports their customers: https://triplettran...

Welcome to Supply Chain Squares! The show where the top experts in the Freight & Logistics industry compete to try and outsmart each other in a game of tic-tac-toe!  We would like to thank our guests and contestants: Melissa Davis - Triple T Transport Lucas McCarty - Triple T Transport Pat Musser - HP Hood Thomas Kern - Kern Kendrick, LLC Slate Kamp - Lighthouse Foods Wendy Workman - SK Food G...

Are digital 3PL Brokerages able to handle every logistics challenge? John & Joe outline the pros and cons of digital brokerages in today's market. Every day the average logistics company will need to resolve dozens of problems that require personal intervention. Triple T prides itself on being the high-value solution for their customers, but can a digital brokerage really automate the ent...

Did the Fed mess up the economy? Dan North discusses the current state of the market, our chances of going into a recession and how the fed's timing of the interest rates hikes ended up hurting our economy more than necessary. Dan North is the Senior Economist at Allianz Trade North America. Learn more about how Triple T Transport supports their customers: https://triplettransport.com/freight...

Is the freight market flooded with small trucking companies? Billy Barstow with Barstow Transportation thinks the line haul rates are lowering because of unsustainable competition from the increase of trucking companies over the last couple years. Now, larger retailers are taking temporary losses to expand their own fleets. Combine all of this with increasing diesel fuel and bad brokers trying to...

Fuel Costs are rising while Line Haul rates are falling. Smaller carriers are feeling the compression in the freight industry. Billy Barstow with Barstow Transportation walks us through this year's challenges as a small carrier. High diesel prices, low rates and bad brokers trying to undercut the small trucking companies. The current state of the freight market is not sustainable for small ca...

What affects Diesel cost? And how are the prices calculated? John and Joe dive into the reasons why diesel fuels cost more than gasoline and other fuel. Today the high diesel prices are a global issue. Declining number of refineries, higher operating costs, and much less demand than other fuel types. Diesel is still it's a major driving factor in the total costs of the logistics industry.  Le...

What types of partnerships do you need to run a successful shipping operation? And, how do you maintain those relationship to withstand market impacts? Todd Burk joins us again from Icon Foods! Todd speaks upon the value of having a variety of partnerships and how those partnerships can affect shippers in the spot market.

As we move closer to recession and the market is continuing to be volatile, shippers in the spot market and owner operators are starting to feel the burn of skyrockeing fuel costs. Diesel prices, holiday seasons and consumer confidence all impact major players that can benefit from strengthened partnerships.

As the market continues to tighten in the logistics & freight shipping industry, more businesses are feeling the burn. Shipping claims and bankruptcy claims are increasing in parts of the market that are  the most impacted by the volatility. Zachary Elrod with Allianz Trade North America discusses his experience with bankruptcy support and the overall trend of the market over the next several...

When a food recall is announced, there is a significant amount of urgency that is needed by shippers, carriers and logistics companies to secure every lot of affected product and provide proof of disposal. John Mahle with Triple T Transport describes his experience with contacting affected retailers and warehouses, while Creg Feilding with Fusionware shares his digital solution to pinpointing ever...

Creg Feilding with Fusionware shares his experience with food tracking and John describes how the importance of food storage during transport has changed over the last few decades. Now, food safety trackrs can keep track of recalled food all the way down to the geneology of the seeds and the lot shipments as they travel through multiple checkpoints.

The freight & transportation market has been very unpredictable over the last two years. Usually, the budgets for the year are already set by March, but many companies are stuggling to make budget projections with the volatile diesel prices and fluctuating consumer demaind as inflation hits the economy. Wendy Workman with SK Food Group discusses her experience with trying to navigate a budget...

In this episode Dan North from Allianz Trade North America describes how we arrived at this point in the North American market and what we may expect for next year in the financial markets. Meanwhile, diesel fuel prices continue to remain high after a historic increase. Dan describes how freight, shipping and the cost of goods have all been affected by the high diesel fuel prices, and has made an...

Inflation is the #1 topic this week in the logistics industry. John & Joe discuss last week's economic update from Bob Costello and his forecasts on the freight economy. Joe Lombardo talks us through a deeper dive on inflation and it's effects on diesel, OEM equipment, new trucks, parts and the price of goods. John talks about how E-commerce is slowing down from pandemic-highs.

John Mahle and Robert Costello with the ATA discuss the labor forecast and the diesel production for the logistics industry. Trucking equipment manufacturers are still struggling to catch up with demand but the larger carriers are not selling/offloading equipment as much as before, in preparation for future growth.

Bob Costello with the American Trucking Association shares his insights into what the major impacts are on the freight industry. Bob has seen economic growth increase dramatically over the last year, but slower growth into this year. We still see supply chain issues in getting new transportation equipment from the manufacturers. Drivers are still down from the pre-pandemic level but we are seeing...

Why is the market changing so much? We've been seeing increases in fuel inflation and natural slowdowns in some areas of the industry, but John Mahle and Joe Lombardo both agree that the capacity for transportation demand can come back up quickly under the right conditions. In this episode we dive deeper into the  individual capacity issues, where they will continue to tighten up and when to...