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The Daily // Mon 08.31.26 View in browser →
The DailyMonday · August 31, 2026
The five minutes that makes you the most informed person in freight today
Lead Story
2 key trucking groups in filing raise alarm on Penske decision falloutThe American Trucking Associations and the Truckload Carriers of America last week filed a joint amicus brief asking the Fifth Circuit for a full en banc rehearing of an Aug. 4 decision that remanded a Penske Logistics liability case back to a Texas district court. The panel had found that Penske’s "assumption of control and responsibility of the vehicle" made it the statutory employer of a driver several links down a subcontracting chain, regardless of whether the parties complied with formal leasing regulations. The case traces a 2018 fatal crash back through a chain of carriers: Penske Logistics contracted with Liberty Lane, which double-brokered the load to OK Trans without Penske’s knowledge, and an OK Trans driver was involved in the crash. ATA and TCA argue the ruling would mean "the entire industry has been in violation" of federal leasing rules for decades and would "chill" the common practice of motor carriers turning to other authorized carriers for extra capacity, raising insurance costs industrywide. The trade groups’ brief, authored by the trucking-focused Scopelitis law firm, argues that federal leasing regulations only apply when a carrier leases equipment from a company with no operating authority of its own — not when an authorized motor carrier like OK Trans moves freight under its own authority, as it did here. Double-brokering, while a related industry concern, isn’t the legal issue being raised: the brief notes the same statutory-employer question would arise even if Liberty Lane itself had been behind the wheel. Why It Matters?
If the Fifth Circuit’s reasoning stands, carriers that lean on other authorized motor carriers for extra capacity could face liability for accidents they had no way to see coming, a shift trade groups warn would raise insurance costs and tighten the freight capacity options carriers have relied on for decades. Top Stories
Motive and Highway restore ELD data access after integration disputeHighway and Motive said in a joint statement they have reached an agreement to restore the frequency at which Highway can access ELD data belonging to Motive customers when carriers authorize that access, ending the disruption that began when Motive limited the API connection between the two platforms and indicated Highway would need to compensate it for the data. Both companies said no action is required from carriers or brokers, and that they are working to ensure uninterrupted service. "Motive and Highway both play important roles in the freight ecosystem, and we are committed to serving customers together," said Jordan Graft, CEO of Highway. Motive co-founder and CEO Shoaib Makani said the companies "reached a path forward… that supports our customers and provides clarity around data use." The joint statement makes no reference to compensation or licensing terms, and the underlying contract has not been rewritten — the companies say they are in discussions to update it, and neither has confirmed whether Highway’s Performance Guarantee coverage for Motive-equipped carriers has been reinstated. Why It Matters?
A connection that brokers rely on to verify capacity went down and came back inside a week without carriers or brokers taking any action, which demonstrates both how quickly commercial disputes between vendors can reach freight and how little visibility the affected parties have into them. The agreement that governs that connection is still being written, so the conditions that produced this disruption have not yet been resolved. Sponsored · Aurora
Port of Los Angeles locks in ONE terminal for 30 more yearsYusen Terminals, a unit of Singapore-based Ocean Network Express, will continue operating its Port of Los Angeles marine terminal through 2056 under a 30-year lease approved this week by the LA Board of Harbor Commissioners. The agreement calls for Yusen to invest an additional $200 million in zero-emission cargo-handling equipment over the coming years, extending the operator’s presence at the port and supporting its transition to cleaner operations. Yusen has operated at Los Angeles since 1991 across 232 acres spanning Berths 212-224, handling about 1.5 million TEUs annually and ranking fifth of the port’s seven marine terminals. "Their commitment to excellence and willingness to work closely with us have been invaluable, especially in advancing our clean air initiatives," said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. The terminal already operates electric top handlers, forklifts, yard tractors and hydrogen fuel-cell equipment. Why It Matters?
A 30-year lease commitment from one of the Port of Los Angeles’s terminal operators, backed by $200 million in new zero-emission equipment, signals confidence in the port’s long-term cargo volumes even as trade patterns shift toward Asian gateways and other West Coast alternatives. Canada Post to launch weekend parcel delivery by year’s endCanada Post announced Friday it plans to introduce weekend parcel delivery in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto later this year, part of a plan to modernize its business model and capture more parcel business from online retailers as it tries to return to profitability. The state-owned postal carrier credited this year’s resolution of a drawn-out labor dispute with restoring customer confidence in the second quarter, helping reduce its pre-tax loss by a third to $199.7 million and cut costs 6.3% as operational productivity improved. Mail carriers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers ratified a retroactive, five-year contract in early June after more than two years of rocky negotiations and strikes that pushed many e-commerce shippers to private-sector delivery companies. Quarterly revenue grew 1.5% to $1.1 billion, led by a 20.7% jump in parcel revenue as parcel volume rose 15.6%, while letter mail volume fell 9.2% — part of a broader transformation plan that includes converting 621,000 addresses to community mailboxes by early 2027 and expanding home parcel pickup to 8.6 million households. Why It Matters?
Canada Post’s push into weekend delivery and other e-commerce-focused services shows how quickly a resolved labor dispute can translate into competitive moves, as the state-owned carrier tries to claw back parcel volume it lost to private-sector rivals during two years of strikes and uncertainty. China gains as geopolitics redraws new global container port rankingsThe global container-port hierarchy shifted sharply in the first half of 2026, with Ningbo-Zhoushan overtaking Singapore for second place and China now holding six of the top 10 spots, according to Alphaliner. Shanghai remained the world’s busiest container port, handling about 28.7 million container units in the first six months, up 6.2% year over year, while Ningbo-Zhoushan handled 22.9 million TEUs, up 8.8%, narrowly passing Singapore’s roughly 22.7 million. The biggest reversal came in the Middle East, where Dubai’s Jebel Ali fell from 10th to 32nd as Strait of Hormuz disruptions tied to the Iran war diverted cargo — throughput fell more than 90% year over year in the second quarter alone. The combined Los Angeles-Long Beach gateway held steady at ninth, the only non-Asian port in the first-half top 10, while Southeast Asian transshipment hubs including Tanjung Pelepas and Colombo gained ground as carriers continued rerouting around the Red Sea and Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. Why It Matters?
The reshuffling shows how quickly geopolitical disruption can redraw the global port hierarchy, with a single regional conflict knocking a top-10 hub down to 32nd place in six months while Southeast Asian transshipment ports and China’s own gateways absorb the diverted volume. FreightWaves Today · Live at 12PM ET
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FreightWaves Events
F3: Future of Freight Festival
Your team works hard every day to keep supply chains moving. This Labor Day, invest in their growth—and your company’s bottom line—by sending them to F3: Future of Freight Festival (Oct. 27-28 in Chattanooga). Get ahead of market trends and regulatory shifts, experience the latest FreightTech insights that directly impact your margins, and expand high-value relationships with 1,000+ supply chain leaders spanning the industry. October 27–28, 2026 · The Signal, Chattanooga
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$90,000 a Year: What Your Dispatchers Can’t See Costs YouMost fleets run on speed, not structure: whoever’s fastest at the keyboard wins the load, regardless of what it actually does for the fleet. Revenue looks fine on paper. But somewhere between the inbox, the load board, and the dispatch desk, your best freight is walking away; and it’s not the loads you took that are the problem. It’s the ones you never evaluated. Presented by TrainsPRO
The Monthly Rail ReportThe latest on the UP-NS Merger & Crew Rules. Presented by Aurora
Your next truck could drive itself.Aurora Driver 2 is hauling freight on public roads. From the Research Desk
In partnership with CargoWise Landside
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. In partnership with Trimble
White Paper: AI Agent Readiness and Adoption in FreightAI is moving beyond experimentation and into everyday freight operations. FreightWaves and Trimble surveyed carriers, brokers, shippers and owner-operators on where the industry is adopting AI today and what leaders expect next. 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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Trucking’s biggest trade groups are racing to contain a new carrier-liability precedentATA and TCA want the full Fifth Circuit to rehear a ruling that could make carriers liable for accidents caused by drivers several links down a subcontracting chain. Watch whether an en banc review is granted before the case returns to the lower court. ▸
Canada Post’s weekend delivery push tests whether a resolved labor fight can win back lost parcel shareCanada Post’s pre-tax loss narrowed to $199.7M as a new five-year labor contract restored customer confidence and pushed parcel revenue up 20.7%. Watch whether the planned weekend service in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto claws back volume shippers moved to private carriers during two years of strikes. ▸
Geopolitical shocks are reshaping the world’s port rankings in real timeDubai’s Jebel Ali fell from 10th to 32nd in six months as Strait of Hormuz disruptions rerouted cargo, while Ningbo-Zhoushan passed Singapore for second place. Watch whether Gulf volumes recover once the region stabilizes. That’s your Daily for today. See you tomorrow.
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