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This week’s top stories in trucking

Class 8 Orders Soar 241% as Fleets Race for 2026 Build Slots

North American Class 8 net orders hit 30,500 units in June, up 16% from May and 241% year-over-year, per FTR Transportation Intelligence — the second-highest June total on record and nearly 68% above the 10-year average for the month. Year-to-date orders are running 125% ahead of last year, and FTR says the remaining 2026 build slots could be fully committed in July if they aren’t already. Healthy replacement cycles, firming freight rates and improving carrier utilization are driving demand, with some fleets ordering ahead of the EPA’s tougher 2027 NOx standards. The used market is cooler: same-dealer Class 8 retail sales fell 13% from April, though volumes and prices still topped year-ago levels. FTR’s Dan Moyer says the question is no longer demand but how much of the 2026 backlog converts to production before EPA, tariff and USMCA uncertainty reshapes 2027 fleet timing.

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STG Logistics Exits Chapter 11 as Intermodal Market Heats Up

STG Logistics completed its financial restructuring Thursday, shedding roughly 90% of its funded debt — more than $1 billion — and taking on $150 million in fresh capital from investors including Fortress, Fidelity and Invesco, who now hold majority equity. The asset-based intermodal provider entered a pre-packaged Chapter 11 in January and says service to customers and vendors ran uninterrupted throughout. The timing is favorable: a regulatory-driven exodus of truckload capacity has pushed TL spot rates higher and helped drive an 8% year-over-year jump in Class I intermodal traffic in Q2, with domestic container volumes up double digits. Intermodal now runs about 31% cheaper than over-the-road truckload, well past the 15% savings threshold that typically triggers modal conversion. STG emerges with a leaner balance sheet, new ownership and roughly 100 facilities, 15,000 containers and 3,000 tractors behind its port-to-door network.

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Quantix Names New CEO After Lender Restructuring

Chemical logistics provider Quantix tapped longtime executive Nate Gesse as CEO effective July 20, capping a turnaround that followed the completion of a lender restructuring. Gesse, most recently president and COO, succeeds John Labrie, who came out of retirement in 2024 to steer the operational and financial overhaul and now shifts to senior adviser. The Woodlands, Texas-based company didn’t disclose financial terms of the lender deal, which it says reinforces its long-term footing. Quantix runs 30 terminals and 20 warehousing and packaging sites across more than 80 U.S. locations, with a fleet topping 4,500 units serving bulk transport, transloading and managed transportation. The move lands as the global chemical logistics market is projected to grow from $534.4 billion in 2026 to $683.3 billion by 2031.

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Mountain Valley Express Shuts Down 13-Terminal LTL Network

West Coast LTL carrier Mountain Valley Express ceased operations July 7, telling FreightWaves that existing accounts and services are no longer active. The Manteca, California-based regional ran 13 terminals across California, Arizona and Nevada, plus warehousing, and is listed with 277 power units in FMCSA data. The carrier had announced a restructuring and roughly 105 layoffs in late 2024 while integrating DC Logistics with the GLS U.S. freight and solutions businesses. As recently as last fall it was touting "aggressive growth goals" and a new TMS rollout. A claims link has been posted for creditors to file against the estate.

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Trucking’s Biggest Insurance Fraud Nears Reckoning as Thandi Pleads Guilty

Jasbir Thandi, president of the failed Global Hawk risk retention group, pleaded guilty to two counts of insurance-fraud conspiracy and is set for sentencing Aug. 28, closing the book on trucking’s largest insurance collapse. Global Hawk’s final annual statement claimed $42.7 million in assets; regulators found $609,481. Court records describe photocopied deposit slips with zeros added, more than 500 "ghost" policies kept off the books, and roughly $14 million borrowed in the insurer’s name and routed to entities Thandi controlled. When Vermont liquidated the company in 2020, some 1,008 trucks were left effectively uninsured. Because federal law bars RRGs from state guaranty funds, the truckers and crash victims behind those policies — unlike the traditional-insurance victims on the other half of the same scheme — recovered almost nothing.

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SONAR spotlight: Spot rates party like it’s the Fourth of July

(Source: SONAR)

Summary: The National Truckload Index (Linehaul Only), NTIL.USA, sits at $2.98 per mile, off 0.67% — about 2 cents — on the day after cresting above $3.00 in early July. Even with the dip, linehaul spot rates remain far above the $2.09 trailing average and near multiyear highs, extending the spring-to-summer climb that carried the index from the low $2.20s to above $3.00. The pullback reads as normal post-holiday cooling rather than a trend break: the capacity exit driving rates higher hasn’t reversed.

Diving into the data, the NTIL held in the low-to-mid $2.20s through April before breaking higher in May and running to a peak just over $3.00 by early July, then easing to $2.98. The current reading sits roughly 89 cents above the $2.09 average across the trailing-year window shown, underscoring how far the market has repriced off the supply side.
To calculate the NTIL, fuel costs are based on the average retail price of diesel and an assumed fuel efficiency of 6.5 miles per gallon. The formula is NTID – (DTS.USA / 6.5).

Looking ahead, the forces behind the run-up are still in play. Regulatory enforcement continues to push noncompliant truckload capacity out of the market, and an 8% year-over-year surge in Q2 intermodal traffic shows freight already shifting to rail as intermodal opens a 31% cost gap to over-the-road truckload. Watch whether the post-Fourth dip is a brief consolidation or the start of a plateau near $3. Contract rates typically lag spot by a couple of weeks, so continued spot strength points to further upward pressure as carriers reprice their networks through RFPs and mini-bids.