Supply Chain Intelligence Brief

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TRUCKING

Trucking Crisis: Why Regulation Reform Is Urgent

Freight Waves Craig Fuller September 25, 2025

The U.S. trucking industry is facing a crisis of overcapacity, safety lapses and national security risks, exacerbated by decades of deregulation and lax enforcement.

Since March 2018, the number of active for-hire carriers has nearly doubled from 138,000 to 212,000 today, a 54% increase.

Trump imposes 25% tariff on heavy trucks

CCJ September 26, 2025

Companies that supplement assembly with operations in Mexico are generally allowed to bring those trucks into the U.S. tariff-free under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement – a deal Trump signed in 2018 that went into effect in 2020, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Trump Imposes 25% Tariff on Heavy-Duty Trucks

Transport Topics Joe Howard September 25, 2025

“Heavy-duty tractors bought by U.S. carriers only come from two places: the United States and Mexico,” ATA wrote. “There are virtually no other countries that export finished heavy-duty tractors into the U.S. market.

Rental activity significantly drops: NPTC 2025 benchmarking survey

Trucking Dive David Taube September 25, 2025

Fleets are exercising caution amid market and trade challenges, and the average heavy-duty rental commitment size was 12 units, down from 51 in previous years, the report found.

Appeals Court Keeps Yellow on the Hook for Retiree Billions

Transport Topics Keiron Greenhalgh September 25, 2025

Yellow Corp. had a cash balance of $615.9 million at the end of August, according to a Sept. 22 monthly operating report filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. It started August with $623.2 million in the coffers.

SHIPPERS / 3PLs

Costco Earnings Beat Estimates on Dependable Consumer Demand

Transport Topics/Bloomberg News Jawon Kang September 25, 2025

Many big-box retailers have recently reported better-than-expected results driven by consistent spending patterns. That’s set to face a test in the coming months, as more tariff-driven inflation starts to flow through. Rising concerns about the job market are also hurting consumer sentiment.

INDUSTRY

LM reader survey examines the impact of the removal of the de minimis exemption

Logistics Management Jeff Berman September 25, 2025

Nearly one-third, or 32%, of the survey’s respondents said that it has impacted operations, with 46% saying it has not, and 22% stating that they are unsure.

Reasons cited by respondents indicating that their operations have been impacted by the removal of the de minimis exemption included things like increased costs, slower deliveries, lack of availability for certain products, and the need to raise prices, among others.

Q&A: Jeff Tafel, President of the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones

Logistics Management Jeff Berman September 25, 2025

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman spoke with Jeff Tafel, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones. Topics covered included: the impact of the recent removal of the de minimis exemption on Foreign Trade-Zone activity, the mission of the NAFTZ, and the impact of tariffs, among others. Their conversation follows below.

Trans-Pacific capacity cuts on the rise as carriers look to stem rate slide

Journal of Commerce Bill Mongelluzzo and Laura Robb September 25, 2025 $Subscription Based

The reduction in planned capacity for October has increased from 3.8% to 13.6% on the Asia-North America West Coast trade and from 4.8% to 14.4% on the Asia to East Coast lane, Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis, said in this week’s Sunday Spotlight newsletter.

TECHNOLOGY

Spending on AI Is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off?

The Wall Street Journal Eliot Brown and Robbie Whelan September 25, 2025 $Subscription Based

The windswept town of Ellendale, N.D., population 1,100, has two motels, a Dollar General, a Pentecostal Bible college—and a half-built AI factory bigger than 10 Home Depots.

Its more than $15 billion price tag is equivalent to a quarter of the state’s annual economic output.

Factories installed more than 500,000 robots for the fourth straight year

DC Velocity September 25, 2025

Statistics released today on factory automation show that 542,000 industrial robots were installed in 2024—more than double the number 10 years ago—according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

Link: International Federation of Robotics Global Robot Demand in Factories Doubles Over 10 Years

Gemini Robotics 1.5 brings AI agents into the physical world

Google Deep Mind Carolina Parada September 25, 2025

Our embodied reasoning model, Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5, orchestrates a robot’s activities, like a high-level brain. This model excels at planning and making logical decisions within physical environments. It has state-of-the-art spatial understanding, interacts in natural language, estimates its success and progress, and can natively call tools like Google Search to look for information or use any third-party user-defined functions.

SUSTAINABILITY / SAFETY / SECURITY

One-third of corporate spending aligns with sustainability: Risilience

ESG Dive Jim Tyson September 25, 2025

“When over a third of corporate capex is being aligned with sustainability goals, it shows businesses are no longer experimenting with net zero — they are embedding it into strategy, governance and finance,” Risilience CEO Andrew Coburn said. “The leaders are those who are moving from ambition to quantified, finance-grade execution,” he said in a statement.

Link: Risilience Climate and Nature Risk Report

New Reporting Program Gives Companies a Platform to Highlight Emissions-Cutting Efforts

The Wall Street Journal Yusuf Khan September 24, 2025 $Subscription Based

A new independent accounting body is offering companies a way to showcase their work in reducing carbon emissions, after some businesses said their efforts weren’t being recognized.

The Task Force for Corporate Action Transparency, or TCAT, launched two greenhouse gas accounting frameworks on Wednesday, allowing companies to go into more detail about the ways in which they are lowering their emissions.

BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

Economy Expanded at a Surprising 3.8% Pace in Q2

Transport Topics/Associated Press Paul Wiseman September 25, 2025

The U.S. economy expanded at a surprising 3.8% from April through June, the government reported in a dramatic upgrade of its previous estimate of second-quarter growth.

Related: The Wall Street Journal Economy Had a Strong Spring, Latest Revision Shows

Link: Bureau of Economic Analysis Gross Domestic Product, 2nd Quarter 2025

Auto Industry Is Flashing a Warning Sign on U.S. Economy

The Wall Street Journal Christopher Otts September 25, 2025 $Subscription Based

The auto industry is flashing warning lights on the state of the U.S. economy. Automakers’ profits are getting squeezed by tariffs. A subprime auto lender recently collapsed, and some car retailers are warning that consumers are pulling back.

US Business Activity Cools Along With Demand

Transport Topics/Bloomberg News Nazmul Ahasan September 25, 2025

A pair of S&P Global composite indexes showed the slowest growth in new orders and backlogs in three months. Measures of new business at service providers eased, while bookings at manufacturers barely expanded.

Link: S&P Global US Flash PMI®

Retail seasonal hiring to fall to lowest level since 2009

Chain Store Age Marianne Wilson September 24, 2025

“Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger, and many companies continue to rely on automation and permanent staff instead of large waves of seasonal hires,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and senior VP of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

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