MercuryGate Launches Global, Omni-modal Freight Procurement Solution. As reported by Robbie Whelan in the Wall Street Journal : Stifel last week released a report targeting the entire truckload industry, writing that “pricing pressure is rampant in the generic freight market,” which includes most types of trucking services, while railroad carload pricing and freight rates among parcel carriers are on the rise. MORE

The collapse of a section of a bridge section on I-85 just north of Atlanta was shocking for two reasons: No injuries were reported, and its impact on spot market truckload freight has been and probably will be muted. Traffic jams will slow freight entering and leaving the Atlanta market for the next few months, but the impact on truckload freight is likely to be limited to freight going to and from Charlotte and the Carolinas and other points north. MORE

July is the in-between season for refrigerated ("reefer") freight. Freight volume continued to cool off for reefers last week, but some pockets of high demand remain in New Mexico, Arkansas and the Lower Midwest, as shown in this Hot States Map for the week of July 19-25, 2015, below. These "hot markets" may pay above-average rates for reefers: Albuquerque, NM; Lubbock, TX; Fayetteville, AR; Memphis and Nashville, TN; Cape Girardeau, MO; and Evansville, IN. MORE

often suffer from all kinds of severe weather during the first quarter, impacting freight movements. In any season, DAT load boards provide the largest and most trusted digital freight marketplace in the trucking industry, with more than 256 million loads and trucks posted annually, plus insights into current spot market and contract rates based on $60 billion in real transactions. If freight needs protection from freezing, the shipper may need to change routing instructions. MORE

Nicholas Reasoner is the founder and CEO of Transloop , a digital freight network revolutionizing logistics for shippers and carriers. Nick began his career at Total Quality Logistics, the second-largest freight brokerage firm in the nation. MORE

Rates rose across the region, with shippers moving freight out of the way of the coming storm. Atlanta to Nashville also crossed the $3 mark, at $3.03 Flatbed rates haven’t moved much in the past month, but that could change in the coming weeks. Emergency supplies are usually delivered in dry vans or reefers at first, but once rebuilding efforts are underway, construction materials will start moving on flatbeds. MORE

I think about them today as I am busy working at our trucking software and freight brokerage software company. Shea Weber, of the Nashville Predators, perhaps one of the top 5 defense-men in the game, makes that amount every half day of the year with his $14,000,000+ contract. I remember it vividly. I was 9 years old. I was angry about something on the other arising from an argument in the kitchen with my mother. MORE

The number of loads available on the spot market last month was also up more than 100% compared to February 2016, which is a pretty good sign that the freight recession really is over. Since the freight coming out didn’t pay very well, inbound lanes paid more. The freight market in L.A. Atlanta to Nashville also climbed ▲35¢ to $2.58/mile. Last week, we said that if spot market volumes kept climbing, then rates were going to go up finally. MORE

Flatbed freight volume and rates gained some traction in June, after a couple of slow months. Texas had the biggest rebound last week, partly due to a surge of loads leaving Houston, the biggest flatbed freight market in the country by far. Atlanta to Nashville jumped up to $3.04 National average rates gained 6¢ per mile, to $2.16 including the fuel surcharge. MORE

This Black Friday Shawn Simms was first in line at Best Buy in Nashville, TN to bag a Thanksgiving bargain – a Toshiba HDTV for $149.99. A quick check showed that shipping the TV from Taiwan to Nashville (ocean & trucking) led to about 6.7 The broader climate issue.and freight’s role. The emissions from freighting Shawn’s TV is a miniscule percentage of this year’s 33 billion ton cube. and Green Freight Europe. Freight Insights MORE

I think about them today as I am busy working at our trucking software and freight brokerage software company. Shea Weber, of the Nashville Predators, perhaps one of the top 5 defense-men in the game, makes that amount every half day of the year with his $14,000,000+ contract. I remember it vividly. I was 9 years old. I was angry about something on the other arising from an argument in the kitchen with my mother. MORE

Still, some freight managers understandably find it difficult to accept that paying for an automated version of such a routine operation saves money and improves customer service. The baseline cost for the Nashville order is only $79. In my last blog post , I explained how consolidating orders to create routing and scheduling plans is much more complicated than widely assumed. So complicated, in fact, that doing the calculations manually often results in costly errors. MORE

When I first got started working with freight brokers in 2011, I was averaging more than 200 nights away from home each year. Post your truck to the industry's largest digital freight market exchange. One of my favorites is Lexington to Nashville, TN, and back. My primary strategy at that time was to go from one hot market to another hot market, chasing the highest-paying loads. MORE

Freight markets are heating up in the Sun Belt. Flatbeds saw rising freight volume and rates in the Southwest and a handful of Southeastern markets. Flatbed freight is strongest in the Southeast region, but not in the usual locations. Atlanta , Memphis and Nashville were fairly quiet last week, and trends out of Roanoke were mixed. Even though van and flatbed rates lost 1¢ per mile last week as a national average, the underlying trends were strong. MORE