FreightCasts

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a major breakthrough in the often-painful journey from AI demo to live operations. Third-party logistics provider Kenco has successfully ⁠deployed six supply chain AI agents into production with DeepFabric⁠ in just three months, a stark contrast to broader industry trends where Gartner expects more than forty percent of agentic AI projects to be canceled by the end of twenty twenty-seven. The partnership is now scaling aggressively, with twenty agents planned across North America over the next twelve months and audit-spend reductions of forty-five percent already achieved.Next, we explore the critical role of border security in cross-border supply chain integrity. Canada Border Services Agency officers ⁠seized approximately three hundred eighty-five kilograms of suspected cocaine from a commercial truck⁠ at Blue Water Bridge in Point Edward, Ontario on August thirteenth. The driver was arrested and charged with importing a controlled substance and possession for trafficking, underscoring the ongoing enforcement challenge at busy commercial border crossings.Finally, we discuss the ocean freight sector bracing for a massive wave of new capacity that could severely pressure container rates. The ⁠global containership orderbook has reached an orderbook-to-fleet ratio of roughly thirty-eight point seven percent⁠, meaning vessels on order represent nearly two-fifths of the existing fleet's capacity. With fleet growth running at about four point two percent against expected container-trade growth of only three to four percent, industry analysts warn that vessel supply is likely to outpace demand, potentially releasing significant downward pressure on freight rates once current geopolitical disruptions normalize.

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In this episode of FreightWaves Today, hosts Craig Fuller and Julie Garner analyze the current trajectory of the North American economy, key supply chain news, and recent data across freight modes.

Craig and Julie open with commentary on strong U.S. industrial and rail volume data, record corporate profit margins driven by technological efficiency, and the passing of country music legend Dolly Parton, highlighting her recent venture into driver-centric travel stops. They also cover a proposed $6 billion freight rail bypass around Atlanta and a major $150,000 cargo theft bust in California’s Mojave Desert.

Pavan Joshi, Chief Strategy Officer at E2open, breaks down ongoing trade posturing between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Joshi highlights the operational challenges of unwinding 30 years of integrated continental supply chains (particularly in auto, agriculture, and energy) and stresses the need for stable trade policies and strategic friend-shoring.

Sonar Daily Market Update: A deep dive into tender rejections shows refrigerated capacity remaining tight (~20.5%) due to summer weather demand, while flatbed rejection rates have cooled off. The hosts highlight strong intermodal performance, driven by a 33% contract cost-savings advantage over truckload.

Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli discusses the commercialization of autonomous and electric freight networks. He reviews recent deployments, including their partnership with Tesla, the expansion of their vehicle-agnostic software stack, and their entry into defense applications to remove human drivers from high-risk zones.

Valentina Jordan, CEO and co-founder of Nada, explains why successful AI adoption requires a solid, contextual data foundation rather than just standalone AI agents. She shares details on their recent strategic funding round and how Nada's platform processes fragmented global trade data to eliminate stockouts and reduce costs.

Aaron Decker, CEO of Multi-Service Fuel Card, clarifies that elevated retail diesel prices are primarily driven by historic refining crack spreads and global refining disruptions (including attacks on Russian energy infrastructure) rather than crude shortages alone.

Weekly AAR Rail Report: The episode closes with the latest Association of American Railroads (AAR) data, which reveals sustained year-over-year volume growth in U.S. intermodal units (+5%) and Canadian trade traffic.

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Join Malcolm Harris and Michael Vincent on this packed Wednesday edition of WHAT THE TRUCK?!? as they honor a music legend and dive deep into critical industry updates with two expert guests.

The guys pay a heartfelt tribute to the Queen of Country, discussing her incredible philanthropic legacy, her impact on the state of Tennessee, and her recent entry into the logistics space with her new truck stop concept

A breakdown of the latest driver out-of-service violations, including why English proficiency broke into the top five, why medical card infractions skyrocketed by 117%, and how enforcement trends are shifting.

Dr. Fletcher—having performed over 20,000 DOT physicals—shares key insights on driver health changes over the last several decades. He breaks down how GLP-1 weight loss medications could revolutionize trucker health, how sleep apnea impacts careers, and what really happens during crash litigation when medical histories are audited.

Greg Haber, President of Babcock Fulfillment and Alarm Systems, breaks down how criminal syndicates execute fictitious pickups using fraudulent IDs. He demonstrates how modern digitizing technology and real-time app verification can instantly catch fake licenses that human gatekeepers miss.

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In this episode, we kick things off by examining an ambitious infrastructure proposal that could dramatically reshape freight movement in the South. An influential coalition is leveraging the proposed Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern mega-merger to demand ⁠a massive freight rail bypass around Atlanta that would free up track for passenger trains⁠ and thin out the city's legendary traffic congestion. The six-billion-dollar project would divert eighty percent of freight trains onto a U-shaped route, opening capacity for fourteen commuter rail lines and offering a far cheaper alternative to the ninety billion dollars Georgia would otherwise need to spend on highway expansion by 2050.

Next, we shift over to the rails to discuss a brazen cargo theft in California's Mojave Desert that illustrates how quickly high-value freight can disappear. San Bernardino County deputies ⁠recovered over $150,000 in New Balance shoes after reports of people breaking into BNSF boxcars⁠ near Daggett, an unincorporated community east of Barstow along I-95. Authorities arrested a suspect following a traffic stop and foot pursuit, underscoring how rail cargo theft can move high-value inventory from a railcar to a highway within minutes.

Finally, we cover the passing of an American icon who made professional drivers part of her final business chapter. ⁠Country music legend Dolly Parton died peacefully Tuesday in Nashville at age 80⁠, just two months after making a surprise appearance at the grand opening of Dolly's Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, Tennessee. The facility, located about an hour south of Nashville, was designed specifically for professional drivers and featured truck parking, fuel, showers, laundry, restaurants, and a dog park, reflecting Parton's decades spent touring the country by bus.

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This episode of FreightWaves Today covers critical shifts across truckload market dynamics, equipment remarketing, cross-border trade, software consolidation, and global energy risks.

Used Truck Market Update: Chris Backeberg (President, Daimler Trucks Remarketing) discusses tight sleeper and day cab inventories, stable used-truck pricing, and fleet age/maintenance cycles.

Spot Market & Bidding Dynamics: Rush Feldhacker (Tabi) details Tabi's Pricing Pressure Index and how disciplined brokers leverage spot data and automation to navigate shifting pricing power.

Credit Quality & Energy Risks: John Kingston (FreightWaves) dives deeper into BMO's credit metrics, historical diesel crack spreads, and seasonal heating oil demand.

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Why would a truck driver spend thousands of dollars .... and an entire weekend ..... making a WORKING truck look better than some people's houses?

Because this isn't really about chrome.

And it damn sure isn't vanity.

On this episode of Brake Check, Charles  sits down with Evan Steger of Evan's Detailing & Polishing / Time2Shine and David Lowry of Bennett Motor Express to uncover what truck pride is actually worth .... to the driver, the trucking company, the value of the equipment, and something much bigger than any trophy.

We're going inside Stars, Stripes & White Lines, where working trucks aren't treated like trailer queens. Some competitors must prove tens of thousands of working miles, drive into the show under their own power, and then face serious judging to see who's really earned the shine.

But that's only half the story. The weekend supports the mission of placing wreaths on veterans' graves at Andersonville National Cemetery through Wreaths Across America.

We dig into the real business behind truck appearance and driver pride:

Does keeping a truck show-clean increase resale value?

Can pride in equipment improve driver retention?

What does it actually cost an owner-operator to maintain that shine?

Why do carriers invest in truck shows?

And what can a fleet owner learn from drivers willing to spend their own money taking care of company equipment?

Then we get to the reason this weekend exists in the first place:

Remembering the Americans who served long after the trucks leave the speedway.

Show trucks. Working trucks. Heavy haul. Owner-operators. Truck polishing. Driver pride. Fleet culture. Wreaths Across America. Veterans.It all comes together here.

Because sometimes chrome isn't about showing off.

Sometimes it reflects something worth remembering.

#Trucking #TruckShow #ShowTrucks #OwnerOperator #WreathsAcrossAmerica #TruckDrivers #HeavyHaul #TruckingIndustry

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Trucking Credit Recovery: BMO’s quarterly earnings show dramatic drops in distress metrics, with credit loss provisions plunging to $15 million and gross impaired loans crashing to $440 million.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/likely-bmo-swan-song-shows-trucking-credit-strengthening

US-Canada Tariff Escalation: The US hits Canadian goods with 50% tariffs after negotiations stall, prompting Canada to prepare retaliatory tariffs starting September 8

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-canada-supply-chains-face-uncertainty-as-trade-talks-collapse

Descartes Systems Group announced it has acquired Tai, an AI-powered transportation management system provider, for one hundred million dollars in cash. This marks the thirty-fourth deal for the Canadian company since twenty seventeen, following recent acquisitions of Latin American last-mile logistics tech provider Drivin and Pittsburgh-based fleet safety solutions provider Idelic. CEO Ed Ryan stated that Tai complements their strengths in carrier onboarding, compliance, fraud prevention and real-time visibility, creating significant opportunities to help freight brokers streamline operations and improve margins.

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In this episode of FreightWaves Today, hosts Craig Fuller and Julie Van de Kamp break down the major trade and regulatory shifts shaking up the freight industry—including the newly implemented 50% tariffs on Canadian imports and the sudden departure of ATA President and CEO Chris Spear.

Keith Moore, CEO of Auto Scheduler AI, discusses how AI-powered warehouse orchestration software helps manage complex facility operations. He explains that by using an "operational twin" model of a warehouse, the software helps optimize inventory flow, decision-making, and labor utilization while addressing the bottlenecks created by modern automation.

Eric Kulisch, Air Cargo Reporter at FreightWaves, shares updates on Amazon's expanding drone delivery program and the evolving regulatory environment surrounding drone logistics. He details how tech capabilities like detect-and-avoid features are shaping the space, as well as the long-term industry projections for urban air mobility.

Russell Jones CEO of Private Fleet Net Zero, breaks down how his company functions as a digital matching platform specifically designed to unlock unused backhaul capacity for private fleets. He highlights how this approach offers freight brokers reliable, safer, and heavily discounted capacity while simultaneously cutting down on empty miles and carbon emissions.

Kurt Mann, Head of Transportation at Mitsubishi HC Capital, provides a financial perspective on the current state of the freight and equipment markets following an extended economic downturn. He outlines lender strategy, equipment valuation shifts from peak bubble levels, and why fleets remain cautious about adding new capacity until overall freight demand sees a sustained rebound.

Plus, we explore the latest industry headlines, deep-dive into freight market data, and feature insights from expert guests across warehouse automation, drone delivery, private fleets, and equipment financing.

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First, the guys unpack a bizarre $9.5M methamphetamine seizure hidden inside a Texas detergent load, discuss the sudden departure of Chris Spear from the ATA, state legal victories protecting CDL driver data, and the growing legal heat surrounding broker liability with J.B. Hunt facing summary judgment battles.

Then, two expert guest segments tackle the industry’s biggest modern challenges:

BuyWander Co-Founder Brock Kowalchuk joins the show to discuss how billions of dollars in returned retail inventory can be saved from landfills using scalable auction technology.

Megan Gabriel & Veronica Van Loon from Changemakers detail what brokers and logistics companies MUST do in the first 48 hours of a major legal or public relations crisis.

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In this episode, we kick things off at the Texas border, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers uncovered a massive narcotics smuggling operation hiding in plain sight. On August eleventh at the Roma International Bridge, CBP officers directed a tractor-trailer arriving from Mexico to secondary inspection after it declared a routine commercial detergent shipment. Using nonintrusive inspection equipment and a canine team, authorities discovered over 1,000 pounds of suspected methamphetamine concealed within the detergent load, with a staggering street value exceeding $9.57 million. Port Director Andres Guerra credited advanced technology and frontline vigilance with identifying the contraband in what appeared to be routine freight.

Next, we explore the intermodal sector, where RoadOne IntermodaLogistics is aggressively expanding its Port of Charleston footprint through strategic acquisition. The Randolph, Massachusetts-based provider announced it has acquired Higgins Transport Service, a Charleston-based drayage and intermodal provider, adding fifteen drivers and critical capacity to serve the Southeastern market. RoadOne recently opened a massive 384,000-square-foot facility in Summerville, South Carolina, and plans to add another 279,700-square-foot warehouse on the 100-acre property next year to support its growing Southeast global trade corridor operations.

Finally, we break down major leadership upheaval rocking the trucking industry's most prominent trade organization as Chris Spear departs as president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, effective immediately. Spear had recently observed his ten-year anniversary in the role and was just beginning an extension of his contract—a five-year deal signed in 2021 was extended in 2024 until 2029. ATA chairman Greg Hodgen said a search has begun to identify the organization's next leader, while assuring members that ATA remains strong, focused, and fully engaged in delivering results.

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