Trucking and technology at scale: A look at Variant with Josh Smith
On Tuesday, Josh Smith, vice president at Variant and over-the-road operations at U.S. Xpress, spoke to FreightWaves about the Variant program and how technology and operations are vital to success in trucking.
During the interview, Smith highlighted the evolution of the Variant brand and how the organizational structure seeks to make life better for drivers on the road. Smith noted the Variant model is...
Major US banks...
A pair of major banks are sounding the alarm on weak U.S. imports.
This week, analysts from J.P. Morgan and Bank of America warned that U.S. imports have declined in recent weeks. The main culprits include weaker U.S. consumer activity and strict lockdowns in China.
Bank of America noted imports “declined broadly,” particularly out of China. J.P. Morgan’s Europe equity team affirmed FreightWaves’ Tuesday analysis of inbound ocean containers, which found container imports dropped by more than 36%...
Note these sobering statistics:
Appearing at Bank of America’s annual transportation conference, management from some of the nation’s biggest fleets said they haven’t seen any changes in customer demand since reporting first-quarter results a few weeks ago. Management teams acknowledged the sharp decline in spot market fundamentals at the event but said some of that has to do with the relative strength in contract rates, which is driving better adherence to routing guides.
Big carriers largely haul freight under contract, and...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/large-carriers-still-seeing-strong-demand-midway-through-q2
Citing “waning demand and price dives,” Bank of America downgraded multiple transportation stocks on Friday. The ratings changes come as recent data points and commentary show trucking fundamentals have loosened following a year-and-a-half run of high freight demand accompanied by a lack of supply.
Tender rejections, a proxy for truck capacity tightness, remained very high entering the year but began declining notably in March, bucking normal seasonal trends. High-single-digit price inflation...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/transport-stocks-fall-out-of-favor-as-trucking-market-loosens
This week, Lordstown Motors CEO Daniel Ninivaggi took umbrage to a question about leadership at the struggling electric pickup truck maker; competing trucking industry events push green agendas; and a look at the state of aftermarket parts amid the supply chain crisis.
Who’s the alpha male around here?The final question from Bank of America Securities senior automotive analyst John Murphy to Lordstown Motors Corp. CEO Daniel Ninivaggi on the struggling electric pickup truck maker’s earnings call...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-tech-alpha-male-call-edition
Food delivery drivers last week claimed a win in the ongoing gig economy battle between employers and their workers, who are often classified as independent contractors instead of employees and are deprived of the benefits that come with full employment. Last Thursday, the New York City Council approved a legislative package that, among other things, established a minimum payment per trip for delivery drivers. But for the more than 70% of gig workers living paycheck to paycheck, that money is...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/payfare-stride-partner-on-real-time-payments-for-gig-workers
The conventional wisdom was that with more Americans vaccinated and the economy reopened, the explosion in goods-buying during the COVID-19 pandemic would moderate to at best a muffled roar. Yet the roar appears to remain as full-throated as it was in the summer of 2020, and there’s no sign from data or anecdotes that it will ease off any time soon.
A slowdown in goods-buying was “what we are expecting, but we haven’t seen it yet,” said Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-us-consumers-throttle-back-on-buying-stuff
JD Logistics, the logistics entity for Chinese e-commerce leader JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), was approved for an initial public offering (IPO) by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The spinoff could raise up to $4 billion, following the lead of its sibling spinoff, JD Health International (HKG:6618), which raised $3.9 billion in December.
On Monday, the logistics unit began premarketing meetings led by UBS Financial with joint sponsors including Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Haitong...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/jd-logistics-approved-for-ipo-spinoff-could-raise-4b