The pulse of the freight market

pulse of the freight market

It is difficult to keep track of all the outstanding content published on Freighwaves.com each week. Every FreightWaves article published is designed to assist our readers in becoming the most informed professionals in the transportation and logistics industry. 

To make this task easier, we present an exclusive list of articles that may have flown under your radar this week. Each article is selected as essential reading for anyone who wants to have a finger on the pulse of the industry.

Oregon cap-and-trade bill is back, and truckers still don’t like it – A new cap-and-trade carbon emissions bill unveiled in Oregon last week continues to draw criticism from the trucking industry that helped derail similar legislation last year.

Commentary: The trucking insurance crisis, part 2: Lawsuit abuse – A primary culprit is a corrupt personal injury legal system where attorneys drive medical care. In this unethical alliance, certain attorneys and medical providers maximize settlements using arbitrary, grossly exaggerated medical costs.

Hydrogen costs could fall quickly for heavy-duty trucks – The cost of hydrogen for heavy-duty trucks could reach parity with low-carbon sources like battery electrics and even diesel fuel in some markets sooner than expected. 

FedEx’s LTL unit imposes `California compliance’ surcharge – The new assessment, dubbed a “California Compliance Surcharge,” took effect Jan. 20. It is part of a slew of pricing adjustments at FedEx which went into force on that date. 

US Bank sees freight payments dip in fourth quarter – The U.S. Bank National Shipment Index declined 5.4% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, down 4% sequentially from the third quarter of 2019. For all of 2019, the index declined 5.9% year-over-year, the largest annual decline recorded since 2011.

New Jersey’s new laws put more teeth in driver classification cases – As New Jersey’s legislature readies another bill this year aimed at worker misclassification, a series of other newly signed laws that give the state greater investigatory and punitive powers poses an even larger risk to motor carriers hiring owner-operators to haul their freight, according to one legal expert.