Supply Chain Intelligence Brief

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TRUCKING

Capacity cuts, fuel shocks provide openings for trucking and rail

Journal of Commerce Ari Ashe March 18, 2026 $Subscription Based

The tightening of truckload capacity and a sharp rise in diesel prices are beginning to reset surface transportation rates in the US, giving carriers renewed leverage while opening a potential growth opportunity for intermodal rail.

House committee advances bill targeting non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses

Journal of Commerce Dan Ronan March 18, 2026 $Subscription Based

The US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday advanced the bill known as “Dalilah’s Law,” sending the legislation that could reshape the truckload and drayage industry to the full House for consideration.

Committee advances Dalilah’s Law: ‘no English, no license’

CCJ Jason Cannon March 18, 2026

More than 50 trucking stakeholder organizations support the passage of Dalilah’s Law.

To ensure states follow the mandates, the bill proposes withholding federal highway funds from non-compliant states. A state could lose up to 8% of its apportioned federal highway funds for the first offense and a maximum of 12% for subsequent violations. 

FedEx to shutter 9 New York parcel centers

Freight Waves Eric Kulisch March 18, 2026

FedEx Corp. plans to close nine shipping facilities in New York and one in Pennsylvania as its multi-year effort to integrate legacy express and ground delivery operations into one unified surface network enters its final phase, FreightWaves has learned.

Kodiak AI launches second driverless route with Martin Brower

Trucking Dive Larry Avila March 18, 2026

But more importantly, the route gives the company another route available to operate beyond current service hour limitations, he said. 

The company said trucks powered by its technology have delivered more than 12,600 loads, an 87% increase when compared to the end of 2024.

Beyond the hype: Real-world hurdles of autonomous trucking

Fleet Owner Jeremy Wolfe March 18, 2026

Though self-driving might resolve some driver shortage concerns, the same cannot be said for a technician shortage. Orchestrating sensors, computation, and drive-by-wire, autonomous trucks are necessarily more complex than standard trucks

SHIPPERS / 3PLs

NRF: Retail sales to grow 4.4% in 2026; outlook tops average growth of past 10 years

Chain Store Age Marianne Wilson March 18, 2026

Mathews added that the spending outlook is still bifurcated between higher- and lower-income consumers, with higher-income households driving the majority of growth in spending across a range of retail categories.

Consumer activity is expected to receive a modest boost in the first half of the year from larger refunds associated with tax cuts enacted under the Working Families Tax Cut Act.

Link: National Retail Federation NRF Forecasts 4.4% Annual Retail Sales Growth with New Economic Model

INDUSTRY

USPS must win higher-value, heavier packages, CEO says

Supply Chain Dive Max Garland March 18, 2026

Heavier packages mean pricier shipments and more profitable deliveries, but such a shift would require the Postal Service to shake up its current volume mix.

U.S. paves road for vehicles with no steering wheel

Axios Joann Muller March 18, 2026

Why it matters: Fully automated robotaxis don’t need driver controls, but the law still requires them. Updating federal standards could determine who leads the global race in autonomous vehicle technology.

Smart roads: Paving the path to a digital future

McKinsey & Company Alastair Green et al. March 2026

On any given day, anywhere in the world, a single stalled truck on a motorway might set off a chain reaction creating halted traffic, secondary crashes, and delays rippling through logistics networks. Elsewhere, a crack in a bridge that has gone unnoticed for weeks could suddenly force an emergency closure. Or a highway rest area that’s reached capacity more quickly than expected could force trucks to park on hard shoulders, creating severe safety risks.

TECHNOLOGY

Here’s What OpenClaw Agents Are Doing Today

The Wall Street Journal Isabelle Bousquette March 18, 2026 $Subscription Based

Claws are autonomous agents and can plan and execute tasks on their own, and, critically, spin up their own subagents to tackle specialized tasks, access files and themselves delegate tasks to other subagents.

SUSTAINABILITY / SAFETY / SECURITY

HERE Technologies launches advanced EV planning tools for mixed fleets

Freight Waves Thomas Wasson March 18, 2026

Electric vehicles introduce variables that internal combustion engine (ICE) fleets never dealt with: battery range that fluctuates with temperature and payload, charging dwell times that disrupt delivery schedules, and infrastructure gaps that can strand drivers mid-route.

As EV Market Stalls, Battery Makers Shift to Grids and Data Centers

The Wall Street Journal Jinjoo Lee March 19, 2026 $Subscription Based

Ford and others are converting battery factories to produce industrial and utility-scale energy storage

Harbinger expands medium-duty lineup with HC Series electric truck

Freight Waves Thomas Wasson March 18, 2026

The truck carries a 26,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating with a payload capacity that Harbinger says matches leading vehicles in the segment. Its low-cab-forward design lets fleets fit longer cargo boxes on shorter wheelbases, adding usable cargo space without stretching overall vehicle length.

Google aims to remove 200,000 tons of carbon by converting waste from landfills

ESG Dive Zoya Mirza March 18, 2026

Google’s partnership with AMP Robotics has a two-fold purpose: to cut the tech giant’s carbon footprint and curb methane emissions generated by landfill waste.

BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

Wholesale Prices Came in Hot at 3.4% in February

Transport Topics/Associated Press March 18, 2026

U.S. wholesale prices came in hotter than expected in February, driven partly by a sharp increase in food costs.

The price gains were bigger than economists had forecast, and they occurred before the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran pushed energy prices sharply higher.

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