āWhen I say youāre going to require high levels of authenticity and authentication at the point of entry... that is no longer going to be enough to prevent access. Youāre going to need multiple points that all need to match in order to unlock access- thatās where weāre going."
FMCSA launched a new carrier registry three weeks ago to stop freight fraud ā zero new carriers have been registered since. Plus: PepsiCo is running 41 driverless trucks, peak season and a shrinking driver pool, cameras know where your carriers have been, and more.
Freight AI pilots succeed. Production deployments often don't. Augment CEO Harish Abbott on the change management gap ā and what ops leaders need to do before the tech even matters.
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.
Happy Hump Day. The Middle East crisis is already directly impacting carriers. We break it down in today's feature.
Plus:
š„¶ Florida Lost $3B in Crops This Winter. Three back-to-back freeze events between December and February, including Miami hitting 35Ā°F for the first time since 2010, torched Florida's produce supply across 66 counties. Strawberries, sweet corn, tomatoes, and bell peppers are among the hardest hit. Commissioner Wilton Simpson called it one of the worst freeze events in state history. The produce that normally fills reefer trucks out of the Southeast this time of year isn't coming.
šļø Flatbed Is the One Bright Spot Right Now. While dry van and reefer rates soften, flatbed just posted its fifth consecutive weekly increase. The national average is now $2.29/mile and is forecast to hit $2.45 by early April, according to DAT Principal Analyst Dean Croke. The driver: data center construction. Since ChatGPT launched in late 2022, the U.S. has seen over $100 billion in direct data center investment, and that freight is tailor-made for spot flatbed. Heavy, oversized, time-sensitive, and loaded with accessorials. "Flatbed carriers are still benefiting from the surge in AI investment and the data center construction boom," Croke wrote in his latest DAT iQ market update.
šø PE Just Swallowed a $5B Freight Broker. Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm with $181 billion under management that specializes in buying software companies, agreed to acquire WWEX Group (parent of Worldwide Express, $5B in annual systemwide revenue). It plans to merge it with Auctane, a company in its shipping software portfolio. The combined platform will span parcel, LTL, truckload, and global shipping with a 2,300-person sales force. This is their third major acquisition in under a year. Private equity is betting that whoever controls the software layer controls freight.
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Your team leverages insight & recommendations for strategies to differentiate & grow.
Then right back to HappyRobot to execute.
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Seven weeks.
Thatās how long diesel had already been climbing before missiles started flying in the Middle East.
Then the U.S. and Israel struck Iran. Iran retaliated by hitting oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz (the escalation we covered Monday), and the oil market reacted immediately.
Brent crude jumped nearly 9% to around $85 a barrel, the highest level in about 18 months.
CNN reported that U.S. gasoline prices posted their largest one-day increase since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The national average diesel price is currently $4.038; yesterday, it was $3.891. Last week, it was at $3.749. For big fleets running contract freight, thatās annoying but manageable. Fuel surcharges eventually catch up.
For small carriers running the spot market, itās different.
Dean Croke at DAT flagged it in his latest market update: the Middle East escalation is expected to push diesel prices higher this week, and small carriers running spot freight may not have the financial cushion to absorb the higher costs.
Most of them:
When diesel jumps, they feel it instantly.
Roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day move through the Strait of Hormuz, about 20% of global supply.
Itās also the only sea outlet for Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and much of Saudi Arabiaās oil production.
Large fleets have fuel programs, contracts, and balance sheets that can absorb the shock. Small carriers donāt.
If the rate on the load board hasnāt moved yet, that cost comes straight out of the carrierās pocket.
The freight market itself is actually improving. The Logistics Managersā Index says expansion is underway. Flatbed rates have climbed for five straight weeks.
Nothing about demand has broken. But diesel acts like a tax on everything that moves.
If oil keeps climbing, the signals brokers will see first are familiar:
Carriers pushing back on cheap loads. Less tolerance for deadhead. Spot rates starting to creep.
The freight recovery may already be underway, but diesel just gave it a shove.
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š Freight Recovery Is Official. The February LMI hit 61.5 (the fastest expansion in a year), with transportation capacity tightening at its fastest rate since the COVID shipping boom.
š Fleets Are Betting Big on Recovery. Semi-truck orders surged 159% year-over-year in February, the highest order total since September 2022.
š Missouri Weighs Tougher CDL Rules. Missouri lawmakers are considering stricter commercial driverās license requirements after a semi was caught driving the wrong way on Highway 61.
āļø Kuehne+Nagel Cutting 2,000 Jobs. Global freight forwarder Kuehne+Nagel plans to cut more than 2,000 positions as part of a cost-reduction push tied largely to AI and automation.
From golf courses and construction sites to tackling one of the industryās biggest challenges, Evan Shelley's story is proof that not every great business idea comes from years of industry experience. As Co-Founder & CEO of Truck Parking Club, heās solving one of the industryās toughest challenges: truck parking.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or watch the interview on YouTube.
Issue 002 of FreightCaviar Print is almost here.
80 pages on the history of Freight Alley.
Print magazine + Caviar Circle access.
From $17/month.
30-day money-back guarantee. If it's not for you, we'll refund you right away, and you still keep both Winter and Spring editions.
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āWhen I say youāre going to require high levels of authenticity and authentication at the point of entry... that is no longer going to be enough to prevent access. Youāre going to need multiple points that all need to match in order to unlock access- thatās where weāre going."
FMCSA launched a new carrier registry three weeks ago to stop freight fraud ā zero new carriers have been registered since. Plus: PepsiCo is running 41 driverless trucks, peak season and a shrinking driver pool, cameras know where your carriers have been, and more.
The freight boom arrived. For some carriers, it arrived too late. We explain why in today's feature. Plus: real gouda fellas, satisfactory doesn't mean safe, LTL is waking up, and more.
Here's your weekly roundup of whatās trending across the freight industry on X, LinkedIn, Reddit, and YouTube.
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