The Supreme Court just heard arguments in the broker liability case we’ve been tracking. Plus: oil shipping costs explode, trucking insurance is stuck in 1980, regulators brace for a carrier crackdown, and more.
Optimize freight broker operations by fixing payment workflows in Q1. Streamline carrier pay before capacity shifts compress your margins.
Tucker Carlson’s nicotine brand loses 378,000 tins in a cargo theft. Plus: produce rates reset, diesel climbs, and a bill that could pull hundreds of thousands of drivers off the road.
Plus: Schneider to soon launch new intermodal service, Home Depot's Q3 earnings, UberFreight + Greenbriar's creative deal, and more.
Good Wednesday morning. U.S. ports are starting to feel the crunch as volumes remain elevated – we're covering the numbers and the impact in today's main story.
Plus: Schneider to soon launch new intermodal service, Home Depot's Q3 earnings, UberFreight + Greenbriar's creative deal, and more.
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🐔 WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN FREIGHT
🚂 CSX and CPKC to Launch New Intermodal Service with Schneider. Starting Dec. 1, Schneider will launch an intermodal service connecting the Southeast U.S. with Texas and Mexico, utilizing CSX and Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s newly established Meridian & Bigbee corridor. This new route offers a direct link between the regions, creating a more efficient interchange at Myrtlewood, Alabama. Plus, Schneider’s dedicated fleet grew 4% YoY in Q3 (6,617 trucks on average), bolstering reliable capacity and stability for customers amid market shifts, with President and CEO Mark Rourke expecting further fleet expansion and retention in 2025.
🛠️ Home Depot's Q3 Performance Surpasses Expectations. Home Depot exceeded Wall Street expectations in Q3, posting $40.22 billion in revenue, up 6.6% YoY, despite continued consumer spending pullbacks. Same-store sales fell 1.3%, a lighter decline than last quarter, signaling potential stabilization. CEO Ted Decker highlighted improved sales in seasonal and hurricane-related products, lifting the company’s full-year revenue forecast to a 4% rise. Home Depot’s earnings per share reached $3.78, beating projections, though still slightly below last year’s $3.81. While broader economic uncertainty persists, shares rose 2.5% in premarket trading as investors reacted to the promising results and improved revenue outlook.
💰 Crafty Dealmaking: Uber Freight's $851M Settlement with Greenbriar. Uber Freight’s $851 million payout to Greenbriar Equity Group marks the end of a strategic investment that went beyond typical financing. In 2020, Greenbriar invested $500 million with downside protections—a 1.5x liquidation preference, a 6% annual dividend, and the right to sell shares back to Uber—securing a nearly 20% return. This approach allowed Greenbriar to profit despite today’s market challenges, highlighting a trend toward creative, risk-protected investments. Cambridge Capital’s Benjamin Gordon praised the deal as a “smart move,” noting it provided Uber the cash needed for its acquisition of Transplace. Everybody wins.
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October saw U.S. container imports stay strong, with a solid 2.49 million TEUs hitting our shores—marking the fourth month in a row above the 2.4 million threshold. This high volume is great for freight, but it’s pushing port logistics close to their breaking point. As we near the end of 2024, importers are still wrestling with port congestion, growing transit delays, and shifting trade flows. Let's break down the rest of the key numbers from a Descartes report.
Imports from China are still dominating, hitting 960,016 TEUs in October. It’s the fifth month this year that Chinese imports have topped 900,000 TEUs—a level we didn’t see in 2023. Why so high? Part of it could be shippers trying to get ahead of proposed tariffs from the Trump camp, who’ve been talking about hitting Chinese goods with a 60% import tax.
Top 10 U.S. ports saw a 1.2% dip in imports compared to September, with some ports pulling ahead while others struggled to keep up:
Port delays crept up in October, adding more headaches. Savannah had the roughest month, with transit times stretching from 7.5 days to 9 days.
On the brighter side, Long Beach and Oakland actually saw slight improvements. Descartes attributes some of the East Coast delays to the brief ILA strike earlier in October, which likely shook up schedules.
The high import volumes are showing that demand is still strong, but it’s also exposing some big pain points. With possible tariffs on the way, we might see importers continue to stock up, keeping TEU counts high. But the delays and congestion are a reminder that the port infrastructure is still strained.
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🌎 AROUND THE FREIGHT WEB
🎤 Fuller vs Miller. Craig Fuller posted a video to X saying that Jason Miller challenged him to a debate on Trump's tariffs – Fuller says he's up for it, only if they are taking questions from a live studio audience.
📰 Dismantling Bureaucracy. President-elect Donald Trump appointed Elon Musk to lead the new "Department of Government Efficiency", where he will act as an advisor along with Vivek Ramaswamy. Read our take on its implications here.
🚛 Inward-Facing Cams. JB Hunt has implemented inward-facing cameras in all trucks. COO Nick Hobbs said the aim is to continue contributing to the safety culture and performance of JB Hunt.
🗳️ The LTL Mayor. Keith Wilson, owner/CEO of LTL Titan Freight System, has been elected mayor of Portland, with plans focused on helping the homeless.
🚧 Protest at Border. A protest on the Mexican side of the World Trade Bridge halted northbound cargo on Tuesday. The demonstrators (over 100 people) were seeking justice for victims of forced disappearances, some due to local cartel.
🎣 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER
FREIGHT MEME OF THE DAY
The Supreme Court just heard arguments in the broker liability case we’ve been tracking. Plus: oil shipping costs explode, trucking insurance is stuck in 1980, regulators brace for a carrier crackdown, and more.
Tucker Carlson’s nicotine brand loses 378,000 tins in a cargo theft. Plus: produce rates reset, diesel climbs, and a bill that could pull hundreds of thousands of drivers off the road.
The Middle East crisis is already hitting carriers. Plus: Florida lost $3B in crops, flatbed rates posted a fifth straight weekly increase, a $5B brokerage was just acquired, and more.
Plus: autonomous trucking just raised $113M, California is fighting to keep 20,000 drivers, Arrive's 2026 truckload freight forecast, and more.
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