FreightCasts

On this episode of What the Truck?!, Malcolm Harris and Michael Vincent break down Amazon’s latest logistics moves—from expanding warehouse robotics across Europe to officially entering the less-than-truckload (LTL) market. What does increased automation mean for workers, shippers, and the future of supply chains?

The duo also dives into a growing crackdown on customs fraud, exploring how whistleblowers, tariff enforcement, and the False Claims Act are reshaping international trade. Plus, they unpack rising ocean freight rates, resilient container volumes despite geopolitical disruptions, and what the latest trade data may be signaling for freight markets.

Later, Gary Cornelius, VP of Business Development at TCW, joins the show to discuss the industry implications of the Montgomery decision, broker liability, carrier vetting, and what could come next as litigation and regulation continue to evolve. Then, Quarterhill CEO Chuck Myers stops by to talk about the technology powering the transportation infrastructure that keeps freight moving every day.

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In this episode, we kick things off by examining a massive competitive move that could fundamentally reshape the less-than-truckload landscape. Amazon announced the full expansion of its LTL service to all destinations, rolling out a traditional hub-and-spoke network capable of moving palletized freight anywhere nationwide at lower costs than legacy carriers. The service includes next-day live pickup, same-day drop-trailer options, real-time GPS tracking, and automated appointment scheduling, positioning the e-commerce giant as a serious threat to incumbent trucking companies like FedEx Freight, Old Dominion, and Estes.

Next, we shift over to the autonomous trucking sector, where PepsiCo and Gatik have launched the largest commercial driverless freight deployment to date. This multi-year strategic partnership brings fully driver-out trucks into PepsiCo's consumer goods supply chain, with operations already live across Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas serving around two hundred fifty retail locations. These autonomous trucks maintain a ninety-nine percent on-time track record with no safety drivers in the cab, and a South Carolina production facility is set to begin mass-producing Level four autonomous trucks in the second half of twenty twenty-seven.

Finally, we explore the trans-Pacific shipping market, where new tariffs are fueling an unusually early frontloading frenzy and peak season. Rate hikes and surcharges that took effect June first sent Asia-to-U.S. West Coast prices soaring fifty-one percent to four thousand eight hundred thirty-six dollars per forty-foot container, while East Coast prices jumped twenty-five percent. With the U.S. Trade Representative announcing new tariffs on sixty countries over forced labor concerns, the National Retail Federation has moved the expected peak season to June from July and predicts June import volumes will run five percent higher than May.

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What if trucking's biggest problems aren't being ignored...

What if they're being protected?

On this episode of Brake Check, Charles Gracey sits down with two of the most outspoken voices in trucking to tackle the issues drivers, carriers, and owner-operators are talking about across America.

First, Charles Claburn joins the show. With 30 years behind the wheel, more than 3 million accident-free miles, and decades spent advocating for truck drivers, Claburn shares his unfiltered perspective on retention, training, truck parking, regulations, and why so many trucking companies continue making the same mistakes.

Then Mike Cobb, CEO of the Federation of Professional Truckers (FOPT), joins Brake Check to discuss the organization's challenge to the ELD mandate, broker accountability, insurance requirements, FMCSA oversight, non-domiciled CDLs, and what real trucking reform looks like from the driver's seat.

Topics include:

ELD Mandate Debate

FMCSA & Federal Regulation

Truck Parking Crisis

Driver Retention & Turnover

Broker Accountability

Insurance Minimums

Non-Domiciled CDLs

Trucking Safety

Owner-Operator Challenges

The Future of Professional Trucking

Whether you're a driver, owner-operator, carrier, broker, or industry leader, this is a conversation you don't want to miss.

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#Trucking #OwnerOperator #ELD #FMCSA #TruckDriver #Logistics #Freight #Transportation #CDL #BrakeCheck

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In this episode, we kick things off with heartbreaking news from the freight analysis community as Donald Broughton, the bowtie-wearing analyst of freight markets, has died suddenly at home on May 30th. Broughton, who founded Broughton Capital in 2017 and was not known to have been ill, had spoken at the Transportation Intermediaries Association's annual meeting in mid-April and appeared on CNBC in mid-May with a bullish freight outlook. His trademark bow tie and intimate knowledge of freight transportation data made him one of the industry's most respected voices for drawing conclusions about the broader economy.

Meanwhile, aggressive consolidation powered by artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the brokerage sector. Cincinnati-based freight broker Fura announced Monday that it has acquired LG Logistics Solutions, marking its sixth acquisition as the AI-powered third-party logistics provider continues its aggressive roll-up strategy. Fura's approach is to migrate each acquired brokerage onto a shared automation platform that handles repetitive work, allowing every business to run leaner and more efficiently than it did as a standalone operation in one of the country's most fragmented service industries.

Finally, the country's biggest brokerage is rolling out its next massive AI initiative designed to continuously optimize supply chains around the clock. C.H. Robinson is launching the Lean AI Engineer this month, a follow-up to last year's Lean AI Planner that now autonomously drives 92 percent of Managed Solutions' shipments. This groundbreaking closed-loop AI system runs continuously, holding historical and current data simultaneously across the entirety of a network to proactively identify inefficiencies like multiple LTL shipments headed to the same destination that could be consolidated into a single truckload. The system can heal itself when something breaks without requiring an alert or human intervention first.

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Welcome back to WithSONAR!

In this episode, we’re walking through the latest enhancements to Key Market Insights—making it easier than ever to monitor the markets and modes that matter most to your business.

Inside the dashboard, you can:
Filter by Van or Reefer and search for specific freight markets
Save your most-used markets for quick access
Monitor tender rejections and spot market conditions in real time
Track whether markets are tightening or loosening with directional insights from WRI
Use the new AI Analysis feature for summaries of market shifts, demand drivers, and actionable strategies tailored to your business

These enhancements help teams better understand not just what is happening in the market—but why it’s happening and what actions to take next.

📩 Have questions? Reach out to cs@gosonar.com or your Account Manager.

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#freighttech #freighttech #gosonar #sonar #softwareasaservice #logistics
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