FreightWaves
Check Call
The freight industry’s essential weekly briefing
Now Live
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. Bank Freight Payment Index shows spot rates surging 31%
Dry van spot rates were up 31% year-over-year in May 2026 as supply tightening continues to reprice truck freight — fast. The U.S. Bank index is one of the cleaner signals in the market because it captures actual payments rather than posted rates. A 31% move isn’t a trend anymore. It’s a new reality that every contract written this quarter needs to account for.
Cargo Fraud
$500K bourbon shipment stolen in alleged carrier impersonation scheme
Roughly 10,800 bottles of Noble Oak Bourbon disappeared after suspects posed as authorized carrier representatives to pick up the freight. It’s a textbook double-broker fraud play — and a reminder that in a rising rate environment, where margins tighten and fraudsters get bolder, carrier vetting at the point of dispatch isn’t optional for any 3PL that wants to stay whole.
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.
3PL Technology
Transfix integrates Highway carrier vetting into TMS
Transfix has embedded Highway’s carrier identity verification directly into its TMS — giving brokers and 3PLs the ability to vet carriers at the point of booking rather than as a separate workflow. As fraud rates climb alongside spot rates, having vetting built into the transaction layer isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s table stakes.
| bluebook |
Be the Broker They Call Back. Fresh food shippers vet every broker. |
Register Now |
Brokerage
As brokers go bankrupt, transportation collections has become about more than just getting paid
When most people think about transportation collections, they picture calls about overdue invoices. But as broker bankruptcies pile up, collections has evolved into something more urgent — protecting cash flow before a counterparty disappears entirely. For 3PLs exposed to broker credit risk, this is the operating reality right now.
|
FreightWaves AI Excellence in Apply by July 10 |
Nominate Now |
Know someone using AI to reshape freight? FreightWaves is recognizing the companies and innovators leading the next era of supply chain intelligence. Nominations close July 10 →
Technology
New Trimble TMS for shippers grows directly out of Transporeon acquisition
Trimble is rolling out another new product built on its Transporeon purchase — this time a TMS aimed squarely at shippers. The move shows how Transporeon’s European freight procurement DNA is being packaged for the U.S. market, and it puts Trimble deeper into the competitive TMS field at exactly the moment when shippers are looking to upgrade their freight tech stacks.
3PL Spotlight
3PL Spotlight
What it takes to win in the next era of drayage
Drayage operators are under growing pressure to do more with less — demand volatility, terminal congestion, driver shortages, and shrinking margins are compressing the business from every direction. This piece breaks down the operational and tech shifts that are separating the operators who are scaling from the ones who are struggling to hold on.
.png)
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.
