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The Daily // Tue 09.01.26 View in browser →
The DailyTuesday · September 1, 2026
The five minutes that makes you the most informed person in freight today
Lead Story
Transportation capacity contraction slows in AugustTransportation capacity continued to dwindle in August, but at the slowest rate recorded in six months, while transportation pricing continued to surge, according to the Logistics Managers’ Index, a monthly sentiment survey of supply chain professionals. The index returned a reading of 40 last month, 11.6 percentage points slower than July’s contraction rate — which was the second-fastest recorded in the dataset’s 10-year history. The LMI is a diffusion index where readings above 50 signal expansion and below 50 signal contraction. Transportation prices (90) increased 3.1 points during the month, marking the fourth time in five months the index has logged extreme growth of 90 or higher. Transportation utilization (70.6) jumped 5.6 points, only the second time in five years the index has registered "robust" growth above 70. Logistics managers expect the market to stay very tight over the next 12 months, forecasting readings of 43 for capacity, 71.9 for utilization and 86.1 for pricing. Aggregate logistics costs — inventory, warehousing and transportation combined — totaled 243.6 in August, up 4.1 points and well above the breakeven level of 150. The overall LMI (66.6) slipped 2.2 points from July as inventory growth cooled, even as logistics cost expansion stayed elevated. Why It Matters?
The Logistics Managers’ Index provides a look at all major supply chain costs. The latest report signals a difficult operating environment for shippers characterized by tight capacity and growing cost pressures. Top Stories
DOT shuts down 110 truck driving schools in CDL fraud crackdownFederal transportation officials are removing more than 110 commercial driver training schools from a federal registry and targeting another 160-plus schools for removal as part of a sweeping new crackdown on fraud in the trucking industry. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the enforcement actions Monday in Detroit alongside Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs, federal prosecutors and members of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. The initiative also includes a nationwide audit of third-party CDL skills testers and a Homeland Security Investigations sweep targeting more than 200 driving schools across 23 states. DOT said more than 28,000 commercial drivers have been placed out of service for English-language proficiency violations since June 2025, and HSI said it has received more than 1,000 leads involving CDL-related businesses suspected of unsafe practices or transportation-sector exploitation. Why It Matters?
The enforcement push expands the government’s CDL crackdown upstream from individual drivers to the schools, testers and businesses responsible for training, licensing and employing them. Sponsored · Aurora
UPS reorganization prioritizes global logistics over parcel deliveryUnited Parcel Service announced Monday afternoon the adoption of a new operating model and leadership structure aimed at better exploiting its global network to accelerate profit growth as it evolves from a traditional small package carrier to more of an integrated logistics provider. The timing coincides with the major phase-out of low-margin Amazon business and downsizing of its domestic parcel network, largely completed by the end of June. UPS appointed Nando Cesarone as executive vice president and chief global operations officer, elevating him from president of U.S. operations to oversee the company’s global air network, surface transportation and sustainability functions. Over an 18-month period, UPS eliminated 50% of its Amazon volume, closed 150 parcel sort centers and laid off 30,000 workers. Why It Matters?
The company has stressed for two years that it intends to deemphasize last-mile delivery of e-commerce packages and focus more on high-value, premium market segments like healthcare, industrial, and automotive logistics, as well as services for small-and-medium size businesses. Now there is more concrete evidence about the direction UPS is going. Out of its depth: Why 52 feet could equal millions of dollars for this U.S. portSouth Carolina Ports and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have signed a feasibility study agreement toward investigating further deepening of the North Charleston Terminal, currently maintained at 48 feet. At 52 feet, Charleston Harbor is already the deepest in the Southeast, and dredging would let all of its container terminals handle the biggest ships at any tide. The Port of Virginia claims the deepest East Coast harbor at 55 feet, mandated by Congress for aircraft carriers at the adjacent Norfolk naval base. The study is authorized under the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, with $500,000 in FY26 federal funding, and comes weeks after South Carolina Ports shut down operations at its Leatherman terminal, citing an uncertain trade outlook and the need to cut costs. Why It Matters?
A deeper Charleston Harbor would let South Carolina Ports compete for the biggest container ships afloat even as it scales back elsewhere, a bet that federal infrastructure dollars will keep flowing to Southeast gateways as trade patterns shift. Border Patrol sweep in Arizona arrests 143, including 95 truck drivers with CDLs in U.S. illegallyBorder Patrol arrested 95 truck drivers holding state-issued commercial driver’s licenses during a five-day Arizona operation, part of a broader action that arrested 143 people from 18 countries between Aug. 10 and Aug. 14. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the operation targeted the Yuma Sector along the U.S.-Mexico border and was conducted with local Stonegarden law-enforcement partners. California issued 76 of the CDL credentials, CBP reported, with New York issuing six more and other states the remaining 13. During the same operation, agents stopped two human-smuggling events, arrested four suspected smugglers, encountered 17 smuggled people and seized a firearm, 74 pounds of methamphetamine and 169 pounds of marijuana. CBP did not link the smuggling or narcotics cases to any CDL holder. Why It Matters?
CBP’s report places commercial driver licensing inside a broader border-enforcement operation. The release does not tie every arrest to a truck movement, freight shipment or carrier. But the results could prompt closer scrutiny of driver eligibility and state licensing practices across the industry. FreightWaves Today · Live at 12PM ET
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FreightWaves Events
F3: Future of Freight Festival
Your team works hard every day to keep supply chains moving. This Labor Day, invest in their growth—and your company’s bottom line—by sending them to F3: Future of Freight Festival (Oct. 27-28 in Chattanooga). Get ahead of market trends and regulatory shifts, experience the latest FreightTech insights that directly impact your margins, and expand high-value relationships with 1,000+ supply chain leaders spanning the industry. October 27–28, 2026 · The Signal, Chattanooga
Sponsored Insight
Presented by Trimble
White Paper: AI Agent Readiness and Adoption in FreightAI is moving beyond experimentation and into everyday freight operations. From automating repetitive tasks to supporting operational decisions, AI agents are creating new opportunities for efficiency across the supply chain. Presented by Aurora
Your next truck could drive itself.Aurora Driver 2 is hauling freight on public roads. From the Research Desk
In partnership with CargoWise Landside
What It Takes to Win in the Next Era of DrayageFreightWaves and CargoWise Landside surveyed drayage operators on the automation investments separating growth from margin compression amid demand volatility and driver shortages. In partnership with Werner
High-Stakes Freight Brokerage: Risk and AccountabilityFreightWaves and Werner surveyed shippers moving high-value freight and found compliance failures and limited visibility are turning low-cost brokerage into a reliability risk, not just a pricing one. In partnership with Trimble
White Paper: AI Agent Readiness and Adoption in FreightAI is moving beyond experimentation and into everyday freight operations. FreightWaves and Trimble surveyed carriers, brokers, shippers and owner-operators on where the industry is adopting AI today and what leaders expect next. Courtesy of Infios
New Research: Tariffs Didn’t Raise Costs. They Raised the Execution Standard.Infios-backed research breaks down how tariff volatility turned transport-mode selection and trade-route monitoring into daily operating decisions instead of annual ones. Watch on FreightWaves TV
What We’re Watching
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Capacity is tightening fastest since the pandemic-era shock of 2020August’s LMI capacity reading of 40 was the slowest pace of contraction in six months, but pricing (90) and utilization (70.6) both surged. Watch whether the forecast holds — logistics managers expect capacity, utilization and pricing to stay tight or tighten further over the next year. ▸
UPS is placing its bets on global logistics over parcel deliveryA new operating model and leadership shakeup follow UPS’s 50% cut to Amazon volume and 150 sort-center closures. Watch who fills the newly created chief global commercial strategy officer role and whether further parcel-network downsizing follows. ▸
Border enforcement is putting CDL issuance under a bigger microscopeA five-day Arizona sweep pulled in 95 truck drivers holding state-issued CDLs, mostly from California, alongside human-smuggling and narcotics arrests. Watch whether the operation prompts other border sectors or state licensing agencies to run similar sweeps. That’s your Daily for today. See you tomorrow.
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