66% of logistics pros say talent quality — not cost — is the #1 factor in choosing a nearshore partner. Rapido's integration model explains why that's the right question to be asking.
Plus, a carrier pleading guilty to mob money laundering while still FMCSA-active, Iran's first post-ceasefire attack and what it means for diesel surcharges, FedEx Freight's first earnings as a standalone company, and more in today's newsletter.
Freight brokers are measuring their inboxes wrong. Most inbound email is monitoring, not work. And the longtail categories that look like noise are costing real margin. Here's how to audit what's actually in your inbox, and why it matters in 2026's margin-first market.
LA rejections just doubled, flatbed hit $3.74, and 9,500 drivers are off the road. Plus: SoCal theft ring busted, C.H. Robinson cuts headcount, UP CEO fires back, and more.
Happy Hump Day. LA rejections just doubled, flatbed hit $3.74, and 9,500 drivers are off the road. This isn’t a normal market shift. We break it down in today's feature.
Plus:
TOP LANE MOVERS POWERED BY TRIUMPH
🚨 SoCal Theft Ring Busted $8M Recovered. Nine suspects were arrested after a three-month investigation into a coordinated cargo theft operation. Authorities executed 13 search warrants across Southern California and recovered $7M in stolen freight and $1M in cash. The group hit 36 companies, including Amazon, JB Hunt, Costco, Sony, and Disney, moving everything from TVs and power tools to ATVs, golf carts, energy drinks, and liquor. This wasn’t random. It was a system. And for a while, they were running it better than some actual businesses.
🤖 C.H. Robinson Cuts Headcount as AI Takes Over. C.H. Robinson offered voluntary buyouts to around 160 leaders, with roughly 26 accepting packages that included ~9 months severance, as part of its shift toward automation and AI. The company has reduced total headcount from ~14,990 in early 2024 to ~12,085 by the end of 2025 (about a 29% drop) while boosting productivity and margins. Even in a weak freight market, margins in its core brokerage division, NAST (North American Surface Transportation), climbed to 36.4%, showing the playbook: fewer people, more automation, higher efficiency.
🚆 UP CEO Fires Back at Merger Critics. Union Pacific’s CEO says critics of the $85B Norfolk Southern merger are stuck in the past and need to focus on what this could unlock, as the company pushes a plan to pull millions of truckloads off the road — targeting 1.4M conversions in 3 years and 2M annually, while cutting coast-to-coast transit times by up to 2 days. Regulators already rejected the first filing and want more data, but UP is doubling down: this isn’t just about numbers, it’s about taking share from trucks and making rail competitive again.
GoodShip is the all-in-one freight orchestration platform built by transportation teams, for transportation teams, designed to unify data, surface optimization opportunities, and help teams move from reactive decision-making to coordinated, data-driven execution.
With the launch of Laney, the industry’s first AI Transportation Analyst, teams can ask questions about their operations and get clear, actionable answers in seconds through a simple, conversational interface, making it easier than ever to understand what’s happening across the network and where to take action.
“34 emails in two hours.”
That’s how Trucking Made Successful described her week. Someone who is actually covering freight right now.
Outbound tender rejections out of Los Angeles just jumped from 4.35% to 8.31% in two weeks, as post-Chinese New Year containers start moving into domestic distribution networks. That freight is about to head inland.
On Monday, Craig Fuller called it a carrier's market with no signs of cooling, then hours later followed up, saying he hadn't seen freight charts this bullish since COVID.
Bloomberg's chief US economist backed him up — diffusion index signals corroborated by earnings transcripts across defense, data centers, and manufacturing.
US manufacturing services are in clear expansion, and business confidence is rising. The data is stacking from every direction.
But demand isn't the only thing driving this.
Capacity is getting quietly pulled from the market at the same time.
The DOT rode with enforcement this week in North Florida, pulling non-compliant drivers off the road in real time, and the English proficiency crackdown has already removed 9,500 drivers from service.
This kind of market setup hasn't looked like this since COVID. Flatbed is already there, dry van is right behind it.
Not testing.
Not piloting.
AI that actually works.
Chain does what your tracking reps do today:
It just doesn’t sleep.

It doesn’t churn.
And it doesn’t grow your cost to serve.
â›˝ Diesel Price Drops. Diesel dropped 33 cents overnight, giving carriers a short window of relief, but with the Middle East situation still unresolved, oil volatility isn't going anywhere soon.
📦 $1.6B Bet on Warehousing. Prologis and GIC are launching a $1.6B U.S. logistics venture focused on build-to-suit facilities driven by e-commerce demand.
đźš› Trailers Become Overflow Warehouses. Companies are turning to mobile storage trailers as a cheaper, flexible alternative to warehouses amid tariffs, nearshoring, and supply chain disruptions.
🚫 Wrong Turn Could Cost $20K. Vermont lawmakers want to fine truckers up to $20,000 for getting stuck on Smugglers’ Notch after years of ignored warnings and roadblocks.
đźš” $1.2M Weed Bust at Rest Stop. Pennsylvania State Police seized over $1.2M worth of marijuana products from a semi during a routine DOT inspection at an I-80 rest area.
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Plus, a carrier pleading guilty to mob money laundering while still FMCSA-active, Iran's first post-ceasefire attack and what it means for diesel surcharges, FedEx Freight's first earnings as a standalone company, and more in today's newsletter.
Bad carriers are gaming the weigh station system. Plus, C.H. Robinson's own engineer goes scorched earth on Reddit, the Ghost Truck Act gets roasted, and more in today's newsletter.
Plus, overseas ELD tampering, 100 pallets of stolen womenswear, 20,000 Mexican truckers losing US visas, and more in today's newsletter.
While everyone in trucking is watching rates, capacity, and fraud, a much bigger shift may be happening quietly in the background: the future of rail.
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