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The freight industry’s essential weekly briefing
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FreightWaves Today
FreightWaves Today launched June 1st. The supply chain moves fast. Now your news does too. Craig Fuller and Julie Van De Kamp bring you a daily live show — real-time market analysis and interviews with the leading executives shaping freight & logistics. Live every weekday at Noon ET on FreightWaves socials and tv.freightwaves.com/today.
On The Desk
Lead Story
U.S.-Iran peace deal reopens Strait of Hormuz
The United States and Iran announced an agreement to end the war in the Arabian Gulf — a development that could reshape global oil flows, ocean freight rates, and energy supply chains. But the real-world normalization of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is expected to take months, and traders are already pricing in the uncertainty of what comes next.
Rates & Markets
Routing guides are crumbling: ‘It is different this time’
Some shippers are being forced to reprice their entire book of freight as contractual truckload rates set just months ago are no longer being honored. Carriers are walking away from below-market contracts — a signal that the rate cycle has turned decisively enough that even the most disciplined players are opting out.
Sponsored Insight
Truckstop.com
White Paper: Q2 2026 Freight Brokerage Rate Report
Featuring responses from a freight brokerage survey alongside SONAR data, the report is designed to provide intelligence that brokers can use to inform their strategies in the months ahead.
Truckload
Truckload market’s upswing ushers in driver pay hikes
Some fleets aren’t waiting for rates to fully recover before raising driver pay — they’re moving early in the upcycle to lock in capacity and cut turnover ahead of a tightening market. It’s the clearest sign yet that carriers believe the recovery is real and durable enough to justify the cost.
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Data & Technology
USDOT signs on as a customer of SONAR’s high-frequency freight market data
The U.S. Department of Transportation has signed a deal to receive high-frequency freight market data from SONAR — a notable endorsement of real-time market intelligence at the highest levels of federal transportation policy. When the DOT starts buying the same data as your competitors, the information advantage shifts.
Market Conditions
Freight Distress Report: more carriers shut down, logistics firms cut jobs
Freight-sector bankruptcies and layoffs continued to pile up in June as carriers and logistics providers cut costs to survive tight margins. The recovery may be underway at the top of the market, but the bottom is still unwinding — a two-speed freight economy that’s increasingly hard to ignore.
Shipper Radar
Shipper Radar
Shippers say renewed tax on Chinese ships could put some U.S. ag producers out of business
Agricultural commodity shippers are pushing back hard on a proposed Democratic measure to tax Chinese-flagged ships docking at U.S. ports — warning that the added cost could make some American crop producers economically unviable. For shippers moving grain, fertilizer, or bulk commodities, this is a policy fight with direct bottom-line consequences.
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Upcoming Events
Supply Chain AI Symposium
July 15, 2026 • Chicago, IL — The Old Post Office
Join FreightWaves in the heart of Chicago for a high-impact symposium on the real-world application of AI in global supply chains. From seed-stage founders to global enterprise providers, we’re gathering the entire supply chain ecosystem under one roof to explore how artificial intelligence is being embedded into every mile of the supply chain.
