FreightCasts

Freight markets remain tight as shippers navigate rising transportation costs, rail disruptions, and uncertainty heading into the holiday peak season. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of autonomous vehicles is raising an important question: how do we measure whether self-driving trucks and vehicles are truly safe to operate?

On this episode of FreightWaves Today, Julie Van de Kamp and Zach Strickland break down the latest freight market data, examine major transportation earnings, and welcome experts to discuss autonomous vehicle safety and the latest developments across North American rail.

In this episode:

🤖 The Future of Autonomous Vehicle Safety with Luc Vincent, Special Advisor at Empiric Earth: Why autonomous vehicles need more than billions of routine driving miles to prove they are safe. Vincent explains how rare real-world events—such as near misses, road debris, flooding, severe weather, and unusual driver behavior—can help train and validate autonomous systems. He also introduces APEX, Empiric Earth's developing safety-testing framework designed to measure autonomous vehicle performance across different driving scenarios and potentially provide a standardized scorecard for regulators.

📊 SONAR Market Update with Zach Strickland: A look at truckload tender rejections, spot rates, and capacity trends as the market approaches the holiday season. Zach examines why the dry van market remains tight despite some softening in rejection rates, why refrigerated capacity is especially constrained, and which markets are showing the strongest rate increases. He also highlights Los Angeles as a market to watch amid potential port disruptions and shifting intermodal volumes.

🚂 Rail Market Update with Bill Stephens, Trains Magazine Editor: The latest Association of American Railroads traffic numbers, including North American rail traffic growth, intermodal volumes, carloads, and key commodity trends. Stephens explains how severe flooding in New Mexico disrupted BNSF's Southern Transcon and how a technology outage at CSX affected train operations and interchanges. The conversation also explores the ripple effects on Los Angeles and Long Beach port operations, railcar positioning, third-quarter railroad earnings, fuel surcharge revenue, and productivity.

📈 Transportation Earnings and Freight Headlines: A closer look at Expeditors International's strong third-quarter results, growth in airfreight and ocean volumes, and the impact of AI infrastructure demand. The hosts also discuss GXO Logistics' record new business wins and sales pipeline, along with ArcBest's latest LTL and brokerage results. They examine how heavier shipments, higher fuel costs, and fuel surcharge revenue are shaping transportation company performance.

⛽ Diesel Market Volatility: The latest movement in diesel and crude oil prices, including the sharp futures selloff tied to geopolitical headlines and the rapid rebound as uncertainty surrounding negotiations continued.

Plus, the latest supply chain developments:

Potential labor disruption at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and what a strike could mean for peak-season freight.

Flooding-related service interruptions along a major BNSF intermodal corridor.

The CSX technology outage and its impact on rail network operations.

Tight refrigerated capacity and changing spot market conditions across key freight markets.

The transportation industry is facing a complicated mix of tight capacity, rising costs, infrastructure challenges, and rapidly evolving technology. Get the latest data, analysis, and industry perspectives on FreightWaves Today.

Subscribe to FreightWaves for the latest transportation news, freight market intelligence, and supply chain insights.

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In this episode, we kick things off by examining the stellar third-quarter performance at logistics giant Expeditors International, where revenue surged 42% year-over-year to $4.1 billion, heavily boosted by hyperscaler demand from tech giants building out AI infrastructure. The asset-light customs broker and freight forwarder saw diluted earnings per share climb 61% to $2.65, crushing Wall Street consensus by 42 cents, while airfreight volume accelerated throughout the quarter—rising 8% in July, 13% in August, and 19% in September.

Next, we explore the warehousing sector where contract logistics provider GXO Logistics is riding a wave of momentum with third-quarter revenue of $3.59 billion and organic revenue growing 6.4%—the fastest pace in over three years. The company secured $375 million in new business wins during the quarter, a massive 34% year-over-year increase, while its sales pipeline swelled to a record $3.1 billion, signaling robust demand for outsourced warehousing and supply chain services.

Finally, we cover the dramatic volatility gripping diesel markets as geopolitical headlines whipsaw oil traders. While the DOE's benchmark retail diesel price fell six cents to $6.29 per gallon, the December ultra low sulfur diesel futures contract plunged 25.45 cents on Monday to $4.42—the lowest level since October 6th. Brent crude crashed 10.94% on hopeful news about U.S.-Israel-Iran negotiations, only to rebound Tuesday when reports emerged that Iran and the U.S. were "far from a deal."

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Live from Trimble Insight, FreightWaves Trucking Analyst Thomas Wasson sits down with Frances Kilgour, VP of Business Development & Channel Management at Drivewyze / Fleetworthy, at the Barkcast booth.In this episode of Loaded and Rolling, Frances shares insights from her trucking roots and unpacks Fleetworthy’s expanding mission around "fleet readiness"—unifying driver compliance, weigh station bypass, and toll management under a single cohesive ecosystem.

Key Discussion Points:

Breaking Down Data Silos: Why carriers are tired of disconnected safety and operational reports, and how API-first integration delivers a single source of truth across dispatch and back-office teams.

Continuous Compliance vs. Checklists: Shifting safety management from an annual review to real-time driver and vehicle readiness, reducing inspection anxiety at the scale house.

Smarter Tolling Decisions: Balancing time vs. toll expenses, in-cab route advisory, and using automated reconciliation to identify mismatched transponders and dispute bogus toll charges.

The Future of AI & Automation: How agentic AI pilots are helping fleet managers query their data directly, identify critical cost outliers, and prepare for autonomous inspections.

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Freight markets are tightening, diesel prices are creating new challenges for carriers, and the latest economic indicators suggest stronger freight demand could be on the horizon for 2027.

On this episode of FreightWaves Today, Julie Van de Kamp and Malcolm Harris break down the latest headlines and welcome an impressive lineup of industry experts to discuss what’s happening across transportation, trucking, and the broader supply chain.

In this episode:

Freight Market Outlook with Chris Pickett, Chief Commercial Officer at Flock Freight: How shippers and carriers are adapting to rising truckload rates, constrained capacity, and higher fuel costs. Pickett explains how shared truckload can help shippers reduce transportation costs, improve trailer utilization, and navigate an increasingly challenging freight market. He also shares his outlook for freight rates heading into 2027.

SONAR Market Update with Julie Van de Kamp: A deep dive into the latest ISM Manufacturing PMI and Logistics Managers Index (LMI) reports. Julie examines manufacturing growth, transportation capacity, rising logistics costs, tender rejections, and freight volumes to explain why capacity constraints could persist into 2027.

Trucking Insurance with Peter Niro of Progressive: What motor carriers need to understand about underwriting, managing risk, cargo coverage, refrigerated freight claims, and controlling insurance costs. Niro also discusses how safety technology and accurate operational data can help fleets protect their businesses.

Diesel Market Update with John Kingston, FreightWaves Editor-at Large: An in-depth look at the latest diesel price movements, global oil market volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, declining fuel inventories, and what carriers and consumers could face heading into winter.

Plus, the latest freight headlines:

Operation Guardian and increased federal and state scrutiny of CDL eligibility.

P.A.M. Transportation's third-quarter financial results and ongoing truckload cost pressures.

Manufacturing growth and what improving new orders could mean for future freight demand.

The freight market is changing quickly. Stay informed with the data, analysis, and conversations that matter to trucking and supply chain professionals.

Subscribe to FreightWaves for the latest transportation news, market intelligence, and industry insights.

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Some say the American trucking company is becoming an endangered species. Small carriers are getting squeezed, regulations keep piling up, costs keep climbing, and apparently somebody forgot to tell the American trucker it's time to surrender.

But is American trucking really dying, or are we confusing a tough industry with a dying one?

On this episode of Brake Check on FreightWaves TV, Charles takes the gloves off and goes straight to the people working in the trenches.Joining the conversation are Hunter Owen, VP of Sales, and Hunter Shearer of Truck Parking Club, alongside Alex Idol of NASTC Safety & Compliance, as we separate industry doom and gloom from the realities of running a trucking business in America.

We're talking survival, truck parking, regulations, compliance, the challenges facing small carriers, and why counting the American trucking company out might be the dumbest prediction in freight.

Because here's the thing: The American trucking company isn't dead....but the people keeping it alive deserve a hell of a lot more than another obituary.

No corporate talking points, No participation trophies.... Just real conversations about the people and businesses keeping America moving.

THE BIG QUESTION: Is American trucking actually dying, or is the industry making survival harder than it needs to be?

Sound off in the comments. We want to hear from the drivers, owner-operators, and carriers living it every day.

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