Supply Chain Intelligence Brief

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TRUCKING

‘Tis the season for the annual capacity purge

Freight Waves Craig Fuller November 27, 2025

As truckers celebrate the Thanksgiving holidays, the U.S. trucking industry stands on the brink of another tradition: the annual capacity purge.

The annual capacity purge happens between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, each year and involves a significant increase in motor carriers leaving the industry compared to other times in the year.

DHS launches sweeping I-9 audits on California truck fleets

Freight Waves Craig Fuller November 30, 2025

Department of Homeland Security agents are conducting aggressive workplace audits across Northern and Central California trucking companies, with a heavy focus on Punjabi-owned carriers, according to a detailed account aired November 28 on Punjab Radio USA.

FedEx and UPS Don’t Need to Join the Gig Economy

Bloomberg Opinion Thomas Black November 28, 2025 $Subscription Based

The same gig technology that flooded the market with ride-hailing and food-delivery options is now moving into parcel delivery. Uber Technologies Inc. and DoorDash are taking aim at retail delivery, joining several parcel delivery startups that use gig drivers and have expanded to the largest cities.

Amazon CDL drivers at Kentucky facility unionize: Teamsters

Trucking Dive David Taube November 26, 2025

But Amazon questioned the Teamsters’ portrayal of the situation, adding that the company already provides much of what the Teamsters are requesting, “including competitive pay, health benefits on day one, and opportunities for career growth,” spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a statement.

Smart trailers: Why autonomous trucking depends on connected trailer technology

Fleet Owner Kevin Jones November 26, 2025

The roadmap to autonomous trucking is typically focused on the power unit—the self-driving tractor—but a recent panel of telematics and fleet management experts underscored a crucial truth: The future of driverless long-haul operations rests squarely on the intelligence of the trailer pulled behind that tractor.

Yellow settles with pensions

Freight Waves Todd Maiden November 29, 2025

Bankrupt Yellow Corp. has agreed to terms with 14 multiemployer pension plans regarding more than $7.4 billion in claims stemming from the former less-than-truckload carrier’s 2023 shutdown.

Related: American Journal of Transportation Bankrupt Yellow settles with pensions that sought billions

Metallica’s Gift Of Giving: A New Commercial Driver’s License And A Start In Other Trades (Video 8m)

CBS Sunday Morning Luke Burbank November 30, 2025

The heavy metal band Metallica has not only changed lives with their music; they’ve also changed lives with their philanthropy – from donations to food banks and disaster relief, to the band’s charity All Within My Hands, which has donated to workforce education and other critical services. Luke Burbank talks with band members Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Robert Trujillo and Lars Ulrich, and with one of the 9,000 Metallica Scholars who have benefitted from the band’s grants through trade schools and community colleges.

SHIPPERS / 3PLs

Black Friday sets new record, cementing itself as an ecommerce sales day in 2025

Digital Commerce 360 Abbas Haleem November 29, 2025

Following a record-setting day for Thanksgiving ecommerce sales, consumers spent $11.8 billion online on Black Friday 2025. That’s the first time that Black Friday online sales reached or exceeded $11 billion, setting a new record for the fourth straight year.

Shoppers spend billions on Black Friday to snag holiday deals, despite wider economic uncertainty

Associated Press Wyatte Grantham-Philips November 29, 2025

Despite wider economic uncertainty hovering above this year’s holiday season, shoppers turned out in big numbers for Black Friday — spending billions of dollars both in stores and online.

Related: Mastercard Spending Pulse U.S. Black Friday retail sales up +4.1% YOY as holiday momentum builds

Gen Z Shoppers Aren’t Spending Like Retailers Need Them To

The Wall Street Journal Jennifer Williams November 30, 2025 $Subscription Based

Economic worries aren’t putting much of a dent in consumers’ holiday shopping plans, with one glaring exception: Gen Z shoppers.

More than any other generation, young adults are tightening their year-end spending budgets and shelling out less for gifts, survey data shows.

INDUSTRY

How Foreign-Trade Zones Are Helping Companies Beat the Holiday Rush

Supply Chain 24/7 November 30, 2025

This holiday season is bringing the usual spike in freight volume, but some companies are finding a way to ease the pressure. More U.S. businesses are turning to Foreign-Trade Zones to lower costs, build inventory earlier, and stay ahead of shipping disruptions. To better understand how the program works, we spoke with Jeff Tafel, President of the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones.

TECHNOLOGY

AI Adoption Among Workers Is Slow and Uneven. Bosses Can Speed It Up.

The Wall Street Journal Christopher Mims November 28, 2025 $Subscription Based

Workhelix, a consulting startup co-founded by academics studying the impact of AI on work, recently analyzed a pharmaceutical company with more than 50,000 employees. The team found that the employees using AI the most at the company were, far and away, the interns.

ChatGPT launched three years ago today

TechCrunch Anthony Ha November 30, 2025

On November 30, 2022, OpenAI introduced a new product to the world, innocuously describing it as “a model called ChatGPT which interacts in a conversational way.”

SUSTAINABILITY / SAFETY / SECURITY

Classical natural gas

CCJ Rick Mihelic November 29, 2025

Natural gas still has the same challenges it faced in 2010, the primary one is that natural gas trucks are more expensive than their diesel counterparts. This always will be true because of significant differences in the fueling systems. However, cost differences between natural gas and diesel trucks can be mitigated to an extent through incentives, grants and mechanisms like low carbon fuel standard credits.

Proterra Upbeat on Battery-Electric Demand Prospects

Transport Topics Keiron Greenhalgh November 26, 2025

In the two years since Volvo Group bought Proterra Powered, industrywide optimism surrounding the prospects for battery-electric trucks has taken a battering, but the battery maker remains upbeat, according to a senior executive.

Series of new green shipping corridors emerge despite IMO regulatory setback

Journal of Commerce Greg Knowler November 26, 2025 $Subscription Based

China, India and Brazil are among developing nations setting up a host of new green shipping corridors despite the regulatory uncertainty surrounding investment in alternative fuels following the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) decision in October to postpone its net-zero framework for a year.

EU Watchdog Says Commission Failed to Follow Procedures in Cutting Sustainability Reporting Rules

ESG Today Mark Segal November 28, 2025

EU Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho announced that she has found a series of shortcomings in the European Commission’s process to launch its “Omnibus” initiative to simplify and reduce corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements, alongside other legislative proposals, amounting to “maladministration” by the Commission.

A turning point for cybersecurity and collaboration in trucking

CCJ Joe Ohr November 26, 2025

As we close out another busy month across the transportation sector and the end of 2025 draws closer, the National Motor Freight Traffic Association, Inc. (NMFTA)™ stands focused on cybersecurity and reducing cyber-enabled cargo theft. We announced a major change a few weeks ago where non-Class 8 carriers will need to get license and address verification as part of Standard Carrier Alpha Code® (SCAC®). NMFTA sees this as an effort to ensure drivers are not getting impersonated and addresses are valid.

BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

American Consumers Lose Patience With High Car Prices

The Wall Street Journal Sharon Terlep November 30, 2025 $Subscription Based

For years it has seemed no sticker price was too high for American car buyers. Even as average new car prices approached $50,000 this year, dealers fretted more over depleted inventories than losing customers to sticker shock.

Those days are coming to an end.