Three winter storms that hit the Midwest in the first two weeks of December obviously slowed the highway network, as the Cass Freight Index shipments component for the month shows a 7.2% decline from November. Roughly 80% of the shipments in the Cass Freight Index are over-the-road transportation.
But weather wasn’t entirely to blame for the decrease in shipments. “Holiday consumer spending data suggest retail inventories destocked in recent months, as freight shipments across modes were below spending trends,” wrote ACT Research’s Tim Denoyer, author of the Cass Transportation Index Report.
Denoyer said for-hire volumes in the fourth quarter of 2025 were soft for a number of reasons. “The storms were probably the largest factor in December, but there was also payback from pre-tariff shipping and some ongoing overcapacity in private fleets.”
A market warm-up could be on the way, according to Denoyer, who said that “while the soft volume environment persists, after considerable destocking in Q4 ’25, we think the Supreme Court decision on IEEPA tariffs could provide a positive catalyst for freight demand.”
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Sluggish demand, slowly tightening capacity, and the need for flexibility are among the trucking industry’s top concerns in early 2026, according to a canvass of Trucking Dive sources.
That flexibility could mean switching from an owner-operator to leased-on arrangement as insulation from “some of the costs and the volatility with rates,” Andrew King, director of operations for the OOIDA Foundation, told Trucking Dive.
Owner-operators also can be more flexible on “what they’re hauling and where they’re hauling in order to help keep themselves afloat,” King said.
Elizabeth Moscoso, president of Moscoso Express, agreed that “preparation and adaptability will continue to be key drivers of success.”
“We are proactively positioning Moscoso Express to withstand uncontrollable market shifts that could impact freight availability, including demand contractions or sudden capacity changes,” she said.
“While capacity has tightened compared to last year’s oversupplied conditions, analysts suggest the market remains fundamentally loose. Any meaningful shift toward tightness will require substantial demand growth,” the Commercial Carrier Journal’s Pamella De Leon wrote.
Any market shift will also require a change in freight rates.
“The national average linehaul van rate has been nearly unchanged over the last three years — $1.66 a mile in 2025, $1.62 in 2024, and $1.63 in 2023. The real risk to carriers is another year of flatness,” De Leon quoted Ken Adamo, DAT Freight & Analytics’ chief of analytics, as saying.
“Flat is the toughest environment because there’s only so much you can do to create wins and build your business,” Adamo said.
Mazen Danaf, Uber Freight’s senior economist, also pointed out that spot rates remain “well below the operating costs of trucking per loaded mile.”
Class 8 truck orders surged in December to an estimated 42,200 units — the highest number since October 2022.
December’s total represented a 108% month-over-month increase from November, but cumulative orders from September through December still came in at 22% below the previous year.
Analysts suspect the December spike was linked to improved visibility surrounding tariff policies and emissions regulations in October and November.
“A firmer economic foundation, increasingly aged fleets, and the certainty of higher costs and new technologies in 2027 were the impetus, in our opinion, for the sudden change of heart. As trucking fundamentals remain thin, if improving, we view December’s Class 8 result as overstating the improvement,” Carter Vieth, a research analyst at ACT Research, said.
Dublin, Ohio-based STG Logistics, with more than $1 billion in both assets and liabilities, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure debt and reorganize operations.
The bankruptcy reportedly will eliminate approximately 91% of the company’s debt and provide $150 million in new capital, allowing the company to continue operating.
STG had grown rapidly through acquisitions, including Best Dedicated Solutions in 2023 and the intermodal segment of XPO Logistics, formerly Pacer, in 2022.
“It is business as usual across STG Logistics, and the work underway has no impact on our ability to continue delivering for our customers, vendors, and partners at the highest levels,” CEO Geoff Anderman said in a LinkedIn post.
DSV has sold USA Truck to UTAC LLC, a group made up of the company’s current and former leaders.
UTAC leadership includes George Henry, the current USA Truck CEO; Zachary King, the former CFO; and James Reed, the former CEO.
USA Truck was acquired by DB Schenker in 2022. DSV then acquired DB Schenker in April 2025.
“USA Truck will be well positioned for future growth under the new ownership, where its business model and legacy strengths can be fully leveraged,” DSV said in a news release.
The cost of the acquisition was not disclosed, but DB Schenker paid about $435 million for USA Truck.
Avkha Equity Holdings has acquired Minnesota-based Dart Transit Co., ending 90 years of ownership by the Oren family.
The acquisition includes Dart Transit, Dart Express, and all related subsidiaries. Financial terms were not disclosed. Dart has a reported 971 power units and 855 drivers.
David Oren will remain president of Dart Express, and Mike DelBovo will continue to serve as president of Dart Transit Group. Tom Witt has joined the organization as the new CEO.
With its acquisition of Store Opening Solutions (SOS) from Marmon Holdings Inc., Koch Companies is doubling its nationwide warehousing and fulfillment footprint.
The CCJ reported that the acquisition is set to “supercharge the growth of the Koch Logistics division. Already a powerhouse in the Midwest with over 3 million square feet of facility space, the addition of SOS adds significant capacity and specialized expertise in retail inventory consolidation.”
SOS has locations in Tennessee, Mississippi, and New Hampshire.
Cargo theft is no longer just a physical security problem, it is a cybersecurity and identity verification challenge, according to Logistics Viewpoints.
“As theft rings become more organized and tech-savvy, supply chain managers must move beyond ‘good enough’ vetting and adopt a proactive, multi-layered security strategy,” it said.
Logistics Viewpoints used a $400,000 lobster heist as an example. The cargo was stolen using a fictitious pickup.
“In this case, the criminals impersonated a legitimate freight carrier. They used spoofed email addresses — often differing by only a single character from the real company — and forged paperwork to gain the trust of the broker and the warehouse. They arrived at the facility, loaded the $400,000 worth of processed lobster, and simply drove away. By the time the actual carrier arrived for the scheduled pickup, the goods and the fraudsters were long gone,” Logistics Viewpoints said.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on December 30 announced more than $118 million in grants will “strengthen the safety of America’s roadways, enhance commercial vehicle enforcement, and provide high-quality training for military veterans entering the trucking industry.”
Funding is being awarded through three grant programs:
* $71.6 million in High Priority grants, which will, in part, support state and local enforcement efforts to reduce CMV-related crashes, improve the safe and secure movement of hazardous material, and deploy new technology to ensure CMV compliance with safety regulations.
* $43.8 million in CDLPI (Commercial Driver’s License Program Implementation) grants, which will help states comply with federal regulations and ensure the CDL issuance process is secure, accurate, and resistant to fraud; ensure that only qualified drivers are eligible to receive and retain a CDL; and strengthen compliance oversight.
* $3.4 million in Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Training (CMVOST) grants, which will provide commercial driver training to current and former members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
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