FreightWaves

State sovereignty vs. federal oversight: 22 states and D.C. are suing the USDOT to stop a massive federal audit of 17 million Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) records. The feds cite public safety, while states warn of privacy overreach and threats to withhold federal funding. Is this constitutional oversight or federal overreach?

Project 61 Founder Jeremy Reymer highlights that while travel plazas predominantly offer cheap, refined-carbohydrate fast food with extended shelf lives, consuming ultra-processed foods daily accelerates chronic illness. By partnering with federal agencies like the FMCSA and HHS to structure healthier purchase incentives, industry leaders and travel plaza operators can expand access to real food, helping drivers maintain metabolic wellness, extend career longevity, and lower fleet healthcare costs.

While brokering power-only freight meets shipper demand, providing physical trailers introduces equipment damage and vicarious liability exposures that standard contingent cargo policies exclude. Centerline Insurance President Andy Kuchar emphasizes that logistics enterprises should not abandon high-demand service offerings like trailer pools out of liability fear. Instead, risk management executives should quantify operational risk exposures, secure dedicated non-owned trailer coverage, and factor insurance premiums into customer pricing models to protect operating margins against catastrophic claims.

Who really carries the weight when tariffs enter the supply chain? Middlemen act as the conduit, but end consumers act as the sponge.

During historical capacity crunches, long-haul cross-country intermodal movements frequently suffered chassis deficits and terminal bottlenecks. Craig Fuller points out that current intermodal gains across Eastern corridors benefit from shorter lengths of haul and balanced directional freight flows, preventing service degradation. Julie Van de Kamp highlights that logistics procurement teams can now benchmark intermodal contract and spot rates across 2,000+ key lanes via FreightWaves SONAR's newly launched Intermodal Rates API.

If trade policy sounds like a random number generator to you, here is the cheat sheet on U.S. tariffs explained: Section 232: National Defense Protects domestic supply chains for critical goods—starting with metals like steel & aluminum, now expanding into pharmaceuticals. Section 301: Unfair Trade Practices Targeted at foreign trade abuse, legacy China tariffs, and forced labor practices. Section 338: Anti-Discrimination Dates back to the 1930 Tariff Act—penalizes countries that discriminate against U.S. exports and operations.

What happens when September 11 meets drone technology? This isn't theoretical. We’ve already seen specialized container drones take out an entire Russian air force base. Eventually, this vulnerability reaches the U.S. Are we prepared for the future of warfare?

Severe health conditions—such as sudden cardiovascular events—frequently occur while drivers are operating heavy commercial vehicles, creating severe highway liability and safety risks for motor carriers. Project 61 Founder Jeremy Reymer points out that driver deaths affect nearly every commercial fleet annually. Fleet managers and safety directors mitigate in-cab health risks by offering accessible wellness resources, encouraging preventive care, and integrating health habits into daily dispatch routines to improve driver retention and protect workforce longevity.

Andy Kuchar, President of Centerline Insurance Company, warns that seeing the word "contingent" on an insurance policy is a major red flag because contingent coverage depends on secondary triggers rather than providing direct, guaranteed protection. He argues against relying on a third-party's certificate of insurance (COI), pointing out that standard COI language explicitly states it "confers no rights upon the certificate holder." He believes that logistics leaders must avoid third-party reliance and instead secure dedicated, primary insurance policies designed specifically for their operational risk profile.

"Lean Finely Textured Beef" vs. "Pink Slime" 🥩💬 Words matter. Industry called it standard processing. The media called it "Pink Slime"—and consumer demand vanished overnight.