The Load Letter

Diesel at $5.65 and Brent jumping on renewed Iran fighting mean your fuel surcharge lag is about to eat margin on every stale contract in your book. We also cover August capacity contraction slowing to its weakest pace in six months while pricing keeps surging, a Border Patrol sweep in Arizona that pulled 95 CDL holders out of the Southwest driver pool, and what UPS shedding Amazon volume plus a 12% jump in last-mile costs opens up for regional truckload. Plus retailers from Boscov's to Dollar General professionalizing how they buy freight, and why consolidation gives relationship brokers leverage. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

A U.S. strike on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz pushed Brent crude up 3.4% to over $91, and with diesel already at $5.65 and retail lagging crude by one to three weeks, every all-in quote sitting on your board just got more expensive to cover. We break down the fuel surcharge exposure on contract lanes, why dry van, reefer, and flatbed all printing at $2.63 means national averages are useless right now, and the cross-border buildout in Nuevo Leon backed by $164 million in border water infrastructure. Plus: trade groups push back on the Penske appellate decision and what widening liability means for your insurance renewal, the Teamsters' suit against California's driverless truck rules, and why you need an intermodal answer in your pocket this week. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

Dry van spot slipped four cents this week, but the softness is masking the real story: trucks are leaving the market, and that's what's holding the floor heading into fall bids. We break down diesel at $5.65 and why stale fuel surcharge schedules are eating your margin, FMCSA's hours-of-service pilots that could let drivers pause the 14-hour clock, the late-September New York non-domiciled CDL case threatening Northeast capacity, and UPS holiday surcharges opening a parcel-to-truckload conversion window on September 27th. Plus flatbed's housing headwind, Averitt's new Jackson facility, and where U.S.-Canada tariff pressure shows up in reefer ag lanes. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

The four-year freight recession is ending because trucks are disappearing, not because shippers found more freight, and CVSA's Roadcheck data now shows exactly which small carriers are getting pulled out of service. We also cover diesel above $5 as a refining problem that won't correct by winter, flatbed strength sitting on top of a housing pullback, retail bid season opening early with Advance Auto Parts and Walmart, and Descartes buying Tai for $100 million. Plus cross-border truck tariffs, produce lanes firming on Brake Safety Week, and why autonomous middle-mile freight is coming for your I-5 lanes first. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

Volume has returned to the spot board but truck supply hasn't followed, and that gap is set to move rates before the data catches up, with all three modes sitting flat at $2.63 and diesel at $5.65. We also cover the USPS 6% peak season parcel surcharge landing October 4th, Descartes buying broker TMS Tai Software for $100 million, a record $5.3 million Panama Canal transit slot and Crowley's new Central America to Port Houston reefer service, softening imports at the Port of Oakland, BJ's cutting 20% of its SKUs, and a cabotage crackdown pulling non-compliant capacity off cross-border lanes. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

DAT says post-produce volume is holding while carrier count keeps thinning, so brokers pricing the fall like a soft market are about to eat the difference. We also cover the Class 8 registration forecast cut to 217,000 units, improving carrier credit quality that removes the desperation discount, Descartes buying broker TMS Tai for $100 million, consumer confidence slipping to 89.4 ahead of Q4 restock, Crowley's new Central America to Port Houston reefer string, FedEx's pharma cold chain push, US-Canada tariff risk on cross-border lanes, and Chris Spear's abrupt exit from ATA. Spot sits flat at $2.63 across van, reefer, and flatbed, with diesel at $5.65. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

Section 338 tariffs on Canadian imports hit 50% over the weekend with Canada promising to match, and the cross-border capacity coming loose is about to land cheap in domestic Midwest and Northeast lanes. We also cover Chris Spear's abrupt exit from the ATA and what a leadership vacuum means for broker transparency rulemaking, $131 million in Q1 cargo theft and why carrier vetting is now a sales asset, tightening enforcement and longer dwell at the southern border, and what auction activity is telling you about small fleet balance sheets. Spot rates open at $2.28 dry van, $2.64 reefer, $2.79 flatbed, with diesel at $5.26. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

Diesel has ripped ahead of the rest of the barrel to $5.26 a gallon, quietly squeezing your carriers and leaving most fuel surcharge tables under-recovering. We also cover a reefer market that's holding its premium, a still-spending but deal-hunting consumer steering freight toward discount and off-price channels, and network redesigns at Culver's and Kimberly-Clark that signal fresh lanes. Plus the automation push into last mile, port electrification in Elizabeth, book-and-claim emissions reporting becoming an RFP qualifier, and why auction chatter is your leading indicator for a rate turn. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

The White House pushed the 50% Canadian tariffs to Saturday the 22nd, giving brokers a narrow cross-border pull-forward window before volume risks falling off a cliff. We break down the Panama Canal's August 26th draft cut and what rerouted boxes mean for Southern California outbound, Fed minutes signaling higher-for-longer rates against diesel at $5.26, plus Pennsylvania's CDL-mill crackdown, an XPO credit upgrade, retailers turning stores into distribution hubs, a cooling reefer market, and Axle Logistics' jersey patch deal. It's a discipline market, not a volume market, protect your margin and your best carriers. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com

Diesel hit $5.26 a gallon on $91.91 Brent while dry van and flatbed spot linehaul cooled for a second straight week, a fuel-up, rates-down squeeze that's about to reshape how your carriers answer the phone. We also cover a near-record July at the Port of LA and the SoCal outbound window it opens, Americold's new Atlantic Canada cold chain gateway at Port Saint John, proposed Mexican duties on Chinese goods and what they mean for Laredo, Amazon and Home Depot pushing inventory closer to the customer, and a 39.4% jump in Class 6 truck sales as private fleets eat the easy short-haul miles. New briefing every morning from The Load Letter, theloadletter.com