Plus, Super Ego fires back at 60 Minutes, China tells Maersk and MSC to exit Panama ports, New York loses $73.5 million over non-domiciled CDLs — and more in today's newsletter.
Plus, diesel's rising price streak finally snaps, a 13-year shipper relationship ends in a $726K lawsuit, Congress takes a real swing at cargo theft, and more in today's newsletter.
"You need to know the rules of the game, and then you need to know how to play it."
The March LMI reads like 2022 with prices at a 4-year high. Plus: warehouse arson in California, Mexico's trucker strike enters day three, and broker margins are still underwater.
Good Monday morning. The March Logistics Managers' Index just dropped, and it's giving 2022 vibes as transportation prices hit their highest reading in four years.
Plus:
🔥 Fires Hit Both Ends of the Supply Chain. A 6-alarm blaze destroyed a 1.2M sq ft Kimberly-Clark distribution center in Ontario, CA (about 11 city blocks), with 175 firefighters responding and multiple big rigs destroyed at the docks. An NFI Industries employee was arrested on felony arson charges. Separately, a fuel tanker explosion near the Bridge of the Americas at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal killed one worker and temporarily shut down the bridge, though canal shipping was unaffected.
🇲🇽 Mexico's Trucker Strike isn't Over. What started Monday as blockades across 20 Mexican states stretched into a second day, and organizers say it could continue indefinitely. Truckers are demanding action on cargo crime (16,000+ incidents annually), diesel costs, and highway security. Key corridors linking Mexico City, Sinaloa, and border crossings in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez remained disrupted Wednesday. Rejection rates in Laredo were already up 37% YoY heading in. If you have cross-border freight moving right now, route around city centers and keep drivers in contact with dispatch.
📉 Brokers, the Math isn't Working. March broker gross margin landed at $206.12 per load, up just $7.74 from February, with a GM% of 9.91%, essentially flat, per DAT's Ken Adamo pulling from 1M loads across 439 companies. His read: "the industry is operating at or below total operating cost." Some brokers are cherry-picking higher-margin loads; others are going after market share and bleeding quietly. Neither works until contract rates move.
As freight fraud continues to rise, MODE Global partnered with Highway to strengthen carrier vetting and improve onboarding efficiency.
By implementing Highway, MODE gained greater visibility into carrier activity, identified suspicious behavior earlier, and removed non-compliant carriers from its network.
The result: a significant reduction in theft and double brokering incidents, while streamlining the carrier onboarding process.
See how MODE Global evolved its approach to Carrier Identity and fraud prevention.
Plus, Super Ego fires back at 60 Minutes, China tells Maersk and MSC to exit Panama ports, New York loses $73.5 million over non-domiciled CDLs — and more in today's newsletter.
Plus, diesel's rising price streak finally snaps, a 13-year shipper relationship ends in a $726K lawsuit, Congress takes a real swing at cargo theft, and more in today's newsletter.
"You need to know the rules of the game, and then you need to know how to play it."
Plus: 170+ truckers removed in Florida, new bill proposes $5M motor carrier insurance, truck sales take a huge dive, 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).
