Industry Intelligence
Weekly insights on freight markets, regulations, fuel prices, and everything that matters to truckers, curated from top industry sources and analyzed for owner-operators.
Spot linehaul rates remain well above last year even after a holiday pullback, but diesel at $6.285 per gallon is forcing tighter load selection and faster fuel recovery.
Read full reportA practical 90-day renewal plan for owner-operators and small fleets: clean the operating file, control the claim story, document safety improvements, and compare coverage before the quote arrives.
Read full reportATA reported a preliminary July decline in its contract-heavy truck tonnage index, while EIA reported another weekly increase in the national diesel benchmark. The combination reinforces the need to calculate every load with current fuel assumptions and realistic deadhead.
Read full reportSpot linehaul softened across dry van, reefer, and flatbed while diesel jumped nearly twenty cents nationally, leaving owner-operators with stronger year-over-year rates but tighter weekly margins.
Read full reportSpot linehaul rates eased again, but capacity remained tight, diesel stayed above five dollars nationally, and a proposed English-proficiency rule entered the federal comment process.
Read full reportSpot linehaul rates eased across dry van, reefer, and flatbed, but tight capacity, record operating costs, ELD removals, and rising cargo-theft losses keep pressure on owner-operators.
Read full reportCargo theft jumped 60% in 2025, a $604 million verdict against C.H. Robinson puts brokers on notice, and tight capacity keeps rates supported even as summer demand cools.
Read full reportThe trucking industry navigates a complex landscape of surging fuel costs, evolving regulations, and a recovering freight market, demanding agility and technological adoption from owner-operators.
Read full reportOperating costs are outpacing inflation while spot rates show signs of life. Meanwhile, a major federal crackdown on CDL school fraud could tighten the driver pipeline.
Read full reportThe latest ATRI report confirms what every driver feels: costs are accelerating, squeezing profitability to a breaking point. But it's not all bad news, pockets of strength in Northeast reefer and data center-related van freight are creating opportunities for savvy operators who know where to look.
Read full reportOur reports aggregate and analyze news from FreightWaves, TheTrucker.com, ATRI (American Transportation Research Institute), DAT Blog, and other leading trucking industry publications. We add context for owner-operators and CDL drivers, what matters, what doesn't, and what to do about it.
