Supply Chain Intelligence Brief

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TRUCKING

XPO Focuses on Improvements After Adjusted EPS in Q4 Up 18%

Transport Topics Connor D. Wolf  February 9, 2026

“We reported another quarter of strong execution to close out the year,” CEO Mario Harik said during a call with investors. “The key components of our strategy are fully within our control, and I’ll start with our most important lever, customer service. In 2025, we reduced damages and improved service quality to new company records, reflecting our focus on providing a superior customer experience.”

Link: XPO Investor Overview Presentation Q4 2025

U.S. truck freight market showed modest improvement in Q4

DC Velocity February 6, 2026

"The capacity story is the defining theme of Q4. Shippers paid significantly more to move slightly more freight—clear evidence that available truck capacity continues to tighten," said Bobby Holland, U.S. Bank director of freight business analytics. "Between fleet exits and carriers reducing their rosters, the industry is feeling the effects of prolonged contraction."

Link: U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index Q4 2025

Survival of the smartest: Navigating the 2026 freight cycle

Fleet Owner Josh Fisher February 9, 2026

“It’s quite possible that capacity has bottomed out, so the attention now is squarely on freight demand, which still looks sluggish with both upside and downside potential,” Avery Vise, FTR Transportation Intelligence’s VP of trucking, said in early January. “Trucking companies cannot get to sustained margin recovery on capacity reductions alone.”

TCA Selects Jim Mullen as Incoming President

Transport Topics Connor D. Wolf February 9, 2026

Mullen, who steps into the role April 6, possesses a background in trucking regulations, legislation and laws. TCA said he is widely regarded as a trusted leader and subject matter expert. He will be responsible for guiding the association as it continues to expand its impact, strengthen member value and advance strategic priorities on behalf of members.

Link: Truckload Carriers Association Press Release TCA Chairman Karen Smerchek Announces Jim Mullen as New President

Volvo Q4 truck orders fall 34% YoY in North America

Trucking Dive Haley Cawthon February 9, 2026

Despite a weak outlook for Q1, Volvo executives said recent ordering activity points to a gradual recovery in North America later in the year. Carriers could even prebuy vehicles, due to the uncertainty surrounding the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2027 emissions standards, Lundstedt noted.

SHIPPERS / 3PLs

Target Slashes 400 Supply Chain Roles in Overhaul

Transport Topics/Bloomberg News Jawon Kang February 9, 2026

The company is aiming to “streamline our field structure and better empower our store directors to meet guests’ needs,” Chief Stores Officer Adrienne Costanzo and Chief Supply Chain and Logistics Officer Gretchen McCarthy wrote in a memo Feb. 9 viewed by Bloomberg News.

Walmart’s decade of change with Doug McMillon

Retail Dive Dani James February 9, 2026

When McMillon’s retirement was announced in 2025, industry analysts remarked both on his business acumen and his charisma with people.

“In addition to transformational digital impact, he had a deep connection to stores, people, & communities,” TD Cowen analysts led by Oliver Chen said in a note from November after the announcement. 

Radiant Logistics beats FQ2 expectations

Freight Waves Todd Maiden February 9, 2026

The Renton, Washington-based 3PL said it is having success with the rollout of Navegate, a proprietary global trade management platform. The offering aggregates and organizes supply chain data, providing customers with better routing and capacity purchasing options. (Radiant acquired Navegate in 2021.)

INDUSTRY

Augment introduces Knowledge Hub to help logistics operators make faster, more consistent decisions

Logistics Management Jeff Berman February 9, 2026

When asked what drove the need for Augment to introduce its Knowledge Hub, Augment Co-Founder and CEO Harish Abbott told LM that logistics teams make thousands of high-stakes decisions every day, but the “why” behind those decisions is scattered across fragmented files, systems and often lives as tribal knowledge in a few experienced operators’ heads.

“That creates real operational risk: work slows down, interruptions and burnout rise, and service becomes inconsistent—eventually showing up in churn,” he said.

Link: Augment Press Release Why We Built Knowledge Hub: The Question That Changed Everything

Port Tracker report calls for U.S. import declines over the first half of 2026

Logistics Management Jeff Berman February 9, 2026

Port Tracker issued projections for January and the subsequent months, including:

• January, at 2.11 million TEU, down 5.2% annually (which would be its first sequential gain in since July 2025, with retailers bringing in merchandise in advance of the Lunar New Year in Asia next month);
• February, at 1.97 million TEU, down 3.1% annually;
• March, at 1.89 million TEU, down 12% annually;
• April, at 2.05 million TEU, down 7.1% annually;

Link: National Retail Federation Import Cargo Volume Expected to See Year-Over-Year Drop During First Half of 2026

AAR’s Rail Industry Overview points to mixed January U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes

Logistics Management Jeff Berman February 9, 2026

As for intermodal, RIO noted that total shipments, at 1,931,911 intermodal units, were down 3.5% annually, for its fifth consecutive annual decrease, with weaker port activity, softer goods demand, and ample trucking capacity still impacting intermodal volumes.

Link: Association of American Railroads Rail Industry Overview

USPS bets on ‘dramatic interest’ in last-mile plan as volume drops

Supply Chain Dive Max Garland February 9, 2026

The Postal Service expects its plan to enable direct last-mile facility access for shippers via a bidding process will help boost revenue, Postmaster General and CEO David Steiner said in prepared remarks. More than 1,200 companies and individuals have requested to join the online bid portal, which “shows the dramatic interest in our last mile,” Steiner said.

SUSTAINABILITY / SAFETY / SECURITY

Tesla Semi final specifications confirmed by Tesla

Clean Trucking Jay Traugott February 9, 2026

The Tesla Semi Standard Range and Tesla Semi Long Range variants offer 325-mile range and 500-mile range, each rated for 82,000-pound gross combination weight with a three-motor electric powertrain.

Link: Tesla The Future of Trucking Is Electric

California reserved $165 million for Tesla to electrify its trucking industry. The result may stifle EV innovation

The Los Angeles Times Tony Briscoe February 9, 2026 $Subscription Based

A California clean-air program, designed to rapidly electrify the state’s truck and bus fleets, has recently faced intense criticism for reserving its largest-ever tranche of funding to subsidize Tesla’s all-electric semi-truck, a largely unproven vehicle with a dubious production timeline.

Trump to Repeal Landmark Climate Finding in Huge Regulatory Rollback

The Wall Street Journal Meredith McGraw and Benoit Morenne February 9, 2026 $Subscription Based

The Trump administration is planning this week to repeal the Obama-era scientific finding that serves as the legal basis for federal greenhouse-gas regulation, according to U.S. officials, in the most far-reaching rollback of U.S. climate policy to date.

The reversal targets the 2009 “endangerment finding,” which concluded that six greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare.

Link: Reuters Trump set to repeal landmark climate finding in huge regulatory rollback this week

Operation SafeDrive Nets 704 Drivers, 1,231 Vehicles Out of Service

Heavy Duty Trucking February 9, 2026

Nearly 2,000 unqualified truckers and commercial vehicles were pulled off the roads in a recent three-day targeted enforcement event.

It was the first wave of the new Operation SafeDrive, a high-visibility, multi-state enforcement and education effort, a collaboration between the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and law enforcement partners in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

Waymo is testing driverless robotaxis in Nashville

TechCrunch Kirsten Korosec February 9, 2026

Waymo has accelerated its robotaxi expansion and today operates commercial services in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Phoenix. It also has driverless test fleets in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando.

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