🎣 Freight Caviar Is Shutting Down

Happy April Fool's Day. Remember, don't believe most of what you see on the internet today.

🤔 Question of the Day: New regulations stipulate that by 2032, __% of long-haul semi-trucks must be zero-emission. Find the answer in our main story.

TOP LANE MOVERS POWERED BY GREENSCREENS.AI

*Greenscreens.ai, forecasts real-time truckload buy prices that are suited to each freight brokerage's purchasing power using AI and machine learning. Its engine takes into account over 130 attributes and data points in each rate forecast.

🐔 WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN FREIGHT

🏆 The 25 Largest Trucking Companies in 2024. At the forefront of the U.S. economy, five major trucking firms dominate the industry. According to research by Insider Monkey, the leaders of the pack are Saia, J.B. Hunt, Old Dominion (ODFL), FedEx, and UPS. Interested in who else made the cut? Here's an overview of the top 25 trucking companies.

🚚 Pride Group: Bankruptcy Protection & a $100M Lawsuit. Pride Group, a leading Canadian trucking firm and dealership, has filed for bankruptcy protection, rocked by a massive $100 million lawsuit from Mitsubishi HC Capital America. This move offers a temporary shield against the storm of claims totaling $637 million from over 20 lenders, including heavyweights like Daimler Truck Financial. Pride Group's fleet ballooned to 805 trucks and 2,600 trailers in 2022. Amidst this turmoil, Pride Group remains determined, aiming to restructure and stabilize its operations.

🔓 Thieves Swipe $1.8M in Electronics. In a crime spree stretching from January 2021 to April 2023, a gang swiped electronics worth over $1.6 million from UPS warehouses across five states and hijacked a truckload of high-tech goods. Three Philly men have confessed to the crime, which spanned 55 warehouses, targeting packages with "lithium-ion battery" warnings. Meanwhile, a separate theft saw $218,039 in electronics, including Oculus VR headsets and Meta Ray-Ban sunglasses, recovered by California Highway Patrol.

TOGETHER WITH LEVITY.AI

Levity helps fast-moving 3PLs and freight brokers to do more with less by automating the most time-consuming and repetitive email tasks.

Whether it is spot quoting, load building or answering track and trace requests. Levity connects to your inbox, TMS and other tools like rating engines, extracting the right information no matter the language or format. It performs tasks on your behalf automatically in the background so you can save time and focus on building shipper relationships instead of data entry. Learn more on Levity.ai today.

Anti-Diesel. Pro-ZEV.

The Biden Administration, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has rolled out what's being hailed as the strongest-ever pollution standards for cars and trucks in the United States.

The announcement, made on March 29, focuses on model years 2027 through 2032 and beyond and aims to strongly reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality.

Here's the Rundown

• EPA's Goals: The EPA's new standards are projected to slash over 7 billion tons of carbon emissions, providing nearly $100 billion of annual net benefits to society. This includes $13 billion in annual public health benefits and $62 billion in annual savings on fuel, maintenance, and repair costs for drivers.
• Tough Targets: The regulations stipulate that by 2032, 30% of "heavy-duty vocational" trucks must be zero-emission, with a 40% requirement for short-haul day cabs and 25% for long-haul tractor-trailers (answer to todays question of the day). This gradual increase in zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales provides a clear pathway towards cleaner transportation while also boosting the U.S. job market in advanced vehicle technologies.

Industry's Reaction

• Skepticism from Trucking Groups: The American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association have expressed doubts about the feasibility of achieving the new stringent standards. They argue the rules ignore the operational realities of trucking, potentially jeopardizing the industry.
• Oil Industry's Concerns: The American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers voiced their disapproval, seeing the regulations as a move to phase out fuel-based technologies in favor of ZEVs, neglecting other renewable diesel solutions currently reducing emissions in heavy-duty fleets.

Opportunity Knocks for ZEV Leaders

For companies like Tesla and Nikola, which are at the forefront of EV technology, these regulations could not come at a better time. With the EPA's projection that sales of new zero-emitting vehicles will reach 17% by model year 2026, the stage is set for these companies to majorly capitalize on the industry's pivot toward clean energy.

Recognizing the Challenges

EPA Administrator Michael Regan defended the rules, citing goals to cut pollution from heavy-duty vehicles while fostering safer communities, reduce operational costs for truck owners, and improve American health.

Flexibility in Standards: Initial model years (2027-2030) see less stringent standards to ease the transition.

Federal Incentives: The administration acknowledges the cost challenges and offers subsidies to make electric trucks more affordable.

As the debate continues, the push for innovation and infrastructure development to support these new standards will be key to their success and acceptance in the industry.

Sources: EPA | CBS News | Newsweek | Fortune | FreightWaves

TOGETHER WITH ISO (ISOMETRIC TECHNOLOGIES)

Carrier reliability is central to everything you do. Are you measuring it?

Booking unreliable carriers leads to higher operational costs: more bounces, more reschedules and more headaches. With ISO, you can source carriers for every lane based on service data. More reliable carriers mean happier customers, higher volumes and lower cost per load. Learn more at iso.io.

AROUND THE FREIGHT WEB

🚢 Giant Ships Challenge. The collision of the Dali into Baltimore's Key Bridge, bearing 4,700 containers, puts into perspective the growth in ship sizes since 1977, a time when the largest vessels entering the port carried merely 2,000 to 3,000 containers.

🚧 Cleanup Hurdles. Clearing Baltimore's channel post-bridge collapse will take weeks, if not months, a crucial task for resuming maritime traffic and economic stability.

🏭 Mercedes Innovation. Inside the Mercedes Benz factory, check out how billions are spent on producing massive semi-trucks.

📉 Market Rates Stagnant. Despite the Easter holiday, spot market rates remain sluggish as excess capacity and flat growth continue.

🌐 Tech Alliance. The U.S. and Mexico to collaborate on semiconductor supply chain opportunities, another move to reduce dependency on Asia and strengthen North American technology resilience.

💻 Mighty Acquisition. Blue Yonder's acquisition of One Network for $839M is big news in the supply chain software market.

🎣 FREIGHT CAVIAR TECHNOLOGIES

FreightCaviar Technologies is launching a shipper database & CRM for freight brokers called ShipperCRM. We've been relatively quiet about the project since October 2022, but are now ready to share with you something truly special.

Join us on April 9th as we unveil ShipperCRM 2.0. Head over to ShipperCRM.com to learn more.

FREIGHT MEME OF THE DAY

Also, check out:

• 🎧 The FreightCaviar Podcast. Listen to this week's podcast on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
• 🎧 The Bootstrapper's Guide to Logistics is a podcast that highlights and inspires supply chain entrepreneurs, sharing their stories and building a community from the ground up.
• Want to get your brand noticed by freight brokers? FreightCaviar can help. Work with us to get your services featured in our newsletter, podcast, and more. Plus, we write great articles about what you do. Get in touch with Paul at pbj@freightcaviar.com to learn more.