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Layoffs continue across the freight and logistics industry, with companies in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan and Texas announcing job reductions and facility closures over the past two weeks. Universal Logistics Warren, Michigian-based Universal Logistics is permanently shuttering two of its subsidiaries and laying off a total of 677 employees, according to notices recently filed with the state. The layoffs are related to Universal-operated entities Logistics Insights Corp. and Universal Dedicated of Detroit, an auto parts warehousing and logistics facility. Both operations were in Detroit. Universal Dedicated of Detroit’s closure will affect 230 truck drivers who worked from the facility. Logistics...

Say goodbye to the trucking industry as we know it, and goodbye to the American economy, too. You might have missed it on Good Friday — which you can be sure was no accident — when the Biden EPA released its new tailpipe rules for semi-trucks, but the new rules will destroy how we move goods around the country. It seems like only two weeks ago [It was only two weeks ago, Steve —editor] that I told you about Presidentish Biden's new EPA regulations, coming into effect starting in 2027, that will force two-thirds of new car buyers into electric...

A Department of Transportation component slammed the brakes following semi-furious opposition to its proposal for "on demand" law enforcement surveillance of commercial vehicles a year and a half ago. It took another six months to turn over the records after a FOIA lawsuit to compel their release, a day before they were due in court Thursday, with no indication yet from FMCSA when it would release a final rule. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration had internal conversations about those public comments over several months, including via personal email, at the same time it was stalling a Freedom of Information...

A judge in Texas struck down a Biden administration rule on March 28 that required states to measure and report the greenhouse gas emissions from any vehicles using the national highway system. The rule was issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2023 as part of President Biden’s efforts to slash carbon emissions in half by 2030. Specifically, it required state transportation departments and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to both measure their transportation-related emissions on the U.S. highway system and set their own emission reduction targets. Additionally, the measure required state DOTs and MPOs...

Anew study by Roland Berger, a global consulting firm, estimates that it will cost over $1 trillion to build out the infrastructure needed to support electric medium and heavy-duty trucks. The study was funded by the Clean Freight Coalition, which includes a number of trucking industry groups. Trucking fleets and operators of charging stations, according to the study, will need to invest $620 billion into new charging infrastructure. This includes the chargers, site infrastructure and utility cost service.

Vulnerabilities in common Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) required in US commercial trucks could be present in over 14 million medium- and heavy-duty rigs, according to boffins at Colorado State University. In a paper presented at the 2024 Network and Distributed System Security Symposium, associate professor Jeremy Daily and systems engineering graduate students Jake Jepson and Rik Chatterjee demonstrated how ELDs can be accessed over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connections to take control of a truck, manipulate data, and spread malware between vehicles. "These findings highlight an urgent need to improve the security posture in ELD systems," the trio wrote [PDF]. The...

I've been on the radio for over an hour and I've talked to at least (10) Truckers who are gonna start refusing loads of Monday for (NYC) ...I talked to (3) guys that I work with who texted the boss and told him no (NYC)

Biden’s Department of Justice has slapped a whopping $700,000 fine on Covenant Transport Inc. and the affiliated Transport Management Services LLC, both stellar examples of Tennessee’s robust transportation sector.The recent decision by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to impose a $700,000 fine on Covenant Transport Inc., a Christian trucking company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, raises significant concerns about the overreach of federal power and the disregard for the realities faced by businesses in regulating their workforce.The DOJ, under Joe Biden’s regime, claims this measure is to resolve alleged violations of the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)...

Polish trucking representatives said Thursday that they would expand a border protest against Ukraine by blocking another crossing for cargo vehicles over what they call unfair competition from the war-torn country. Kyiv had said earlier Thursday that it failed to reach an agreement in new talks with Polish transport companies that have been blocking cargo at three major border points for almost two weeks. The Polish truckers say the easing of EU access rules in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to an influx of unfair Ukrainian competition, taking a serious toll on their earnings. Kyiv has...

As we enter the Christmas season in earnest, with decorating, gift shopping, and other seasonal activities keeping us busy, we cannot help but notice the unprecedented level of inflation everywhere we go. There are several reasons for these three years of price hikes, of course. It’s not all caused entirely by a single issue. But there is one major cause that outshines the rest: the cost of diesel fuel. What, you don’t buy diesel, yourself? You don’t have to. In many ways, the American economy itself runs on diesel fuel. Transportation costs – inbound and outbound, raw materials and finished...

America's trucking industry is in a dire state, which is bad news for the American economy because it serves as an indicator of the mood of consumers and their pocketbooks heading into the holiday season, one expert warned.

JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania — Two months ago, 30,000 truckers at Yellow lost their jobs when one of the nation’s oldest and largest trucking companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Last week, Convoy, the digital freight broker that was supposed to reinvent the wheel and disrupt the trucking industry in a positive way, also abruptly shuttered its doors. These kinds of closings by both freight carriers lay bare the uncertain state of trucking, an industry that is an indicator of the mood of the consumer and also the beating heart of our economy. “In my opinion, this industry is heading in...

Pennsylvania’s Peter Brothers Trucking delivers goods all across America. Owner Brian Wanner says Pennsylvania bureaucrats now are driving him out of his home state. “We have no say,” complains Wanner in my new video. “We can’t do anything about it.” “No say” because Pennsylvania’s new rules don’t come from Pennsylvania. They come from California. “I don’t want to be anything like California!” complains Wanner. Too bad for him and other Pennsylvania truck owners, because Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board decided their state will automatically copy California regulations. California’s rules will raise the price of a new truck by about one-third. Trucks...

Supply chains are not something most of us think about on a day-to-day basis. Or they weren't, until the last few years, when we've been exposed, at least on the right, to the fragility and susceptibility of said supply chains. This author works in the shipping industry and has a few thoughts. First and foremost, one needs a rudimentary understanding of how the supply chain actually works, so here is a summation. Let's call it Supply Chain 101: 1. A producer creates goods. 2. Goods need to get to market, which is handled by shippers. 3. Markets may be local,...

An 85-year-old Indiana-based trucking and logistics company and its affiliates recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection less than nine months after it was acquired by private-equity firm Transport Acquisitions. Founded in 1938, Otwell, Indiana-based Elmer Buchta Trucking, which offers bulk, dry van and pneumatic trucking services, has 100 drivers and more than 230 power units, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website. No reason was given as to why the entities were forced to file for bankruptcy protection. Transport Acquisitions purchased the trucking company and its affiliates in January from the Wright Family Investment Group, which...

Orbcomm, a major provider of ELDs to the trucking sector, is dealing with a ransomware attack that has limited the ability of its customers to use its Fleet Manager offering, which includes its Blue Tree ELD systems, the company has confirmed. Resolving the issue may take up to two weeks. (snip) In a notice to Orbcomm customers Wednesday, supplied to FreightWaves by an Orbcomm customer, the company said under the heading “Rebuild and Restore” that it is “targeting to restore full use of our BT product line and the supporting platforms as well as RCOM Reports by September 28.” The...

American truckers have issued a warning about the Biden administration's plans to reduce air pollution by cracking down on heavy-duty vehicle emissions, saying that President Biden's proposed policies will crush the supply chain and put the American food supply at risk. Under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which aims to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and other pollutants by enacting stringent new regulations on heavy-duty vehicles and machinery, businesses will be subjected to unattainable standards which will result in high inflation and put trucking companies out of business, American trucking officials warn. Mike Kucharski, vice president and co-owner of JKC...

U.S. trucking firm Yellow Corp (YELL.O) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday and said it would wind down, after struggling with a mounting debt load and following tense contract negotiations with the Teamsters Union. The nearly 100-year-old company's bankruptcy filing in a Delaware court estimated assets and liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion, with more than 100,000 creditors. The collapse of Yellow, formerly called YRC Worldwide, puts about 30,000 workers at risk when the freight industry is already grappling with a slump in volumes.

The economic meltdown that is coming should not be a surprise to anyone. Throughout U.S. history, there have always been signs that a major downturn was coming, and that is precisely what we are witnessing right now. Tax revenues are way down, demand for trucking services is way down, demand for cardboard boxes is way down, the money supply is shrinking at the fastest pace in modern history, and the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators has already declined for 15 months in a row. At this point, anyone that cannot see what is coming has got to be...

Bidenomics at work! From the alleged more Pro-Union member of the US Senate and now El Presidente of the United Banana Republics of America. One of the biggest bankruptcies in US trucking history occurred Sunday when the nation’s third-largest less-than-truckload carrier, Yellow Corp., filed Chapter 11 in a Deleware court. The company has fallen victim to insurmountable debts, including a government loan and tense contract negotiations with the Teamsters Union. It listed assets and liabilities at $1 billion-$10 billion, with more than 100,000 creditors. “It is with profound disappointment that Yellow announces that it is closing after nearly 100 years...