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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 · LTL Restructuring
ArcBest announces layoffs, closing 10 LTL terminals
ArcBest is cutting about 2% of its workforce and closing 10 ABF Freight terminals in small markets, folding those operations into nearby service centers pending Teamsters approval under the National Master Freight Agreement. The company is also retiring the MoLo and Panther brands, consolidating them under the ArcBest name, and taking $76.5 million in noncash impairment charges tied to the brand and Vaux writeoffs. The moves are expected to save $40 million annually — money the company says supports its 2028 earnings target rather than adding to it. For 3PLs and brokers who route freight through MoLo’s brokerage desk, the rebrand is a signal that ArcBest is betting on integration over standalone growth.
Regulation & Fraud
DHS, DOT partner to investigate 75 CDL training schools suspected of fraud
Homeland Security Investigations is now working alongside FMCSA to probe roughly 75 entry-level driver training schools accused of falsified records, improper certifications and other violations tied to non-domiciled CDLs. DOT says it has already pulled more than 24,000 drivers for failing English-language requirements and stripped over 9,500 unqualified schools from FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry this year. OOIDA says the crackdown is overdue, calling for mandatory audits over the current self-certification model. For brokers vetting new carriers, a driver’s CDL pedigree just became one more thing worth a second look.
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.
LTL Expansion
Knight-Swift opens 4 LTL terminals
AAA Cooper, Knight-Swift’s LTL arm, opened four new terminals in May — new markets in Detroit and Toledo, plus added capacity in Phoenix and Olympia, Washington — bringing its combined network to roughly 180 locations covering about 70% of the country. The buildout follows three other openings earlier this year and continues Knight-Swift’s string of LTL acquisitions since entering the business in 2021. The one gap that remains: a true Northeast carrier, without which the "national" network still has a hole in it. It’s a useful counterpoint to ArcBest’s terminal closures above — even in a soft LTL market, scale players are still placing bets on where freight moves next.
Global Logistics
DHL Group raises earnings forecast after pre-tax income jumps 29%
DHL raised its full-year EBIT guidance to more than 6.5 billion euros after posting 10% revenue growth and a 29% jump in pre-tax income for the second quarter, with Express division profit nearly doubling on heavier average shipment weights and pricing power. About $171 million of that gain came from a quirk of the Iran war: Middle East carriers pulled capacity from the air cargo market, and DHL was positioned to benefit. Supply Chain and eCommerce earnings both declined, a reminder that the strength is concentrated in Express rather than broad-based. Final Q2 numbers land Aug. 5 — worth watching for whether the capacity-constraint tailwind holds.
Legal & Broker Transparency
TQL case on broker transparency heads to oral arguments
The Pink Cheetah v. TQL case — a carrier’s fight over what brokers must disclose under 49 CFR 371.3 — is headed to oral arguments in Washington on September 11, after a D.C. Circuit judge initially sided with TQL. Records TQL did turn over allegedly showed it kept about 40% of the load’s payment as commission, versus a customary 14-16% — the kind of number that keeps the Kowalski Freight Brokers Safety Act’s transparency push alive in Congress, even as that bill has stalled. Whatever the appeals court decides about FMCSA’s authority to order disclosure, the case is becoming a reference point for how much margin brokers can expect to keep quiet.
3PL Spotlight
3PL Spotlight
Transfix integrates Highway carrier vetting into TMS
Transfix has built Highway’s carrier identity and compliance checks directly into its TMS, so brokers can verify a carrier’s insurance, operating authority and identity without leaving the booking workflow. It’s a direct response to how fraud has evolved — Highway’s own data shows the shift is away from impersonation schemes and toward direct theft using legitimate, compromised carrier identities — and it reflects a broader pattern of vetting moving from a side task to a built-in checkpoint at the moment freight is awarded. For brokers still treating carrier verification as a separate compliance step, this is what the competition’s workflow now looks like.
Upcoming Events
F3: Future of Freight Festival
October 27 – 28, 2026 • Chattanooga, TN — The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo
FreightWaves’ flagship event blends rapid-fire tech demos and world-class speakers with the most legendary networking in logistics. Join 1,000+ freight and logistics experts, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators for a definitive look at the year ahead. Come for the insights, stay for the celebration and leave with the connections that will define your 2027.