Supply Chain Intelligence Brief

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TRUCKING

FedEx Posts Higher Earnings as Spinoff Plans Advance

Transport Topics Connor D. Wolf  December 19, 2025

The FedEx Freight separation was highlighted in the report as being on track. The plan is to spin off those operations into a new publicly traded company. The earnings report promised shareholders that the plan is expected to be achieved in a tax-efficient manner by June 1. FedEx Freight also plans to host an investor day in New York City on April 8.

Links: FedEx Corporation Press Release FedEx Reports Strong Second Quarter Earnings Growth Year-Over-Year  and FedEx Q2 Fiscal 2026 Financial and Operating Statistics (FedEx Freight Pages 17-21)

DAT’s November Truckload Volume Index sees more mixed results

Logistics Management December 19, 2025

“With Thanksgiving and Black Friday falling nearly as late as possible on the calendar, there was less urgency to move freight until the final week of the month,” said Ken Adamo, DAT Chief of Analytics. “With the short holiday week, winter weather, and other disruptions, it was a busy end to an otherwise soft November, but not enough to offset the earlier weakness. The market remains fundamentally inverted. Oversupply persists, shippers are cautious amid economic uncertainty, and many carriers are still operating unprofitably.

Averitt Expands Dedicated Unit to Include Tanker Operations

Transport Topics December 19, 2025

Averitt Express added dedicated tanker truck services to its logistics offerings for bourbon distilleries, expanding its long-standing role in supporting the industry’s growing production demands, the company announced Dec. 18.

Link: Averitt Press Release Averitt Expands Dedicated Services to Include Tanker Truck Operations

November Class 8 Orders Totaled 19.5k Units

ACT Research December 19, 2025

Final North American Class 8 net orders totaled 19,547 units in November, down 48% y/y, as published in ACT Research’s latest State of the Industry: NA Classes 5-8 report.

SHIPPERS / 3PLs

2026 port volumes likely to dip as inventories remain elevated

Supply Chain Dive Kelly Stoh December 19, 2025

“We’ll come in after the holiday season and see what inventories look like,” the port director said on the call. “Once again, retailers don’t want to start doing deep discounts on products after the holiday season, so this is going to be a pretty important point in time when it comes to the replenishment concept.”

INDUSTRY

UP, NS: Merger will create 10,000 single-line service lanes, shift 105k truckloads to rail

Freight Waves December 19, 2025

Roughly 75% of the projected traffic growth following UP’s acquisition of NS will come from converting truckload business to rail, he said, with the balance diverted from competing railroads.

UP, in merger filing, vows to convert millions of loads to intermodal annually

Journal of Commerce Ari Ashe December 19, 2025 $Subscription Based

Union Pacific Railroad (UP) on Friday filed its formal application with US regulators seeking approval for its proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), saying the deal would divert nearly 2 million truck movements from highways annually, including an estimated 1.17 million truckloads that would shift to intermodal rail.

Link: Union Pacific Press Release Creating America’s First Transcontinental Railroad: Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s STB Merger Application Details Enhancements to Competition and Public Benefits

Inventory management strategy shifts once again

Freight Waves Zach Strickland December 20, 2025

Imports and inventory levels have declined this fall, potentially signaling another shift in supply chain management practices. While nothing is certain, this evolution in order management only increases the value of transportation services.

U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes are down, for week ending December 15, reports AAR

Logistics Management December 19, 2025

Weekly intermodal containers and trailer volume, at 294,284 units, decreased 1.2% annually, topping the weeks ending December 6 and November 29, at 280,176, and 234,860, respectively.

From velocity to stagnation: the inventory story coming out of peak season

Supply Chain Xchange Tyler Nickel December 19, 2025

At FourKites, we analyzed millions of shipments across the retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) sectors. The data paints a clear picture of operational efficiency. Facility dwell times for major shippers dropped to an average of 128 minutes in October. That is an 11% improvement over the 2025 yearly average.

TECHNOLOGY

These Teenagers Are Already Running Their Own AI Companies

The Wall Street Journal Katherine Bindley December 21, 2025 $Subscription Based

They might not yet drive, but they’re getting an early start in business by leveraging vibe-coding and social media.

AI has fast-tracked both their interest in building a company and their ability to do it. Startup incubator Y Combinator doesn’t have age minimums to apply.

SUSTAINABILITY / SAFETY / SECURITY

Drug testing will continue for truck drivers despite marijuana downgrade

Trucking Dive Larry Avila December 19, 2025

Drug testing for safety-sensitive positions, including truck drivers, will still be required even if the government proceeds with downgrading marijuana to a less dangerous drug, a Department of Transportation spokesperson said in an email to Trucking Dive.

Frontier inks $44.2M deal with biowaste carbon removal company

ESG Dive Lamar Johnson December 19, 2025

Frontier — the decarbonization initiative backed by Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, McKinsey and others — announced on Thursday it had facilitated a $44.2 million carbon offtake agreement for its buyers with Canadian company Nulife GreenTech.

As EU waters down 2035 EV goals, electric startups express concern

TechCrunch Anna Heim December 21, 2025

Instead of requiring 100% of new cars to be zero-emission vehicles by that date, the revised plan would allow 10% of new car sales to be hybrids or other vehicles as long as manufacturers purchase carbon offsets to compensate.

INDUSTRY EVENTS

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January 26-28

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