Schneider National executives expect the Supreme Court’s Montgomery decision that expanded freight brokers’ potential liability for negligent carrier selection will push a “significant share of carriers out of the market,” according to Trucking Dive.
Schneider already cut its logistics segment carrier base from 60,000 to 14,000 last year in its efforts to fight cargo theft.
“We obviously start with some of the obvious things: You have a conditional or unsatisfactory rating, you can’t haul for us. But we realized that wasn’t enough,” CEO Jim Filter said. “We had to start taking a lot of other actions, and we took very broad actions, to reduce our carrier base to make sure that we’re protecting our customers’ freight.”
Filter estimated there are “some pretty big numbers that probably should exit this marketplace.”
A majority of the more than 130 fleets surveyed for the American Trucking Associations Driver Compensation Study 2026 have planned for driver pay increases this year.
Rate-per-mile increase announcements have come this year from such carriers as Roehl Transport, Averitt, and Anderson Trucking Service.
The study found that pay also climbed in 2025, with irregular-route truckload driver pay increasing an average of 8.3%.
DAT Freight & Analytics Principal Analyst Dean Croke believes driver pay hikes are the biggest reason behind increasing contract carrier rates. Spot rates, meanwhile, are “being driven by capacity exiting due to enforcement.”
The Cass Truckload Linehaul Index in 2026 is on pace for a 7% year-over-year increase, following a 10% drop in 2023, another 3.4% decline in 2024, and a 1.8% turn upward in 2025. The Linehaul Index in September jumped 10.1% year over year to 154.8.
The expenditures component of the Cass Freight Index accelerated to 20% year-over-year growth in September to 3.970, up from a 19% gain in August. The expenditures segment is on track for a 12% year-over-year gain in 2026, following declines in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The shipments component of the index rose 2.3% month over month and 1.9% year over year, the second straight year-over-year gain after a 3.5-year downturn, the longest on record.
“With modest retail and industrial growth, and some inventory restocking as container imports surge, freight demand is recovering,” the report said. “The combination of a smaller private fleet and rising new equipment sales also supports higher for-hire volumes.”
Class 8 truck orders in September increased 18% month over month and 3% year over year, according to FTR Transportation Intelligence.
Through September, year-to-date orders totaled 264,499 units, up an astonishing 95% year over year.
September marked the transition to the 2027 model ordering season, which is being affected by the EPA’s upcoming heavy-duty nitrogen oxide requirements for truck engines.
Trucking Dive reported that Dan Moyer, FTR Senior Analyst of Commercial Vehicles, said nonconformance penalties for new Class 8 trucks could reach $6,000 to $7,000 per truck, compared with an estimated $8,000 to $12,000 upcharge for a fully compliant engine.
“Truck and engine manufacturers have announced varying strategies for handling the emissions transition, and some have not yet made their plans clear,” Moyer said. “The final EPA rule could still materially alter the economics of these strategies.”
Carter Vieth, a research analyst at ACT Research, said, “Fleets are eager to replace aging equipment and prepare for cost increases on the horizon, but the lack of regulatory clarity is making it difficult for them to plan effectively.”
Transport Topics said while some fleets are taking a wait-and-see approach with the EPA’s 2027 rules, other carriers are investing in new equipment by taking into account total cost of ownership, fuel efficiency, uptime, and dealer support.
“September orders reflect a market that remains cautious as customers balance freight demand, economic conditions and planning for future emissions requirements,” said Justina Morosin, International Motors’ Senior Vice President of Sales and Field Operations.
Isaac Instruments co-founder and CEO Jacques DeLarochellière said artificial intelligence and system connectors have made it possible to retrieve data where it resides without requiring a single vendor to hold everything.
“We’re all working on connectors, and AI will fetch the data where it is. It doesn’t matter anymore that there are data silos,” DeLarochellière said.
DeLarochellière said fleets today can assemble a group of providers tailored to their operational needs while remaining the only party with access to the complete picture of their business.
Accurate Transport is just one carrier recently touting the benefits of AI. It said employing an AI BOL solution has cut its administrative costs by 40% and improved accuracy. Freight management technology helps the company with its on-time delivery scores.
“Overall, improved processes have led to a reduction of more than 10% in the number of trucks needed to handle a growing volume of loads, and improved visibility into freight and assets across our operations has increased 90th percentile Service Level Agreement scores for on-time deliveries. Today, we’re maintaining an on-time delivery percentage of 96%,” said Jay Irons, Accurate Transport’s Director of Strategic Planning.
The Commercial Carrier Journal cited data from freight brokerage TRAFFIX in reporting that cross-border freight conditions have “improved modestly, but shipping across borders is still more difficult than normal.”
As of early October, both Canada and Mexico cross-border conditions had improved by one point from TRAFFIX’s NAX Index for September.
“Capacity is still the biggest problem as even with fewer loads, shippers still have fewer alternatives if their primary carrier is unavailable,” the CCJ reported.
Trucking Dive has released its list of the top trucking conferences slated for 2027.
“As trucking leaders look to move past a yearslong recession that has been mired with market uncertainty across truckload and LTL businesses, industry events are a helpful venue for leaders to stay ahead of tomorrow’s problems,” Trucking Dive said, adding that the conferences will offer insights on topics like driver constraints, AI trends and recovering market dynamics.”
Next year’s conferences will begin with Jump Start 2027 from January 25 to 27 in Atlanta and continue with Manifest in Las Vegas from February 8 to 10.
Other industry gatherings throughout the year include the Mid-America Trucking Show, ACT Expo, FTR Transportation Conference, and ATA Management Conference & Exhibition.
Women in Trucking will recognize the 2026 Top Companies for Women to Work in Trucking at its annual WIT Accelerate! Conference & Expo October 25-28 in Dallas.
“Being recognized as one of the Top Companies for Women to Work in Trucking reflects a genuine, organization-wide commitment to creating a workplace where women can build meaningful, successful careers while helping companies strengthen their workforce and business performance,” said Brian Everett, Group Publisher and Editorial Director of WIT’s Redefining the Road magazine.
The Elite 30 companies receiving the largest number of votes were ArcBest, Averitt, Bennett Family of Companies, Daimler Truck North America, Estes Express Lines, FedEx Freight, Forward, Great Dane, Highlight Motor Group, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Kenworth Truck Co., Landstar System, Marathon Petroleum Co., Marten Transport, May Trucking Co., Old Dominion Freight Line, PACCAR Financial Corp., PACCAR Inc., PACCAR Leasing Co., PACCAR Parts Division, Peterbilt Motors Co., Quality Carriers, Roehl Transport, RXO, Ryder System, Suburban Propane, The Evans Network of Companies, Thermo King by Trane Technologies, UPS, and XPO.
Many of these carriers are among the thousands in the Cass payment network, which provides flexible, customized early payment solutions that align with business goals.
Customized equipment and vehicle finance solutions are also offered through Cass Commercial Bank.