F3: Future of Freight Festival

Honoring contracts puts brokers in position to take advantage of the spot market

When Doug Waggoner became the CEO of Echo Global Logistics in 2006, the company was a small startup with just 30 employees. Today, Echo is an industry leader, employing nearly 3,000 people and working with over 50,000 carriers. 

Echo started its life with venture capital as a true startup, spent several years as a publicly-traded organization, and is now privately owned again and still growing. 

Reflecting on the environment in which Echo was founded, Waggoner says there was a transition period...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/honoring-contracts-puts-brokers-in-position-to-take-advantage-of-the-spot-market

FMCSA clearinghouse rule puts bullseye on freight capacity

When even a small percentage of tens of thousands of trucks get forced off the road, a major freight capacity shift can ensue – and that’s exactly the scenario playing out now that states have new enforcement power over roughly 179,000 truck drivers.

That’s the number of drivers in “prohibited status” as of Oct. 1, the latest data available from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse. On Monday, all those drivers’ CDLs were automatically revoked. Those...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/capacity-shakeout-coming-down-the-pike

Live from Day 3 at F3 with e2open, WireBee, Transfix | WHAT THE TRUCK?!?

On episode 786 of WHAT THE TRUCK?!? Dooner is coming to you live from day 3 at FreightWaves’ Future of Freight Festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

He’s joined by special guests Jim Sanborn at e2open; Solomiya Tomkiv at WireBee, and Drew McElroy at Transfix.

Catch new shows live at noon EDT Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on FreightWaves LinkedIn, Facebook, X or YouTube, or on demand by looking up WHAT THE TRUCK?!? on your favorite podcast player and at 5 p.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Road Dog...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/live-from-day-3-at-f3-with-e2open-wirebee-transfix-what-the-truck

GenLogs helping brokers generate leads and fight crime

Transportation asset intelligence platform GenLogs has been using its network of roadside cameras and sensors to help brokers and carriers identify potential backhaul leads. But now it’s using the same technology to help local law enforcement agencies recover stolen assets.

Founded last year, GenLogs began aggregating data on tractor and trailer movements. It identifies which carriers have the greatest activity on major trucking lanes across the country. Brokers can interface with the platform...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/genlogs-helping-brokers-generate-leads-and-fight-crime

ITS Logistics leader urges industry to make people-focused investments in 2025

Josh Allen, chief commercial officer at ITS Logistics, on Thursday said logistics firms should refocus their investments in 2025 to develop the companies and their workforce.

Allen said he was drawn to ITS Logistics because of its people and culture, which are the foundation of the company. The 3PL works to empower its employees and grow their careers through technological development, which Allen said is a worthwhile investment and moves away from a transactional approach.

“I am absolutely...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/its-logistics-leader-urges-industry-to-make-people-focused-investments-in-2025

Truck driver shortage: Myth or reality? 

Trucking industry experts weighed in during a debate Wednesday at FreightWaves’ F3: Future of Freight Festival on the controversial subject of whether there is a driver shortage or a driver retention problem.

The debate, moderated by Timothy Dooner of FreightWaves’ WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, featured Lewie Pugh, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, and John Larkin, strategic adviser for Clarendon Capital, a private equity firm.

Pugh, representing OOIDA, a trade...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-driver-shortage-myth-or-reality

Flexport head of trucking: New broker tech will be crucial in 5-10 years

Bill Driegert, head of trucking at Flexport, said during a fireside chat at FreightWaves’ F3: Future of Freight Festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that a new wave of technology is transforming the trucking industry.

Craig Fuller, CEO and founder of FreightWaves, kicked off the discussion on Wednesday with Driegert by asking about his work at Flexport.

“It’s been an interesting journey over the last year and a half,” Driegert said. “We’ve had a lot of changes, but fundamentally, Flexport was...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/flexport-head-of-trucking-new-broker-tech-will-be-crucial-in-5-10-years

J.B. Hunt CEO calls for ‘courageous collaboration’ to transform industry 

J.B. Hunt President and CEO Shelley Simpson began her keynote at this year’s F3: Future of Freight Festival by recalling a defining moment in logistics industry history: the famed 1989 handshake between J.B. Hunt himself and Mike Haverty, then-president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

That handshake heralded a collaboration that would permanently change the way the industry thinks about collaboration. As a result, the first intermodal shipment took place in February 1990.

Since that...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/j-b-hunt-ceo-calls-for-courageous-collaboration-to-transform-industry

Port of LA whittles dwell time despite record container volumes

Container volumes continued their torrid pace in October, but the Port of Los Angeles posted improved times in getting those boxes out the door to inland destinations.

Container volume totaled 905,025 twenty-foot equivalent units, up 25% from 725,774 TEUs in October 2023. Loaded imports were 462,740 TEUs, up 24% from 372,454 TEUs y/y, while loaded exports of 122,716 TEUs were flat from 121,277 TEUs a year ago.

The port handled 319,570 empty TEUs, an increase of 38% from 232,043 TEUs in October...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/port-of-la-whittles-dwell-time-despite-record-container-volumes

Cambridge Capital founder predicts M&A resurgence in 2025

After a two-year freight recession and a drastic pullback in lending from private equity- and venture capital-backed firms investing in supply chain technology after the COVID pandemic, Benjamin Gordon, founder and managing partner of Cambridge Capital, says there’s been a resurgence in strategic mergers and acquisitions. 

Gordon and FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller discussed current trends for the freight and logistics M&A market on Wednesday at FreightWaves’ F3: Future of Freight Festival.

Gordon...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cambridge-capital-founder-predicts-ma-resurgence-in-2025

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