All thawed out (Photo: Tower Cold Chain) One of the many developments to come from the LogiPharma 2024 event was the announcement of Tower Cold Chain’s KTEvolution 12, a small-parcel solution for pharmaceutical products. The winning thing here is that the phase-change materials (PCM) or dry ice is in a new pyramid-shaped configuration that guarantees improved internal temperature consistency even when the container is placed on its side – a game changer for anything moving through the small-parcel network.  Tailored for the transportation needs of life science products, including high-va ..read more

Universal Logistics Holdings’ first-quarter results showed year-over-year (y/y) decreases in its trucking, intermodal and managed brokerage segments, while the company’s total revenue increased 12.5% to $491.9 million. “The first quarter was certainly a challenging environment for our transactional transportation business, but overall, I’m extremely pleased with our results,” CEO Tim Phillips said during an earnings call with analysts on Friday. “This was the best earnings-per-share and operating margin for any quarter in Universal history. In the contract logistics segment, revenues increase ..read more

The Lunar New Year has come and gone, but its impact at U.S. ports has been felt for weeks after the holiday.. Even with the impacts of the Lunar New Year arising at ports across the country in the form of sequential declines in imports, port figures across the board are holding up compared to the previous year. Across the ports, Lunar New Year’s arrival about two weeks later than in 2023 is causing the sequential dip in volumes. The Port of Los Angeles led the West Coast ports higher on an annual basis, growing at a faster rate than the neighboring Port of Long Beach. These ports experienced ..read more

Some key statistics at the U.S. LTL operations of TFI International remain a cause for concern at the Canada-based trucking conglomerate, and CEO Alain Bedard did not hold back discussing those issues on the company’s first-quarter earnings call. The core of the U.S. LTL activities at TFI (NYSE: TFII) is known as TForce, and its roots are in the TFI acquisition of UPS’ LTL operations, UPS Freight, in 2021. LTL discussions often turn to revenue per hundredweight, or yield, in analyzing how a company performed, but Bedard’s focus on the call Friday leaned more to average weight per shipment. He ..read more

On Episode 710 of WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, Dooner is talking about the Federal Trade Commission’s ruling that bans noncompetes. Armchair Attorney Matthew Leffler breaks down what the ruling means for employees and employers, and looks toward what’s next. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business supply chain management programs are consistently ranked among the highest in the nation and the world for their industry-relevant curriculum, innovative research and custom programs. Today we’ll meet the Global Supply Chain Institute’s Thomas Deakins, Lance Saunders and students ..read more

The Federal Highway Administration has announced $148 million in grants to combat pollution at the nation’s ports caused by idling trucks. The funding is part of a $400 million program to improve air quality under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The first round of grants provides funding to 11 states and Puerto Rico under the Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities Grant Program. Communities located close to ports “feel the brunt of more polluted air” because of idling trucks spewing pollution, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in the announcement. “The investments ..read more

Shares of less-than-truckload carriers were priced for beat-and-raise results heading into earnings season. Saia missed first-quarter expectations Friday, sending its stock 20% lower and pulling the rest of its peer group down for a second time in a week. Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA) said March didn’t provide the seasonal demand uptick the company normally experiences. The update followed an in-line report from Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ: ODFL) on Wednesday, which accelerated a sell-off that started earlier in the month as the broader market began to move lower and as some analysts reeled in nu ..read more

New data from Xeneta reveals an eye-popping increase in emissions as a result of the Red Sea diversion.  The Xeneta and Marine Benchmark Carbon Emissions Index (CEI) shows carbon emissions increased by 63% in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023 with regard to containers being shipped via ocean from the Far East to the Mediterranean. From the Far East into Northern Europe, carbon emissions increased by 23%. The index hit 107.4 points in Q1 2024 — the highest it has been since the index began in Q1 2018. The CEI measures carbon emissions per ton of cargo transported across the world’s top 13 trade ..read more

The time it takes to fuel a hydrogen-powered fuel cell truck is already on par with diesel. But there is still a yawning gap when it comes to comparable driving range. A new hydrogen storage system that packs more energy density might change that. The goal of hydrogen and battery-electric trucks is to reduce the 12% of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to heavy-duty trucking. Chill out: Verne goes deep into minus celsius for cryo-compression San Francisco-based startup Verne is named after 19th Century science fiction pioneer Jules Verne,. He predicted the eventual use of hydrogen as a fuel ..read more

Recently, FreightWaves spoke with Wabash Director of Strategic Programs Glen Stewart about the company’s trailers-as-a-service (TaaS) offering, designed to help increase asset uptime.  According to the company, it has secured a near 100% recovery rate for its customers’ damaged trailers in 2024. “If damaged, trailers are fixed immediately, or a loaner can be provided,” a Wabash representative told FreightWaves. Related: Wabash’s new trailers-as-a-service platform to support FreightVana’s power-only offering In the interview, Stewart discusses this offering and the future of the OEM marke ..read more