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On The Desk

Regulatory

Broker Transparency Proposal Clears FMCSA and Heads to the White House

FMCSA sent its broker transparency rulemaking to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on August 27, the last internal review step before the proposal can be published. The rule (RIN 2126-AC63, docket FMCSA-2023-0257) would amend 49 CFR Part 371 to require brokers to keep transaction records electronically and hand over copies to carriers or shippers within 48 hours of a request, with expanded record contents covering charges, payments, freight descriptions, amounts, dates and claims. It builds on a November 2024 proposal that drew roughly 7,000 comments across two rounds and traces back to petitions from OOIDA and the Small Business in Transportation Coalition seeking stricter enforcement and a ban on waiver clauses in broker-carrier contracts. OIRA now has up to 90 days to review before the rule can publish in the Federal Register and open a new comment period — it’s already missed two target publication dates this year.

Adam Wingfield  |  August 29, 2026  |  Read More →

FreightTech

Motive and Highway Restore ELD Data Access After Integration Dispute

Motive and Highway have restored the ELD data-sharing connection between their platforms after a commercial dispute cut it off, and both companies say carriers and brokers don’t need to do anything on their end. Highway can once again pull Motive customer ELD data at normal frequency when carriers authorize it. The outage began after Motive restricted its API access; while it was down, Highway couldn’t issue location-based Load Lock Alerts for Motive-equipped carriers or back those loads under its Performance Guarantee. Highway CEO Jordan Graft and Motive co-founder and CEO Shoaib Makani both framed the fix as restoring service to shared customers, but the underlying commercial contract — including whether payment changes hands and whether Performance Guarantee coverage is fully reinstated — is still being worked out.

Adam Wingfield  |  August 28, 2026  |  Read More →

The Stack

Cargo Theft

Reported cargo theft rises 5% in Q2 as Southern California remains a hot spot

Reported cargo theft climbed 5% quarter over quarter in Q2, to 605 loads, though that’s still down 5% from a year earlier — roughly 202 incidents a month, or about 6.7 a day, and that’s before counting thefts that never get reported. California accounted for 34% of reports, with Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Illinois rounding out the top five. Electronics stayed the top target at 23% of cases, but miscellaneous cargo saw the sharpest growth, up 38% quarter over quarter and 84% year over year. Pilferage was the most common theft type at 46%, followed by full truckload theft at 21% and facility theft at 16%. Warehouses and distribution centers were the single biggest theft location at 37%. The area within 200 miles of Torrance, California stayed the country’s hottest spot, averaging 81 incidents a month — up 28% from the prior period — and Friday was the single riskiest day, with early-morning hours accounting for 28% of incidents.

Phil Brink  |  August 28, 2026  |  Read More →

Broker Liability

"This May Not Be the Right Time to Jump Into the Small Carrier Market." Two Top Transportation Attorneys on Whether the Small Carrier Has a Future.

Transportation attorneys Brian Nelson and Greg Feary say the Supreme Court’s unanimous Montgomery v. Caribe Transport ruling — which closed off brokers’ federal preemption defense and confirmed brokers have a duty to select safe carriers — is already reshaping who gets freight. Nelson says carriers now face broker-specific vetting rules stacked on top of state law, and that the ruling’s language around “conditional carriers” has pushed brokers to avoid them entirely even though regulators acknowledge the underlying safety-rating system is unreliable. Feary says he’s already watching consolidation play out, with larger carriers recruiting small operators to run under their authority instead of their own. The data backs it up: fleets of one to six trucks dropped from about 222,000 in 2023 to roughly 197,000 by mid-2026, while fleets of 15-plus trucks ticked up. Both attorneys’ advice for small carriers: keep compliance documentation airtight, understand how each freight source actually evaluates you, and build the business around safety culture rather than cost-cutting — and per Feary, seriously weigh whether running under a larger carrier’s authority makes more financial sense than staying independent.

Adam Wingfield  |  August 27, 2026  |  Read More →

Tweet Of The Week

M&A

Arrive Logistics plans 1,000 hires after Mubadala majority investment

Mubadala Capital is taking a majority stake in Arrive Logistics, the Austin-based brokerage that runs more than 2,000 employees across 10 North American locations, in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter. Existing investors ATL Partners and Lead Edge Capital are keeping meaningful stakes. Arrive says it will hire 1,000 people in 2026 alone, with more growth planned for 2027, and will put the investment toward expanding into produce, cross-border, LTL, open-deck and partial shipments, plus building out cargo-theft prevention and risk management. CEO Matt Pyatt says day-to-day service for the company’s 5,500 customers and 10,000-carrier network won’t change, and Arrive plans to keep building out its ARRIVEnow TMS and invest further in AI.

Noi Mahoney  |  August 27, 2026  |  Read More →

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