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FreightWaves Today
FreightWaves Today launched June 1st. The supply chain moves fast. Now your news does too. Craig Fuller and Julie Van De Kamp bring you a daily live show — real-time market analysis and interviews with the leading executives shaping freight & logistics. Live every weekday at Noon ET on FreightWaves socials and tv.freightwaves.com/today.
On The Desk
Lead Story · Broker Liability
3PL stocks drop in wake of stunning Texas case against C.H. Robinson
A Dallas County jury handed down a roughly $604 million compensatory verdict against C.H. Robinson in Lipe v. Lupus Superior — the first nuclear verdict to land since the Supreme Court’s Montgomery v. Caribe ruling stripped brokers of their F4A safety-exception defense. Wall Street didn’t wait for the appeal: C.H. Robinson fell 9.25% to $186.50, RXO dropped 7.71%, and Landstar slid 3.68% as analysts at TD Cowen and Bank of America warned this is likely "the first domino." The jury’s finding that the driver was effectively a C.H. Robinson employee, despite the carrier’s Satisfactory FMCSA safety rating, is the detail keeping broker counsel up at night — it suggests a clean safety record may no longer be a defense on its own.
Global Trade & Ocean
War sends Asia-US ocean rates soaring 234% since February
Far East container rates are finally softening — down 1% into the West Coast this week — but they’re falling far slower than they spiked. Since the Iran crisis began Feb. 28, spot rates have surged 234% to $8,846 per FEU into the East Coast and 231% to $6,225 into the West Coast, per Xeneta, as frontloading ahead of new tariffs compounded the war’s disruption to trade lanes. Carriers are already invoking the renewed Iran-U.S. conflict and rising bunker costs to justify slowing the decline through surcharges, even though the vast majority of vessels never touched the Strait of Hormuz or Red Sea. For 3PLs pricing import moves, the message is that relief is coming, just not quickly.
Sponsored Insight
Truckstop.com
White Paper: Q2 2026 Freight Brokerage Rate Report
Featuring responses from a freight brokerage survey alongside SONAR data, the report is designed to provide intelligence that brokers can use to inform their strategies in the months ahead.
Layoffs & Bankruptcies
Freight Distress Report: Supply chain providers cut more than 1,200 jobs
Companies across the freight economy disclosed plans to eliminate at least 1,222 jobs between July 10 and July 24, led by Amazon’s temporary closure of a 1 million-square-foot Port St. Lucie, Florida fulfillment center (494 jobs) and Temco Logistics’ nationwide exit from flatbed delivery (223 jobs across three states). Ten transportation, distribution and freight-dependent businesses also sought Chapter 11 protection in the same window, including Eagle Logistics, a 151-power-unit New Jersey carrier that had run a dedicated USPS route. The distress is no longer confined to small trucking outfits — GEODIS, CJ Logistics, GXO and International Paper all disclosed facility closures in the same report.
Autonomous Trucking
Aurora races toward scale with new driverless hardware
Aurora launched its second-generation hardware this week, built for a 1-million-mile operating life and, for the first time, no passive observer riding along at all. Manufacturing partner Roush is targeting a 1,000-truck annual production run-rate by year-end, and Morgan Stanley says the Aurora Driver has logged nearly 440,000 cumulative driverless miles as of the end of June, up from 370,000 in April. Analysts called the empty cab "the last remaining asterisk" holding back commercialization — though OEM partners PACCAR and Volvo haven’t yet cleared their own bar for observer-free operation. Aurora reports Q2 earnings July 29.
Rail Earnings
First look: Norfolk Southern earnings
Norfolk Southern beat estimates on both lines Thursday, posting adjusted EPS of $3.52 against a $3.31 consensus and $3.29 a year ago, while railway operating income rose 11% year over year to $3.5 billion, topping the Street’s $3.38 billion estimate. The gains came at a cost: the adjusted operating ratio rose 210 basis points to 65.5% from 63.4% a year ago, as fuel cost pressure ate into the margin improvement rail investors have been counting on. It’s a reminder that top-line strength across the rails this earnings season isn’t translating one-for-one into efficiency gains.
3PL Spotlight
3PL Spotlight
J.B. Hunt’s shares up 9% on Q2 earnings beat
J.B. Hunt’s brokerage unit, Integrated Capacity Solutions, posted its first operating profit in 14 quarters, capping a Q2 that sent shares up 8.6% after hours. Revenue hit $3.5 billion, up 19% year over year and well past the $3.26 billion consensus, while EPS of $1.91 beat estimates by 18 cents. Intermodal — the company’s core business — grew revenue 22% to $1.75 billion on a 10% jump in loads and 11% higher revenue per load. After more than three years of losses in brokerage, the turnaround gives J.B. Hunt a rare data point that asset-light freight brokerage margins are recovering, not just holding steady.
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Upcoming Events
F3: Future of Freight Festival
October 27 – 28, 2026 • Chattanooga, TN — The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo
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.
