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The Daily
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NEWSLETTER BROUGHT TO YOU BY — AURORA
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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C.H. Robinson to acquire RXO
C.H. Robinson, the country’s biggest third-party logistics provider, is getting bigger by acquiring RXO, according to John Kingston’s reporting. The deal, announced Monday morning, pays RXO shareholders $17.25 in cash plus 0.856 shares of C.H. Robinson stock for each RXO share. Based on C.H. Robinson’s $157.72 close Friday, C.H. Robinson put the value at $30.25 per RXO share.
Markets had already smelled something. RXO shares jumped $2.02, or 9.46%, to $23.38 on Friday after a sharp run Thursday. Around 7:20 a.m. Monday, RXO was up 21.86% at $28.49 in pre-market trading, a gain of $5.11, while C.H. Robinson fell 4.89% to $150, down $7.72. "The acquisition of RXO brings together two complementary networks and diversifies and strengthens C.H. Robinson’s multi-modal platform to accelerate its growth and increase its penetration across all modes and segments," C.H. Robinson said in its statement. The company pointed to combining both brokerage and managed transportation businesses with C.H. Robinson’s global forwarding and RXO’s strengths in expedited and last mile.
Pairing the largest brokerage with RXO’s brokerage, managed transportation, expedited and last-mile units would reshape the top of the 3PL market, and the pre-market split between the two stocks shows investors see RXO holders getting the better of the trade for now. This is a developing story, and the initial reporting doesn’t address closing timeline or regulatory review, so shippers and carriers with exposure to either company should watch for those details.
Hub Group reshuffles board amid accounting turmoil
Hub Group’s majority shareholder group, led by its founding family, removed three directors and appointed four new ones, and three more directors resigned Thursday, according to Todd Maiden’s reporting. Among the additions is former CFO Thomas White. The shake-up comes as Hub Group works through an accounting error that has delayed its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 filings, along with its first two quarters of 2026. A review covers 2023, 2024 and the first three quarters of 2025, a restatement is planned for the fourth quarter, and a Nasdaq delisting hearing is set for Oct. 27. "We believe that the newly appointed directors will bring valuable perspectives and relevant expertise to the Board’s oversight," Chairman and CEO Dave Yeager said, adding that the company will "remain focused on our long-term strategy to drive growth, profitability and operating cash flows." Shares rose 1.9% in early trading Friday, versus a 1.1% gain for the S&P 500.
With filings overdue and a delisting hearing weeks away, the board overhaul is the first visible response to the accounting problem. Customers and investors will be watching for the restatement results and whether the Oct. 27 hearing goes Hub Group’s way.
Cybersecurity portal to fight bad guys open for business: NMFTA
The National Motor Freight Traffic Association’s Threat Report Portal, soft-launched in May after discussions at the 2025 NMFTA cybersecurity conference, is now fully operational, according to John Kingston’s reporting from Long Beach, California. By early June it had 100 registrants, including major shippers, domestic and international 3PLs and small carriers. The idea is to let companies share indicators of compromise anonymously. "We see these bad actors, they use a technique on one carrier. If it doesn’t work, they just go to the next carrier," said Ben Wilkels, NMFTA’s director of cybersecurity. "We will anonymize them. We strip out all the identifying information." The sticking point, he said, is participation: "The problem is getting people to share their information back in to the portal."
A portal is only as useful as what members put into it. Carriers that only pull data and never report their own incidents leave the same gap the bad actors exploit.
YMX yard technology helps retailer trace $60,000 in missing freight
A top-five U.S. grocer used YMX Logistics’ yard-management system to reconstruct what happened to roughly $60,000 of cheese, five shipments from a Minnesota supplier headed to an Arizona distribution center, according to Patrick Hatzis’ reporting. The software uses machine learning to pull license plates, trailer numbers and carrier details from gate camera footage, creating a searchable record of the 600 to 800 truck movements a facility sees each day. The retailer is piloting it at two facilities, and another food distributor is testing it at one. The backdrop is rough: cargo theft losses hit nearly $725 million in 2025, up 60% from 2024, with food and beverage incidents up 47% to 708. In the second quarter of 2026, incidents fell 26% year over year to 677 in the U.S. and Canada, but losses more than doubled to $304.6 million.
Fewer thefts with far larger losses means each incident is costing more. A searchable gate record gives shippers a way to pin down where custody broke, not just that freight went missing.
U.S. Bank: Contract rates open 22-cent gap over spot freight
Contract dry van rates ended August 22 cents per mile above spot, a reversal from June when spot ran 8 cents higher, according to Thomas Wasson’s reporting on the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index. Spot linehaul fell to $2.17 per mile in August from $2.35 in July, while contract linehaul rose to $2.39 from $2.30 in June. Fuel surcharges climbed 13% to $0.70 per mile, putting all-in rates at $2.87 for spot and $3.09 for contract. Spot loads fell 3.2% to 1,264,897 and contract loads fell 1.3% to 740,249. Year over year, spot is up 35.6% and contract is up 20.1%. "Fuel costs are increasing while linehaul pricing is softening," said Jeff Pape of U.S. Bank. DAT’s Patrick Pretorius said shippers who have spent two years squeezing rate per mile "would do well to shift focus to consolidation."
When contract pays more than spot, shippers are paying for committed capacity instead of chasing cheaper loads. Rising fuel surcharges are masking softer linehaul, so a flat rate per mile does not mean flat costs.
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| Time | Guest | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 12pm | Webb Estes | President and Chief Operating Officer, Estes Express Lines |
How Supply Chain Leaders Should Approach Their Next AI Investment
What new research from Gartner, McKinsey, and FreightWaves reveals about closing the AI readiness gap.
10 Blind Spots in Cold Chain Risk Management You Might Not Know You Have
What Overhaul’s specialists see behind the alerts, audits, and after-the-fact reports.
More Miles. More Revenue
Our self-driving Class-8 trucks haul freight on public roads today with no one behind the wheel.
What It Takes to Win in the Next Era of Drayage
Demand volatility, terminal congestion and driver shortages are squeezing drayage margins. FreightWaves and CargoWise Landside surveyed operators on where automation and digital investment are actually paying off.
High-Stakes Freight Brokerage: Risk and Accountability
Shippers moving high-value freight say lower-cost brokerage is starting to carry higher risk. FreightWaves and Werner surveyed where compliance gaps and carrier performance issues are driving accountability higher.
New Research: Tariffs Didn’t Raise Costs. They Raised the Execution Standard.
Infios research shows the 2025 tariff overhaul turned transport mode, tariff exposure and trade-route selection into variables shippers now have to manage actively, not fixed costs they can set and forget.
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September PMI Numbers & Their Impact on the Industrial EconomyFreightWaves breaks down September’s PMI readings and what they mean for the industrial economy. |
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Ocean Freight Risk: Late Is Now the Likely OutcomeFreightWaves looks at why delays are increasingly the expected outcome in ocean freight. |
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Triumph Financial CEO on Freight Credit RiskFreightWaves talks with Triumph Financial’s CEO about credit risk in the freight market. |
FreightWaves’ flagship event blends rapid-fire tech demos and world-class speakers with the most legendary networking in logistics. Join 1,000+ freight and logistics experts, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators for a definitive look at the year ahead. Come for the insights, stay for the celebration and leave with the connections that will define your 2027.
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Whether the C.H. Robinson and RXO deal details fill inThe announcement covers price and strategy, but not closing timing or regulatory review. Watch for those details, and for how customers of both companies react. |
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Whether Hub Group clears its Oct. 27 Nasdaq hearingThe restatement is planned for the fourth quarter, with 2025 and 2026 filings still delayed. Watch whether the new board produces results before the hearing. |
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Whether the contract-over-spot gap holds as fuel surcharges climbContract rates sit 22 cents above spot after a June reversal, and surcharges rose 13% in August. Watch whether linehaul keeps softening while all-in costs rise. |
