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The Daily // Tue 08.18.26 View in browser →
The DailyTuesday · August 18, 2026
The five minutes that makes you the most informed person in freight today
Lead Story
Empty containers a freighted issue for global trade growthGlobal trade is turning in a surprisingly strong performance this year, along with a rising tide of empty containers that have long been a headache for shipping lines and ports. "Container volumes turn out more resilient than expected this year, despite all headwinds," said Rico Luman, senior economist at Dutch bank ING. "But it comes with much more empties." Luman said the imbalance is being driven in particular by exports out of China, especially components tied to electrification such as data centers and electric vehicles. "The disbalance in East-West trade grows even larger, leading to much more empty containers on the backhaul, for which liners earn no revenue," he said. A.P. Moller-Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc, on the carrier’s Aug. 13 second-quarter call, said total traffic grew even faster than capacity in the first half of the year and blamed empty-linked congestion at ports and terminals for liner schedule issues. While market growth is running about 4% based on loaded cargo, Clerc said the terminal burden is closer to 7-8% because weak or negative backhaul demand requires "an ever-increasing number of empty containers" to be repositioned. The strain is showing up on the ground in Europe, too. Luman said import volumes have surged, with the Port of Rotterdam, the continent’s busiest sea hub, seeing the number of empties jump 60% in the first half of this year compared with 2020. "All these empties are also handled by terminals, creating landside pressure and inefficiencies," Luman said. Why It Matters?
Rising empty-container volumes on the backhaul translate directly into terminal congestion and slower box turns, meaning capacity that looks available on paper may not show up as faster transit times for shippers moving cargo through gateway ports this fall. Top Stories
World’s third-largest shipping line has a new US chiefThe CMA CGM Group named Natasha Griffin chief executive of CMA CGM North America, succeeding Adeline Franger Chouraqui, who became CEO and president of CMA CGM America in May 2025. Based in Norfolk, Virginia, Griffin will lead the carrier’s ocean shipping, logistics, intermodal and supply chain operations across North America. Griffin joined CMA CGM in June 2025 as managing director of its United Kingdom unit after eight years at Zim’s UK business and nearly a decade at Mediterranean Shipping Co. CMA CGM employs more than 10,000 people and operates three U.S. marine terminals across the U.S. and Canada, moving about 5 million containers annually on 38 services with 25 ports of call. Why It Matters?
CMA CGM’s leadership change puts a 30-year shipping veteran in charge of roughly 5 million annual North American container moves and three U.S. marine terminals at a moment when the Saade family’s close ties to the Trump administration’s U.S.-flag shipping push make the line’s regional strategy especially consequential for shippers and terminal operators. Sponsored · Aurora
Court freezes Trump administration bid for nationwide CDL databaseA federal judge has temporarily halted the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to obtain records tied to roughly 17 million commercial driver’s license holders, granting an administrative stay while a coalition of states challenges the request in court. The order, issued Friday by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, bars the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators from producing the records sought through a DHS subpoena until the court rules on a motion to quash. The dispute stems from lawsuits filed Thursday by 22 state attorneys general and the state of Pennsylvania, who allege that the Department of Transportation, FMCSA and DHS unlawfully sought access to the Commercial Driver’s License Information System, a database with personal information on about 17 million commercial drivers. Judge Anthony Trenga ordered DHS not to accept any subpoenaed documents and scheduled a hearing on the motion to quash for Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia. Why It Matters?
The judge’s temporary order preserves the status quo for now, but the ultimate outcome could determine whether federal agencies gain access to the personal information of 17 million commercial drivers and could shape future trucking enforcement and driver privacy policies nationwide. Dohrn bets on camera data to cut fleet insurance costsDohrn, a roughly 2,000-employee Midwest LTL carrier, has cut accidents almost 20% since completing a fleetwide rollout of dual-facing event recorders about a year ago. President and CEO Robert Howard told FreightWaves the push came from inside the company, not from insurers. "No, it’s definitely us pushing it," Howard said. "The insurance costs are skyrocketing, there’s no question about that, but it’s all based on experience." Dohrn’s relationship with Samsara began in 2016 as an ELD compliance purchase before expanding into outward- and dual-facing cameras that let the carrier reconstruct crashes and, in many cases, exonerate drivers. The carrier also used the platform to fold two acquisitions, Sutton Transport and US Special Delivery, onto one technology stack, and is now piloting AI-powered ride-alongs and predictive fault-code analysis to get ahead of maintenance failures. Why It Matters?
Dohrn’s experience shows that fleets, not insurers, are driving the safety-technology investments that ultimately move loss-ratio math, offering carriers a data-backed playbook for blunting years of rising commercial auto premiums. Progressive battles truck crash claim, says tractor-trailer wasn’t coveredProgressive Express Insurance Co. has filed a federal lawsuit in Houston seeking a declaration that it owes no coverage for claims tied to a Sept. 15, 2023, crash on U.S. Highway 290 involving a tractor-trailer operated for Florida-based MMT Carriers. The insurer says its policy covered a single 2012 Freightliner Cascadia, not the 2005 Volvo tractor and 2015 utility trailer involved in the crash, and that driver Rolando Rodriguez-Nunez was not among the policy’s three rated drivers. The underlying suit accuses Rodriguez-Nunez of losing control of the truck while swerving to avoid an earlier collision, triggering a chain-reaction crash that injured another motorist, who is seeking more than $1 million in damages. Progressive contends it was never notified about the Volvo tractor or trailer and that the equipment was owned by a third party, R&E Carriers Inc., meaning it falls outside the policy’s definition of an "insured auto." Why It Matters?
The case highlights a recurring issue in trucking litigation: whether a crash vehicle was properly scheduled on a motor carrier’s insurance policy, a determination that can decide whether an insurer must provide a legal defense and pay potentially significant judgments. FreightWaves Today · Live at 12PM ET
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Inside Univar Solutions’ Carrier KickoffThe annual event in Chattanooga offered a blueprint for what "shipper of choice" actually requires. Presented by Aurora
Your next truck could drive itself.Aurora Driver 2 is hauling freight on public roads. From the Research Desk
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What It Takes to Win in the Next Era of DrayageFreightWaves and CargoWise Landside surveyed drayage operators on the automation investments separating growth from margin compression amid demand volatility and driver shortages. In partnership with Werner
High-Stakes Freight Brokerage: Risk and AccountabilityFreightWaves and Werner surveyed shippers moving high-value freight and found compliance failures and limited visibility are turning low-cost brokerage into a reliability risk, not just a pricing one. Courtesy of Infios
New Research: Tariffs Didn’t Raise Costs. They Raised the Execution Standard.Infios-backed research breaks down how tariff volatility turned transport-mode selection and trade-route monitoring into daily operating decisions instead of annual ones. Watch on FreightWaves TV
What We’re Watching
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Container imbalance tests peak season capacityEmpty boxes are piling up at gateway ports as trade outpaces expectations. Watch whether Maersk and rivals adjust backhaul strategies as Rotterdam’s empty volumes keep climbing into the fall peak. ▸
CDL database fight reaches a Thursday hearingDHS must file its opposition by Monday, with states responding Wednesday ahead of a hearing on the motion to quash. Watch whether the stay holds or DHS finds a path back to the 17 million driver records. ▸
Camera data reshapes fleet insurance leverageDohrn’s nearly 20% accident drop after a dual-facing camera rollout adds another data point for carriers pushing back on renewal costs. Watch whether more fleets cite similar numbers as 2027 renewals approach. That’s your Daily for today. See you tomorrow.
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