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.
Plus, the latest on brokerage exits, a trucking company closes its doors, Landstar quantifies fraud impact, and more.
TGIF. Today’s feature dives into the Tony Kirik fraud case: A wild web of chameleon carriers, false filings, and a system that failed to catch it until it was too late.
Plus:
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🐔 WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN FREIGHT
📉 Freight Brokerage Numbers Dip, but Decline Slows. Kevin Hill from Brush Pass Research reflected on the continued contraction within freight brokerages in March 2025, with a net loss of 132 active brokerages. Still, the pace of decline is easing—down 8.6% year-over-year, a marked improvement over the sharper drops seen in prior years. As of April 1, there are 25,087 active brokerages—just 1.3% more than in April 2021—reflecting stagnant growth over the past four years. Despite this plateau, long-term growth remains positive at 17.8% over five years. Hill is “hoping the next turn in the cycle is around the corner has the legs to last.”
🚫 LTI Trucking Shuts Down, Promises Driver Payouts. LTI Trucking Services, a regional Illinois-based carrier with 250 drivers and a fleet of over 300 tractors, has abruptly ceased operations. In a message sent to its workforce, the company cited “exhausting all possible options” and difficult circumstances as reasons for the sudden closure. Founded in 2005, LTI specialized in temperature-controlled freight, serving major brands like Walmart and Nestlé across 30 states. While company officials declined media comments, they assured drivers they would be paid all owed wages and assisted in returning home. “Any driver that wants to go home immediately, we will work with you that way,” LTI Trucking Services said. “We promise that you will get all funds you are due.”
😔 Landstar Faces Earnings Blow Due to Fraud Probe. Landstar System Inc. has slashed its Q1 2025 earnings forecast after uncovering a supply chain fraud that could reduce earnings per share by 35–50 cents—about $12.5 million to $17.9 million in losses. The fraud, not tied to core North American truckload operations, triggered a major revision to the prior EPS guidance of $1.05–$1.25. Already battling high insurance and claims costs, the company also reported a 4% decline in loads hauled. Despite repurchasing $60 million in stock during Q1 2025 to show confidence, shares dropped nearly 8% (to $139.98) as of April 3rd, following the disclosure.
Stop by TrueNorth’s Booth #911 to learn more about the industry's First AI Loadboard. We will be demoing our platform, giving out swag, and raffling off prizes.
Last week we ran a quick blurb about Tony Kirik, the Rochester-based trucking company owner sentenced to 45 months in prison for lying to the FMCSA.
John Kingston
Shortly after publishing that brief, we got a message from one of our readers that helped us understand the huge implications of this case.
"This isn’t an anomaly. It’s a blueprint." – Steven Ferreira, CarrierOK
CarrierOK dug into their network graph analysis and revealed a tangled web of over a dozen chameleon carriers linked to Kirik, with the goal of ducking FMCSA enforcement. When one company earned a bad safety rating, another popped up using recycled infrastructure, cloaked addresses, and the same phone numbers.
According to federal records, Kirik created new MC numbers under family and employee names while maintaining control behind the scenes. The new companies denied any connection to previous operations, a tactic that masked safety violations and skirted compliance reviews.
CarrierOK’s analysis uncovered recycled contact info across DOT filings going back years:
This network of ghost companies wasn’t invisible but just ignored.
CarrierOK visualized the hidden infrastructure behind Kirik’s operation in a striking network graph titled “The Fingerprint of Fraud.” It maps more than a dozen interrelated carriers, all tied to Main Street Logistics Inc., established in 2000, using shared contact info, addresses, phone numbers, and even fax lines.
What looks like a tangled web of small carriers is, in fact, a systematically connected entity, with logic nodes linking shell companies like:
The graph shows how easy it is to miss these patterns in FMCSA filings unless you're looking across time and across data types. Many brokers, insurers, and even regulators see only snapshots, not the full network history.
Chameleon carriers leave fingerprints. You just need the tools to spot them.
What makes the Kirik case scary is that it’s not rare. Ferreira told us:
“We see associations like this in the data all the time… sometimes legit, other times to obscure something nefarious.”
And while there are legit reasons to spin up multiple carriers (e.g., intermodal, regional ops), the concern is concealment. Most vetting tools only show a snapshot in time and not the full history.
Jerome Washington
Read CarrierOK's full breakdown of the Tony Kirik Case.
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🌎 AROUND THE FREIGHT WEB
🚗 Auto Tariffs Shift into High Gear. Matt Silver, Co-Founder of Cargado, breaks down the 25% U.S. auto tariff and its USMCA carve-outs, plus Canada’s retaliation and what it all means for freight.
📊 Tariff Data. Ryan Petersen posted on X that Flexport was able to generate a formula to “reverse engineer” the impact of reciprocal tariffs. The charts show predictions of how impacted countries could fare under current tariff rates.
😔 Freight Layoffs in Q1. Thousands of jobs were lost across the freight sector in the first quarter. According to media reports and WARN Act notices, 5,608 jobs have been cut in recent weeks. Since January 1, a total of 23,000 positions across various sectors have been affected.
💼 Vertical Cold to Detroit. Vertical Cold Storage is strengthening its Midwest presence by acquiring Arctic Logistics. The acquisition makes Vertical the sixth-largest cold storage company in North America.
🛠️ Bridge Money. After months of closures and delays, the Washington Bridge in Rhode Island will be rebuilt thanks to a $221 million federal grant, allowing the long-delayed project to finally begin.
🚂 Maersk Buys Panama Canal Railway. Maersk has purchased the railway connecting ports at both ends of the Panama Canal, despite threats from Trump. The sale is being promoted as creating “value for shareholders,” according to CPKC CEO Keith Creel.
📋 DOT Seeking Opinions. The U.S. Department of Transportation is giving those in the freight industry a chance to voice opinions on which outdated or burdensome regulations should be eliminated to streamline freight operations. You can submit feedback here.
🎣 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER
FREIGHT HUMOR
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.
Plus, C.H. Robinson's 2026 rate forecast update, Hormuz tankers still stuck, a $1M LEGO heist, and more.
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