Logistics Management Magazine Archives

The FMSCA says only 113 motor carriers have applied for its under-21 truck driver apprenticeship program since July 2022. That is a very disappointing turnout for an initiative that the government had expected to recruit up to 1,000 carriers and 3,000 drivers.

Diesel prices are back over $4 a gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly, on-highway survey of prices at 73,000 service stations and 9,500 truck stops around the country. Average diesel prices rose by 6.5 cents, increasing to $4.06 per gallon as of Monday, April 8. The Western states of Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington saw the highest average price increase for the period, rising 11 cents to $4.26 per gallon.

Following the issuing of a final rule by the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) earlier this month, establishing establishes minimum safety requirements for train crew sizes, with the new rule requiring a second crew member on all trains, four U.S.-based railroads are calling on federal appeals courts to toss out the rule, calling it “arbitrary, capricious, and an illegal abuse of discretion,” according to an Associated Press report.

XPO opened up three of the 28 service center locations it acquired through an early December court-supervised auction, in which a dozen trucking companies bought properties that resold about three-fourths of Yellow’s properties for a total of just under $1.9 billion.

For February, the most recent month for which data is available, the TCI reading came in a -5.31, down from January’s -1.41, which was ahead of December’s -4.3.

Rail carloads, at 209,142, were off 4.5% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 241,000 units, increased 7.6% annually.

In this podcast, Tony Hatch offered up his views on various aspects of the freight railroad and intermodal sectors, including: market conditions, service levels, volumes, and nearshoring, among others. 

While 2023 proved to be a comeback year, there's still a ways to go before a return to pre-pandemic normalcy.