A trade group is suing to strip California and New York of the power to issue commercial driver's licenses entirely. Plus: $3/mi is now breakeven, DOT wants to rate every carrier, routing guides are falling apart, and more.
Shippers want the same things they’ve always wanted: reliable execution, fair pricing, and a partner who shows up prepared.
"We're basically in the center of the United States. As middle as you can get. Every class one railroad comes through Kansas City. It makes it very unique."
Spot rates just hit record highs, while the carrier pool is shrinking. Plus: shippers get a win on trucking liability, the oldest tax in trucking is on the chopping block, Ohio puts 5,000 CDL holders on notice, and more.
Happy Hump Day. Spot rates are posting record gains week over week, while the carrier pool is shrinking.
Plus:
⚖️ Shippers Win as Courts Split on Trucking Liability. A Werner Enterprises driver ran a red light in Houston and killed a motorcyclist while hauling for Home Depot. The victim's family also sued the retailer, arguing it was negligent for hiring Werner despite the carrier's safety record. On May 15, the Texas Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that a passive shipper who hires a federally regulated carrier and doesn't control operations owes no duty of care for what that carrier's driver does. The U.S. Supreme Court, meanwhile, went the opposite direction on broker liability in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II.
🚛 The Oldest Tax in Trucking is on the Chopping Block. The federal excise tax on heavy trucks has been around since 1917, originally introduced to fund World War I. The 12% FET adds $15,000 to $30,000 to the cost of a new Class 8 truck, and because it doesn't apply to used equipment, it actively pushes fleets toward keeping older, dirtier, less safe trucks on the road. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) introduced the Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act this week to repeal it entirely. "This tax hurts the small businesses and independent truckers that are the core of American trucking," said Senator Young.
🚨 Ohio Puts 5,000 CDL Holders on Notice. The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) is contacting 5,000 non-domiciled CDL holders to produce compliant documentation or get downgraded to a passenger license within 30 days. Those downgraded can no longer legally operate a commercial vehicle. Ohio hasn't issued a single new non-domiciled CDL since FMCSA tightened eligibility rules in September 2025, and says it never will again. If every state followed Ohio's lead, the impact on the available driver pool would be hard to even imagine.
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Diesel just dropped for the fourth consecutive week, meaning carriers aren't raising rates to cover fuel costs. They're raising rates because they can.
When carriers start getting their margin back after two years of grinding through the worst freight downturn in recent memory, they don't give it up quietly.
The demand side explains why it's moving this fast.
US manufacturing just expanded to its highest level since May 2022, and on the ocean side, benchmark container rates jumped by roughly $1,000 in a single week as peak-season GRIs hit simultaneously.
Webb Estus, President and COO of Estes Express, told FreightWaves Today:
"We've been hearing truckload was going to get tighter for two years now. It felt like optimism more than truth. I didn't expect it to happen so quickly, or at the pace that it's happened this year."
Estes posted 7.5% tonnage growth last week after running flat just two months prior.
John Ferguson, Founder and CEO of Pivot Supply Chain Solutions in Chattanooga, who's been tracking DAT postings in real time, showed that DAT had 65k loads posted on Tuesday morning. Down 10k from the previous three Tuesdays.
By mid-morning, it hit 73k.
On Monday, he watched the volume swing from 48k to 70k and back to 51k in a few hours.
His read:
Craig Fuller this morning on X: "Whoa: outbound tender rejection levels pop to their highest levels a cycle high. A penny short of 17%. Volumes are incredibly robust, coming out hot to start June."
Bill Packets, a broker, described the current carrier psychology:
The DAT data and Thomas Wasson's real-time spot tracking show no signs of slowing before peak season.
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🔀 WWEX & Auctane are Now One Company. The merger closed on June 1, forming ShipStation Global, a freight brokerage powerhouse combined with a shipping tech platform, targeting the e-commerce logistics space.
🚛 FedEx Freight is Officially a Standalone Company. The spinoff from FedEx Corp closed, separating the LTL giant from its parent after decades under one roof.
🏗️ Target Opened a $367M Food Distribution Center in Colorado. The 529,000-square-foot temperature-controlled facility in Thornton is Target's largest food DC to date, serving 129 stores across 11 states.
🤖 Texas Opens a Complaint Hotline for Driverless Trucks. The Texas DMV launched a formal system for safety complaints against autonomous commercial vehicles, the first time residents can officially flag concerns about driverless freight on public roads.
🌱 Two-Thirds of States Got a Fertilizer HOS Waiver. FMCSA granted a seasonal exemption to help move agricultural inputs during the peak planting season, allowing drivers to exceed standard hours-of-service limits on fertilizer hauls.
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A trade group is suing to strip California and New York of the power to issue commercial driver's licenses entirely. Plus: $3/mi is now breakeven, DOT wants to rate every carrier, routing guides are falling apart, and more.
"We're basically in the center of the United States. As middle as you can get. Every class one railroad comes through Kansas City. It makes it very unique."
S&P is cautiously optimistic about the freight recovery, but it still kept RXO's rating below investment grade. Plus: the Strait is set to reopen, Volvo pulls the safety driver, the U.S. goes after cheap trailers, and more.
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.
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