WASHINGTON — The Biden administration’s anticipated move to recategorize marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act will likely lead to more truck crashes unless safeguards are put in place, the American Trucking Associations has warned. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the Justice Department’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to reschedule the drug at a press briefing on Thursday. “If finalized, marijuana will no longer hold the higher-level classification it currently holds over fentanyl and meth drugs driving our natio ..read more

Battery electric trucks face cost headwinds (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves) Recent releases by Ryder System and Knight-Swift highlight the growing awareness of the added costs required for fleets that face increased pressure to transition to electric vehicles. A major challenge for long-haul trucking is cost, and current incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act only cover up to a maximum of $40,000 for commercial clean vehicles weighing over 14,000 pounds. A new Class 8 battery electric vehicle is significantly more expensive.  For Knight-Swift, the added cost puts the vehicles beyond ..read more

To learn more about FreightWaves SONAR, click here. The post FBX Report: May 16, 2024 appeared first on FreightWaves ..read more

Welcome to the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? Newsletter presented by Redwood Logistics. In this issue, WTT shop opens; what Cass data says about the market; AI load booking. WTTGear.com Spring/summer — WTT fans rejoice: You can now buy shirts, hats, slides and more in the brand new WHAT THE TRUCK?!? shop we launched Wednesday. We’re currently featuring our spring/summer collection that includes both our classic logo and our Miami Vibes design. Expect new and limited-edition drops like our WTT Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago logos as well as featured artist designs. We didn’t forget about t ..read more

By Bart De Muynck The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates. The traditional supply chain has long been viewed as just that: a series of interconnected links working together to deliver products to customers. But what happens when those links are weak or disconnected? Just like a broken bicycle chain, the entire system grinds to a halt. In today’s fast-paced, globalized world, this is a risk many businesses can’t afford to take. The reality is that traditional supply chains are riddled with silos ..read more

WASHINGTON — An eastern Washington high school has petitioned federal regulators to let 17-year-olds enrolled in its CDL program obtain a commercial learner’s permit (CLP) to help students get a truck driver job immediately upon graduating. Officials from Connell High School (CHS) in Connell, Washington, told the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that with the exemption, students in the program would obtain a CLP and receive 180 hours of classroom, field and drive time instruction before obtaining a CDL at the age of 18, according to a notice posted by the agency on Thursday. Curren ..read more

Procurement platform GoodShip announced on Thursday that it has closed an $8 million Series A funding round. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Ironspring Ventures, Chicago Ventures, Fuse VC and Cercano Management. New investors include 53 Stations as well as angel investors Nichole Wischoff and Andrew Silver. Since its founding in 2022, the platform has raised $15.4 million. It aims to provide shippers with transparency into their freight data and insights into the operations of their procurement ecosystems. Related: GoodShip raises $5M to prov ..read more

SAN ANTONIO — The Momentum conference brings together roughly 1,000 attendees who use the industry-leading warehouse, TMS and other capabilities of Wall Street darling Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH). (The company’s stock rose from about $110 at the end of October 2023 to as high of $266.94 in early March before falling back to $225 recently.)  But among the discussions of new product offerings at this year’s conference, it was a presentation by an outside executive that filled the main ballroom to near-capacity Wednesday: Warren Barkley, the head of product-Vertex AI, GenAI and mac ..read more

ARLINGTON, Texas — Managed transportation and freight technology provider Uber Freight on Wednesday launched a spot market solution under its premier offering Uber Freight Exchange. Uber Freight Exchange was initially released in September as a contract procurement platform enabling shippers to run bids with both their own and Uber Freight’s carrier network. At the time, the product brought Uber Freight’s technology to the contract market while providing messaging tools, bid functions and performance reporting and mitigating lane coverage risks in a wide variety of market conditions.  R ..read more

WASHINGTON — Cargo vessels are not equipped with backup power sufficient to avoid situations such as the one in March when the container ship Dali struck and collapsed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, the country’s top transportation safety investigator told lawmakers. Testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennfier Homendy said the backup generator that kicked in after the Dali lost power roughly half a mile from the bridge restored emergency lighting, navigation functions, radio equipment, alarms ..read more