🎣 3,600 New Trucking Jobs

Good Monday morning. Volumes are down. Rates are stuck. But somehow, trucking jobs went up in July. We break down why and what it means for you in today's feature.

Plus,

😔 California Trucking Firm Closes After 40 Years
📦 DSV Pauses Nearshoring Push
🏗️ Construction Spending Falls Again
... and more.

Today's Newsletter is Brought to You By **FreightFlex**.

🍳 WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN FREIGHT

😔 California’s TGS Transportation Closes After 40 Years. Fresno‑based TGS Transportation shut down July 31, citing “challenging market conditions” in California’s trucking sector. “It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that TGS announces the official closure of its operation,” leaders wrote in a letter. Founded in 1985, the drayage carrier served ports in Oakland, Los Angeles, and Long Beach. The shutdown follows other California carrier closures, including Tony’s Express last year. Industry analysts note that declining volumes, high costs, and uncertain demand continue to pressure West Coast drayage operators.

📦 New Nearshore Reality: Why DSV is Hitting Pause While Betting Big. DSV is pressing ahead with a 900,000‑square‑foot logistics hub in Laredo, Texas, despite pausing other U.S.–Mexico investments due to tariff uncertainty. “The growth has gone out of it,” said CEO Jens H. Lund. The project, scheduled for completion in 2026, will enhance warehousing and cross‑border services at the busiest U.S.–Mexico gateway. The dual strategy highlights a critical reality: while short-term policy creates uncertainty, the long-term bet on Latin America's growing role in the global economy, driven by everything from nearshoring to critical minerals, is too big to ignore.

🏗️ U.S. Construction Spending Declines for Second Month. U.S. construction spending dropped 0.4% in June, marking a second straight monthly decline after a similar decrease in May. The Commerce Department reported a 2.9% year‑over‑year drop, driven by a 0.7% fall in private residential investment and a 1.8% plunge in new single‑family housing. Public construction rose 0.5% at the state and local level, while federal spending fell 4.4%. The slowdown reduces freight demand across key segments, and with mortgage rates still high, housing‑related freight volumes may remain subdued in the coming months.

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Great Freight Paradox: If Volumes Are Sinking, Why Are Fleets Still Hiring?

We've just got two sets of numbers that make absolutely no sense together, yet both are true.

The latest BLS data shows 3,600 trucking jobs added last month, bringing the total to 1.523 million, up 6,600 year-over-year. Meanwhile, warehouse employment fell by 6,400, hitting its lowest level since October 2021.

All this is happening as the ACT For-Hire Volume Index declined for a fourth straight month to 41.5, and margins continue to evaporate.,
So, what gives?

The Paradox

If there's less freight to move, why are trucking fleets adding drivers?

Welcome to the confusing, contradictory state of the 2025 freight market. The answer isn’t in any single number, but in the brutal reality happening underneath the surface. Here’s what’s really going on.

1. The Great Carrier Shakeout (Consolidation)

Smaller fleets are folding under the weight of low rates, high fuel, and brutal insurance costs, with headlines like “California trucking company closes after 40 years.”

But freight doesn’t vanish. It gets absorbed by larger carriers, who then hire the same displaced drivers to cover those loads.

So, what looks like a net gain of 3,600 jobs in July isn't really growth. It's consolidation in action as drivers shift from owner-ops to big fleets with W2 payrolls reporting to the BLS.

2. The Flight to Quality (Talent Shuffle)

In a hot market, carriers will hire almost anyone with a CDL. In a soft market like this one, they have their pick of the litter.

Voluntary pruning: Big, stable fleets are using the downturn to upgrade their driver pool, letting go of underperformers and recruiting experienced pros.
Two-sided squeeze: Between stricter hiring practices and federal disqualifications, the driver pool is shrinking.
So, there are fewer drivers on the road, but a more compliant, experienced, and “employable” pool shows up in payroll data.

"The Driver Availability Index tightened 3.0 points, to 47.9 in June from 50.9 in May, marking the first time in 38 months that the index has indicated a deteriorating driver supply...cost-cutting measures are beginning to take drivers and driving schools out of the market." – ACT Research

3. Warehouse-to-Wheel Shift (Anticipatory Hiring)

The fact that warehouse employment just hit its lowest point since October 2021 is arguably the most significant forward-looking signal in the entire jobs report.

Warehouses are finally clearing out the mountains of inventory that clogged up supply chains. The great destocking is reaching its end.

What is the very next step in the economic cycle? Replenishment.

Those empty shelves need to be refilled. The smartest, most well-capitalized carriers see this coming. They are getting drivers seated, trained, and ready for the restocking wave they believe is coming in the second half of the year.

FreightCaviar's Take

Don’t let employment stats fool you: this is still a capacity-rich, rate-poor market. But a few green shoots are worth watching:

Capacity Is Consolidating: Don't be fooled by the job numbers. The total number of trucks on the road isn't increasing. The pool of available carriers is shrinking and concentrating into larger, more professional (and often more expensive) fleets.
The "Cheap Carrier" Is an Endangered Species: The small carriers that often provided the lowest rates are the ones going out of business. This means the floor for rates is firming up. Moving forward, reliability and service will trump rock-bottom pricing.

The market is messy, but the data is telling a clear story: the weak are failing, the strong are consolidating, and everyone is getting ready for the next cycle.

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🌎 AROUND THE FREIGHT WEB

📚 Drivers Sidelined. USDOT reported roughly 1,500 truck drivers were removed from service for insufficient English proficiency. “If you can’t read or speak our national language — ENGLISH — we won’t let your truck endanger the driving public,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on X.

🚔 Drone Sabotage. Jasper County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana arrested Chase Bowman on July 26. The disgruntled former trucking company employee used a drone to drop nail bolts and paint jars onto the facility’s yard, damaging vehicles.

🌭 Hot Dog Spill. I-83 in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania, was closed last Friday morning after a tractor-trailer spilled thousands of frozen hot dogs across lanes. Cleanup crews spent hours removing debris and restoring safe travel conditions.

😴 Unsafe Driving Pressure. Former drivers allege Hope Trans, the trucking company linked to the I-20 drowsy driving crash involving Alexis Gonzalez-Companion, pressured them into unsafe driving practices. Hope Trans is still in operation as the NTSB continues its investigation.

🚂 CSX Merger Talks? CSX is exploring merger options following Union Pacific’s merger with Norfolk Southern. Industry analysts believe that a merger with BNSF is also possible, but as of now, this is only speculation.

🚨 Cocaine Seized. Border agents discovered 72 pounds of cocaine, a street value of $2.3 million, hidden in a tractor-trailer’s ceiling compartment using handheld x-ray devices at the Javier Vega Jr. Checkpoint in Kingsville, Texas.

🎣 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER

FreightCaviar Podcast: Last week, we sat down with Samir Burdzovic of Elysium Enterprise to talk about his journey from owner-operator to launching GetDrivers.ai, why trucking lead prices are about to explode, and why marketing isn’t optional anymore—it’s survival. Listen now on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
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Freight Broker Group Chat: Lost a load to a ghost MC? Just discovered a 15-layer carrier spoof ring? Come swap war stories, drop memes, and ask the stuff no one wants to post on LinkedIn. Join us on forum.freightcaviar.com