The First Big Transportation Deal of the Year: TFII’s purchase of UPS Freight

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The First Big Transportation Deal of the Year: TFII’s purchase of UPS Freight

4 years ago

The new year has started with a bang with TFII’s planned purchase of the LTL Freight division of UPS. TFII is a large Canadian freight transportation conglomerate and it’s deal is unique in some ways but not in others. The challenge for many Canadian LTL carriers has been to establish a solid arrangement with a […]

Understanding the YRCW Bailout

4 years ago

On July 1, 2020 the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it was providing YRC Worldwide with a two-tranche loan that would allow it to make delinquent health and welfare and pension payments as well as fund capital expenditures for its tractors and trailers. As part of the deal, YRC is required to issue […]

As Some Businesses Return to Work, how will this Impact the Freight Transportation Industry?

5 years ago

As of May 2, 32 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces (https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/reopening-canada-provinces-ontario-quebec-saskatchewan-alberta) have announced plans to reopen businesses on a phased basis. Each state and province has developed back to work guidelines to manage the process. These actions are being taken even though Covid-19 is a very contagious virus with 1.1 million reported cases and […]

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The Top Stories in Surface Transportation in 2019

5 years ago

Here is my annual recap of the major trends that shaped the Surface Transportation industry during the past year. 1. The Reboot – The Trucking Industry goes into a Freight Recession in 2019 After a booming first three quarters of 2018, the trucking industry contracted in the fourth quarter; by mid-April of 2019, it became […]

What are Some Lessons that Shippers Can Learn from the Past Two Years?

5 years ago

From a Freight Transportation perspective, the past two years have been among the most tumultuous in decades. Throughout 2018, an economic surge, a shortage of qualified drivers, and the implementation of the ELD mandate in the United States, created a shortage of freight capacity, particularly in the truckload sector. Shippers struggled to find trucks to […]

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Mid-Year Report on the Freight Transportation Industry

5 years ago

These are the major developments shaping the freight transportation industry in North America in the second half of 2019. 1. We are entering a period of Economic Uncertainty Despite a climate of record low unemployment levels, low inflation, a positive ISM manufacturing index and other encouraging economic indicators, the US Federal Reserve cut interest […]

The Truckload Freight Industry in North America in 2019

5 years ago

There are approximately 540,000 truckload carriers registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the United States. These range from 1 truck to 20,000 truck fleets. The majority have less than 20 pieces of equipment in their fleets. These companies generated approximately $350 billion in revenue in 2018. Revenue/Tonnage Growth in 2018 Here […]

The Impact of Ecommerce on the Trucking Industry

6 years ago

In February 2019, the American Trucking Research Institute completed an excellent study entitled, E-Commerce Impacts on the Trucking Industry. This blog contains a summary of the highlights of this report. For more information on this topic, download the full report which contains an array of sources that are footnoted throughout the document. E-commerce has been […]

The LTL Freight Industry in the United States and Canada in 2019

6 years ago

The following is my annual report on the state of the LTL Freight Industry in the United States and Canada. The Booming Freight Market of 2018 Strong economic growth and high employment in the United States and Canada, coupled with concerns over US tariffs and trade wars, and high truck utilization rates, propelled freight demand […]

The New Realities of Procuring Freight Transportation Services

6 years ago

Those of us who came into the freight transportation industry in the 80s and 90s remember when there were distinct sets of service providers. There were small parcel carriers, LTL carriers, full truckload service providers and rail carload operators. Of course, during slow times, truckload carriers would move some large LTL shipments. The small parcel […]