LTL

Consolidating freight moving in the same geographical direction is a long-standing operational challenge.  As e-commerce drives shipment sizes smaller, lead-times shorter and LTL prices inexorably higher, that challenge has become increasingly difficult and expensive for shippers with smaller...

For small to medium-size shippers, finding competitive less-than-truckload pricing tends to be more difficult than it is for their larger counterparts.  Without dedicated volume, it can be impossible to establish direct tariffs, or rate bases, directly with LTL providers. Unable to reach out...

A rising tide of strong demand and tight capacity lifted all LTL boats in the second quarter. The market was so strong, in fact, that even the perpetually leaking dinghy from Kansas made money. Overland Park-based Yellow Corp. reported late Wednesday second-quarter operating income of $27 million...

E-commerce sales of furniture and home furnishings increased 49% year-over-year in Q1 of this year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But big and bulky items still have a last-mile logistics problem — they are just difficult for traditional carriers to handle. ShipStation, a web-based e-...

Five or 10 years ago, a truckload carrier would have looked askance at acquiring an LTL carrier. Truckload carriers were comfortable shipping directly from the shipper to the consignee at a minimal fixed cost, a model that runs counter to the multistop terminal networks of LTL carriers. The...

It's not just a big deal in terms of dollars. The acquisition of LTL carrier AAA Cooper by Knight-Swift (NYSE: KNX) is radical in that it joins an LTL carrier with a truckload carrier, one of the biggest. The two businesses are very different. How will they integrate? On this week's Drilling Deep...

Uber Freight (NYSE: UBER) announced Thursday it has expanded into less-than-truckload freight. "Our vision is to become a one-stop-shop for freight," Michael Bailey, product manager for Uber Freight, told FreightWaves. "Shippers can come to us for any type of goods, in any form, at any time with...

One sensor from LiDAR startup AEye Inc. can see more than a half-mile ahead and alert an autonomous truck that a human driver is cutting in from the next lane of traffic. The miniature machine will be part of TuSimple's autonomous driving system for sale on a Navistar International truck planned...

For the second time this year, a truckload-centric transportation company has acquired a less-than-truckload carrier. Canadian TL and logistics outfit TFI International (NYSE: TFII) announced the $800 billion acquisition of UPS Freight (NYSE: UPS) in January. Last week, the biggest TL carrier in...

Approximately 51,000 motor carriers have already received common or contract carrier authority through June, making 2021 likely to surpass 2020's calendar-year record of 59,000, according to transport consultancy FTR, which analyzed data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA...

Earlier this week, Knight-Swift Transportation officially stepped into the LTL arena by acquiring AAA Cooper Transportation for $1.35 billion. The ramifications of the deal are potentially far-reaching — not only for the two companies but for the industry as a whole. We asked FreightWaves experts...

Less-than-truckload carriers have quietly been using a high-demand, tight capacity environment to cull less profitable freight from their networks for months now. Most of the actions have included rate bumps and stricter enforcement of accessorials and detention fees in efforts to free themselves...

A couple of less-than-truckload carriers provided updates through the first two months of the second quarter on Wednesday. The year-over-year advances were very large and reflected easy comparisons to 2020, which experienced a sharp falloff as parts of the economy were knocked offline amid...

The less-than-truckload industry has proved resilient amid a pandemic and a plethora of supply chain disruptions. However, Mark Redini, senior vice president of LTL pricing and solutions at Echo Global Logistics, urges the industry not to let its guard down just yet. "LTL carriers quickly...

Less-than-truckload (LTL) volumes continued to improve throughout May and into the first week of June, said Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) analyst Amit Mehrotra in a note to clients. He reported that in the first week of June, LTL activity levels improved 7% versus the average levels seen in May and...