The World Cup kicked off, and Amazon decided to become forklift certified. Plus: the Fed could spoil freight's party, C.H. Robinson in crosshairs again, the World Cup is a freight problem, and more.
Here's your weekly roundup of what’s trending across the freight industry on X, LinkedIn, Reddit, and YouTube.
Every freight AI vendor quotes an automation rate. Almost none publish what's behind it. Here's the methodology question brokerages should be asking and what Chain's 3M-load dataset reveals.
Plus, STG's path out of bankruptcy, Wyoming's "Truck Around and Find Out" operation, what "phantom capacity" means for Mexico lanes, and more in today's newsletter.
Happy Wednesday. We're reporting the latest batch of carrier earnings, and Landstar just reported April truck revenue running 13% above last year, while Werner swung back to profitability. Here are the numbers brokers need to know.
Plus:
...and more.
🏗️ STG Is Almost Out. STG Logistics has reached a settlement with minority lenders and plans to exit bankruptcy protection soon. The recapitalization plan gives Fortress Investment Group and Invesco majority ownership in exchange for a $1 billion debt reduction, over 90% of outstanding debt, and up to $150 million in fresh capital. Confirmation hearing is set for May 18. For brokers who move intermodal and drayage freight, STG coming out of bankruptcy as a leaner, better-capitalized platform matters: they'll be back competing for your lanes.
🚨 "Truck Around and Find Out." The Laramie County Sheriff's Office wrapped up a three-day commercial vehicle operation called "Truck Around And Find Out: Operation Spring Break" with 85 criminal arrests, 46 of them for immigration violations. Deputies found trucks with bald tires, revoked carrier authorities, and drivers operating without CDLs. One driver in the country illegally had parked in a spot marked "Absolutely No Truck, Trailer, Or Semi Parking Anytime." It's the second such operation this year; February's version netted 32 immigration arrests. Sheriff Kozak said the crackdowns have already reduced fatal crashes in the county.
🚛 Phantom Capacity Hits the Mexico Border. The US-Mexico trucking lane looks busy on paper. It's not. Uber Freight SVP Zeid Houssami calls it "phantom capacity;" freight is available, but usable capacity has quietly shrunk as tighter security protocols, documentation requirements, and CDL compliance standards push non-qualifying carriers out of the lane. "There's not really a driver shortage. It's more so a compliant driver shortage," Houssami told FreightWaves. Tender acceptance rates are dropping even as overall volumes hold steady, which means the tightening is hiding in plain sight.
Running a successful trucking operation means doing more with less, and CtrlChain makes that possible.
Every tool working together to make operations leaner, smarter, and more profitable.
Analysts expected Werner to post a loss this quarter. Werner posted a profit instead. That's the story of Q1 2026 earnings in one sentence.
Werner spent most of 2025 in the red. A punishing freight market, a major One-Way restructuring, elevated insurance costs, and brutal Q1 weather combined to produce a full-year net loss of $14.4 million.
The carrier made hard structural bets and absorbed pain as it waited for the market to turn. It looks like the wait is over.
The Werner numbers:
The driver: Werner's dedicated fleet now makes up 78% of its total trucks after the FirstFleet acquisition closed in January. Dedicated is stable, sticky, and profitable. One-Way got restructured — smaller fleet, better freight, higher rates.
Landstar said the same thing with different numbers:
That April number is the one to watch. Q1 to Q2 normally yields about a 2% sequential increase in revenue per load. Landstar is tracking nearly 7x that.
ArcBest filled in the LTL picture:
April accelerated sharply from Q1's 1% revenue per shipment increase. The same momentum is showing up across UPS and TFI. Carriers are guiding toward double-digit rate increases by year-end.
So what for brokers?
The bid season leverage you've had for two years is gone. Carriers restructured, held pricing discipline, and waited out the downturn, and it's paying off. If your shippers haven't renegotiated recently, the math is moving against them fast. Lock in rates now, or pay more for the same capacity in 90 days.
Your inbox wasn’t built for invoicing. Epay Manager was.
For decades, Epay has delivered back-office automation for freight brokers that is fundamentally different: it delivers a proactive invoicing workflow by building the carrier invoice from data in your TMS and proactively collecting invoice documents in-platform.
Epay’s centralized portal will:
Less inbox, more impact.
⛽ UAE Quits OPEC. Effective May 1, the UAE is out, ending nearly 60 years of membership. With 4.8 million barrels per day of capacity and ambitions to reach 5 million by 2027, it's now free to produce without restriction. Bearish for oil long term, but with Hormuz still effectively closed, the diesel relief won't be immediate.
🛣️ Truck-Only Lanes. Georgia DOT is accepting public comments through May 28 on a plan to build dedicated commercial vehicle lanes along 41 miles of northbound I-75 between Macon and metro Atlanta — no toll for truckers.
🔍 Texas AG Targets CDL Schools. The Texas Attorney General has opened investigations into several commercial driving schools suspected of certifying unqualified CDL drivers. Comes on the heels of last year's federal crackdown that swept 550 schools nationally.
❤️ $10K for Drivers in Need. The St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund raised over $10,000 at MATS 2026 through a silent auction and booth donations. The nonprofit provides financial assistance to OTR drivers sidelined by illness or injury.
👥 $8M Stolen. Three people are charged with stealing $8 million from a New Jersey trucking business by setting up a shadow company with a nearly identical name, then diverting payments meant for the legitimate firm.
🪪 30-Year Fake Identity. Ohio DPS investigators found that the commercial driver involved in an I-71 crash that killed a family of three had been operating under a stolen identity for three decades. The real identity holder had no idea their information was being used.
Issue 003 of FreightCaviar Print is almost here.
Print magazine + Caviar Circle access.
From $17/month.
30-day money-back guarantee. If it's not for you, we'll refund you right away, and you still keep both Winter and Spring editions.
Subscribe → here.
Plus, our Freight Alley Film is officially out on our YouTube channel.
The World Cup kicked off, and Amazon decided to become forklift certified. Plus: the Fed could spoil freight's party, C.H. Robinson in crosshairs again, the World Cup is a freight problem, and more.
Here's your weekly roundup of what’s trending across the freight industry on X, LinkedIn, Reddit, and YouTube.
Every freight AI vendor quotes an automation rate. Almost none publish what's behind it. Here's the methodology question brokerages should be asking and what Chain's 3M-load dataset reveals.
A FreightCaviar follower spent weeks quick-paying carriers on a steel project before learning the shipper was fake, the carriers were in on it, and not a single load was ever real. Plus: Congress takes aim at chameleon carriers, diesel keeps falling, and more.
Join over 14K+ subscribers to get the latest freight news and entertainment directly in your inbox for free. Subscribe & be sure to check your inbox to confirm (and your spam folder just in case).
