Supply Chain Intelligence Brief

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TRUCKING

LTLs hold pricing line; Old Dominion announces 4.9% GRI

Freight Waves Todd Maiden October 20, 2025

“To satisfy our customers’ expectations and deliver on the promises we have made, we must continue to enhance our high-quality service network and systems,” said Todd Polen, head of pricing services at Old Dominion (NASDAQ: ODFL), in a news release.

Link: Old Dominion Freight Line Press Release Old Dominion Freight Line Announces General Rate Increase

Midwest Motor Express, DHE Transportation rebranding under AAA Cooper

CCJ Jason Cannon October 20, 2025

"Sustained by your confidence, we have successfully integrated two regional brands, expanded into over 50 new markets, and established around 40,000 new line-haul lanes across our network," wrote Prickett. 

Link: AAA Cooper Transportation LinkedIn AAA Cooper Transportation to Unify Midwest Motor Express and DHE Transportation Under the ACT Brand-Effective January 1, 2026

AAA Cooper brand to extend to LTL affiliates

Trucking Dive David Taube October 20, 2025

The LTL carriers have already integrated their systems to better provide regional and national service, combining administrative and financial systems, the company said in a letter to customers.

No deal for Forward Air sends shares lower

Freight Waves Todd Maiden October 20, 2025

Previous reports said a few private equity firms had submitted bids to acquire the company. The Monday report said Clearlake Capital and Apollo Global Management (NASDAQ: APO) are still in the running after submitting second-round bids last month.

2025 CCJ Top 250: An industry at idle

CCJ Jeff Crissey October 20, 2025

A review of the 2025 CCJ Top 250 ranking of the largest for-hire carriers in North America reveals an industry mired in a years-long slump that has shown few signs of recovery in the near term. On the heels of a horrible performance last year, most trucking companies on the list found themselves in a familiar position: 58.7% of the 2025 CCJ Top 250 fleets that self-reported both 2024 and 2023 revenues posted declines.

CCJ: Top 250 North America’s Largest For Hire Carriers in 2025

SHIPPERS / 3PLs

AI agents proliferate in logistics despite skepticism

Journal of Commerce Eric Johnson October 20, 2025 $Subscription Based

C.H. Robinson, the largest US freight broker and a top 10 ocean forwarder, has leaned heavily into AI over the last few years as a means to reshape its business.

“With agentic AI, we’re unlocking the value trapped in unstructured data: phone calls, emails, tribal knowledge,” the company’s chief technology officer, Mike Neill, said in a statement Monday.

Link: C.H. Robinson Press Release C.H. Robinson Unveils the Agentic Supply Chain, Enabling Companies in Every Industry to Instantly Deploy AI

U.S. retailers brace for stock shortages this holiday season

Modern Materials Handling October 17, 2025

According to Accenture’s latest Holiday Shopping Surveys, seven in 10 retail executives say they’re worried that supply chain shocks could derail their holiday sales. The same number are concerned about delivering online orders on time, while nearly two-thirds (64%) fear they won’t have enough stock to meet demand.

Amazon Delivery Firms Are Bailing Amid Rising Costs

Transport Topics/Bloomberg News Spencer Soper October 20, 2025

Amazon.com Inc. launched its Delivery Service Partner program in 2018, offering aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to run their own businesses. The world’s biggest online retailer pledged to use its negotiating clout to help them lease vans and hire drivers. All they needed, the company said at the time, was can-do spirit and as little as $10,000 up front to earn as much as $300,000 (now $400,000) in yearly profit.

Costco leans on SKU flexibility, buyer experience for tariff strategy

Supply Chain Dive Kelly Stroh October 20, 2025

SKU management is a critical lever for Costco as it navigates a fluid tariff environment, Millerchip told analysts. He noted that Costco has the “flexibility to change items” it perceives as having lesser value due to the impact of tariffs.

Wayfair to shutter Kentucky plant as part of logistics network revamp

Supply Chain Dive Kelly Stroh October 20, 2025

As part of its logistics overhaul, Wayfair this year expanded its CastleGate logistics service, which enables the company’s suppliers to fulfill orders for all customers. Through the “Multichannel” expansion, the offering provides an alternative third-party logistics service that caters to big and bulky home goods.

‘We were getting crushed’: Brands cut back on free online returns to offset tariff costs

Modern Retail Allison Smith October 21, 2025

“We were getting crushed on returns,” he said. “The cost of freight, the cost of shipping… Nothing has gone down,” he said. “Especially for businesses our size, the cost of returns and exchanges is significant, and this allows us to control that cost a little bit better.”

Is manufacturing making a comeback in the US?

Manufacturing Dive Sara Samora October 20, 2025

In general, companies are considering a China-plus-one or -two strategy, maintaining operations in China but also diversifying in other countries, such as Mexico or the U.S. All of the executives the Reshoring Institute spoke to said they were considering Mexico as a possibility.

INDUSTRY

September POLA and POLB volumes see annual declines

Logistics Management Jeff Berman October 20, 2025

“Imports continue to outweigh exports by a 4:1 ratio,” said POLA Executive Director Gene Seroka on a POLA-hosted call. “This data reflects the real impact that ongoing trade negotiations are having on our agriculture sector. The 10% decline in empties is yet another signal that imports will be softening."

TECHNOLOGY

Climbing costs, skills loss and other AI warnings for CIOs

CIO Dive Lindsey Wilkinson October 20, 2025

As CIOs lead their organizations through AI-driven change, runaway costs and accuracy hiccups continue to threaten momentum, analysts said during the opening keynote of Gartner’s IT Symposium/Xpo Monday. The stakes are high for IT chiefs to solve the adoption puzzle, and it’s not an easy feat.

How Sam Altman Tied Tech’s Biggest Players to OpenAI

The Wall Street Journal Berber Jin October 20, 2025 $Subscription Based

The CEO’s dealmaking blitz has convinced Silicon Valley’s giants to tether their fates to his company, essentially making it too big to fail

What’s Your Edge? Rethinking Expertise in the Age of AI

MIT Sloan Management Review Ravikiran Kalluri October 20, 2025 $Subscription Based

When AI tools have many of the answers, what’s the value of expensive experts? It’s their ability to ask better questions and recognize gray areas, which shifts their value from content to context. Leaders should focus on developing people’s meta-expertise — their ability to orchestrate AI tools, synthesize information across domains, and make creative connections that algorithms can’t — and make space for them to take accountability, be creative, and claim some decision-making as “human only.”

Uber drivers can soon train AI

Axios Megan Monroe October 20, 2025

 The pilot program, unveiled at an event for Uber drivers last Thursday, lets some U.S. drivers and couriers opt in to perform simple online jobs — like recording short voice clips, uploading photos, or submitting documents used to train AI — directly in the Uber Driver app. 

SUSTAINABILITY / SAFETY / SECURITY

Deadlines in doubt for LA-Long Beach zero-emissions port drayage

Freight Waves Stuart Chirls October 20, 2025

Hurdles remain for Los Angeles-Long Beach to meet self-imposed deadlines for eliminating drayage truck emissions at the busiest U.S. container port complex.

The final update to the 2024 Drayage Trucks Feasibility Assessment released today details technological advancements, operational challenges, and future targets to achieve a 100% zero emissions (ZE) fleet by 2035.

Link: Clean Air Action Plan Drayage Trucks Feasibility Assessments

Inside Lazer Logistics’ data-proven EV strategy for yard management

Clean Trucking Jay Traugott October 20, 2025

Lazer Logistics achieves over 2.5 million zero-emission miles using Orange EV battery-electric yard trucks, demonstrating real-world success in fleet electrification and operational efficiency.

Federal banking regulators withdraw guidance on climate risk management

ESG Dive Zoya Mira October 20, 2025

In a joint statement, the regulators said they do not believe the framework is necessary and expressed concerns that “such principles could distract from the management of other potential risks identified and addressed by financial institutions’ existing risk management processes and the agencies’ other risk management rules and guidance.”

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