Everything is Logistics

Grace Sharkey and I traded five cargo crime stories for a Halloween edition of Freight Friends. Every one of them turns on the same weak spot: the moment freight changes hands, and the question of who is really holding it. We start in Turfan on the Silk Road in the 670s. A merchant vanished on the road to Kucha, and his brother sued for 275 bolts of silk with no contract and only two witnesses. Gr...

A customs entry might take minutes to prepare while the truck waits days to cross. José Miñarro explains how that disconnect happens when nobody coordinates the paperwork with the freight. I’m joined by José, Managing Director at CustomsNet, to walk through what shippers need to settle before their first Mexico shipment moves. We discuss the information importers must provide and how proper onboar...

A security policy can look great on paper. The harder question is whether everyone handling your freight actually follows it. I’m joined by Joe Hurst, co-founder and president of Veroot, to explain CTPAT, the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, and what it takes to get certified and stay compliant. We discuss how companies document their security practices and keep checking their freight...

Your freight crosses into Mexico. If something happens to it there, do you know whose insurance responds and what it actually covers? I’m joined by Mark Vickers, Executive Vice President and Head of International Logistics at Reliance Partners, to examine the coverage assumptions that can turn a lost load into an expensive argument. We discuss why carrier liability and cargo insurance need separat...

A Dallas-to-Atlanta model fails at the Mexico border for a simple reason: the trailer can stay loaded while the driver and truck change. One commercial conversation is not the same as one operating system. Matt Silver, Co-founder and CEO of Cargado, walks that relay and why so much coverage still lives in LinkedIn and WhatsApp. Those chats are not a shipment record that survives the handoff. If yo...

A trip through Sri Lanka makes it hard to look at tea and cinnamon as ordinary groceries. You see the farms, meet the people, and start following the journey those products take beyond the island. Grace Sharkey and I talk about what I noticed during my visit, including the Port of Colombo and Sri Lanka’s place in Indian Ocean trade. We also discuss the work behind artisanal tea and the hospitality...

Seven containers were waiting near an Antarctic ice shelf’s edge when a blizzard changed the plan. The ice broke away, carrying the cargo out to sea. Grace Sharkey brings this story to Freight Friends, and we talk through the difficulty of supplying a research station in such an unforgiving place. The conversation leads into Shackleton’s survival story and the challenge of operating on moving ice....

The rocket gets the glamor shot, but a launch is only one leg of a much larger network. Before anything leaves Earth, hardware has already moved through factories and specialized facilities. After launch, somebody still has to manage fuel, communications, maintenance, replacement parts, materials, and the trip back. In this solo episode, I follow five pieces of the emerging space supply chain: Roc...

The company behind Japan’s heated toilets also makes precision ceramics used in semiconductor manufacturing. TOTO’s role in that supply chain sent Grace Sharkey and me down a very unexpected rabbit hole. Fresh from my trip to Japan, I compare notes with Grace about what we noticed there. We talk about the care behind everyday products, the food we still think about, and the maritime details at Tok...

I went to my first IANA Intermodal Expo with a confession: intermodal was one of the weakest areas in my logistics coverage. I had worked inside an asset-based 3PL with an intermodal department, but it mostly operated in the background. Three days in Long Beach gave me a much clearer picture of the mode, the technology surrounding it and the security problems that follow freight across ports, rail...

Tall ships arrived in New York Harbor for America’s 250th, bringing a shared maritime tradition into full view. I loved seeing that gathering alongside the commemorative designs appearing on trucks and trains across the country. Grace Sharkey and I look at the fleet wraps and the ships that made this celebration so memorable. We also talk about why the effort behind these displays deserves more at...

Everyone in freight has the same marketing tools now. Same AI writing assistants, same ability to produce a clean chart in ninety seconds, same well-formatted blog post. RJ Finnegan, Brand Manager at SPI Logistics, told me that once that happened, the stack stopped being anyone's advantage. So he bought a DSLR camera. What he wanted on it was the new hire sharing a joke with one of SPI's...

Before Everything is Logistics, I spent years covering the Jacksonville Jaguars for a local station. Football has always been more than a game to me. It is one of the clearest examples of how much work happens before the public sees the finished product. In this replay, I trace the city effort that brought the Jaguars to Jacksonville, then step inside the operations behind game day. Food and field...

Note: this is technically a segment from a recent Freight Friends episode so if you already listened to that convo, thank you. But if you'd like to listen for the first time or listen again, also thank you. Back in May, I started a new content initiative on CargoRex where I'm interviewing companies/leaders to get their collective take and there's no bigger collective right now than...

Sri Lanka's logistics story is visible almost everywhere you look. Colombo sorts containers for the region. Hambantota is building an automotive transshipment business. Tea and cinnamon turn mountain geography into a first-mile challenge, while apparel compresses production timelines into something you can watch happen in a single day.  In this solo episode, I'm nerding out on the logist...

Choosing the right freight agency can make or break your business. So when a post on Linkedin went semi-viral about the top freight agent programs in the country, your girl had to share what she's learned from years of interviewing freight agents and the execs that run these programs.  Check out our full episode library on how to choose a freight agent program in 2026 and beyond The LinkedIn...

Most EDI contracts never get shopped, and legacy providers price like they know it. Grace Sharkey walks through what that actually looks like on an invoice: a few thousand a month for the service, then a separate managed fee to make sure the service does not break. Orderful just raised $35 million to go after that second line item. We also cover what eight freight tech vendors are really building...

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Tapan Chadhar, CEO of Hey Bubba, about how voice AI is being built specifically for fleets, truckers, and carriers. Hey Bubba acts as an AI brain for trucking companies. It sits on top of TMS, email, phone calls, telematics, load boards, and driver communication tools to help fleets book freight, negotiate loads, talk to brokers, update...

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Sarit Tamir, CEO and co-founder of Seeteria, about how computer vision is helping warehouse teams find lost time inside their operations. SeeTeria is a software-only company that connects to existing CCTV cameras inside warehouses, distribution centers, fulfillment centers, and 3PL facilities. The platform watches floor activity, detect...

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Tom Curee, President at Qued, about why freight appointment scheduling is still one of the most stubborn problems in logistics. Qued focuses on appointment scheduling for brokers, carriers, and shippers. The platform connects into existing TMS workflows so users can automate scheduling, manage exceptions, and build trust through visibil...

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Jett Chitanand, President at EPG Americas, about how AI is being used inside warehouses and distribution centers. EPG is a supply chain execution platform covering warehouse management, transportation management, contract and billing, and yard management. Their AI environment, Aura, sits on top of execution systems to help teams solve p...

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Shawn McCarrick, CEO of Sifted, about how AI is changing parcel spend management for shippers. Sifted is a SaaS-based business optimization and parcel spend management platform. Their Copilot product helps shippers monitor parcel spend, set alerts, ask questions in natural language, and catch cost issues before they turn into bigger pro...

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Michelle McBride, Head of Product at Envoy AI, about how AI is being used inside freight brokerages to reduce operational drag and help carrier sales teams move faster. Envoy AI builds Ellie, an AI-driven orchestration layer for logistics operations. Ellie connects into the tools brokerages already use, including TMS, compliance platfor...

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Nick Boston, VP of Sales at GoodShip, about how shippers are using AI to better understand freight spend, carrier performance, and transportation procurement. GoodShip helps shippers manage freight orchestration and procurement in one platform. Their AI assistant, Lainey, helps users ask questions about their transportation network, pre...

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Tete Xiao, VP of Engineering and AI at Bot Auto, about how autonomous trucking is being used in real freight operations. Bot Auto operates fully driverless trucks in Texas, with current lanes between Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Instead of selling software, the company works as a transportation-as-a-service provider, moving trailer...