ISEE and Tico automating yard trailer movements
ISEE and Tico have announced a partnership that has deployed a fully autonomous terminal tractor to a Fortune 100 logistics provider. ISEE says it’s the first company to achieve fully […]
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Penske Transportation Solutions Among Best Big Companies for Military Veterans
Penske Transportation Solutions has once again received confirmation of its excellence in the recruitment and retention of veterans by being named a 2025 Military-Friendly Gold Employer. Penske received this designation from VIQTORY, a veteran-owned business and the publisher of the G.I. Jobs and Military Spouses publications.
“Veterans excel at many different types of roles across our organization,” stated Jennifer Sockel, Penske executive vice president of talent and enterprise services. “Penske recognizes that veterans have a sense of teamwork, dedication, and commitment that enhances the company’s workforce. We make a concerted effort to recognize and value their contributions to our success as a leading transportation services provider.”
Institutions earning the Military-Friendly Employers designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey.
Final ratings were determined by combining an organization’s survey score with an assessment of the organization’s ability to meet thresholds for recruitment, new hire retention, employee turnover, and promotion and advancement.
Kayla Lopez, senior director of partnerships at Military-Friendly noted: “We salute these exemplary employers who raise the bar and understand that hiring military personnel is not merely an act of goodwill but a testament to a standard that truly embodies sound business wisdom.”
Please click here for a listing of Penske career opportunities for veterans.
By “Move Ahead” Staff
Ocean carriers blank sailings as bookings drop
Ocean rejection rates spike as bookings fall
(Chart: SONAR Container Atlas)
Much of the focus the past several days has been on the drop in ocean bookings from China to the U.S., and with good reason. The SONAR Ocean Booking Volume Index from China to the U.S. is now down about 50% year over year, roughly in line with the reported average from ocean carriers and other data sources. A FreightWaves article published last week goes into detail.
(Chart: SONAR Container Atlas)
A related dataset that has moved sharply in recent days is the Ocean TEU Rejection Index from China to the U.S. It’s now up over 20%, which only has historical precedent during the early days of COVID and the rush surrounding major Chinese holidays. To mitigate the impact that falling demand will have on rates, carriers are employing a range of tactics including deploying smaller vessels, blanking sailings and suspending entire service loops (regular routings that call on a set sequence of ports). In fact, according to Flexport, ocean carriers are reducing capacity from China to the U.S. at a rate faster than the early days of COVID. Summer goods are already on shelves or in warehouses, but the sharp reduction in capacity presents risks to goods availability in the fall. Those strategies are helping to keep container rates relatively stable.
Transportation earnings season has largely been a flurry of cuts to expectations
Here is a sample of the earnings writeups on FreightWaves.com:
- Tariffs trim Schneider National’s 2025 growth expectations
- Losses continue to mount at Heartland Express
- Werner CEO Leathers confronts losses, outlines plans to bounce back
- New decline on weak earnings delivers fresh pain to Wabash stock
- UPS to eliminate 20k jobs as Amazon decoupling accelerates
Tender rejection rates depressed in many multimodal hub cities
The Long-haul outbound tender rejection rate is shown for Los Angeles (yellow), Newark, New Jersey, (green), Chicago (red), Atlanta (peach) and the U.S. as a whole (white). (Chart: SONAR)
Domestic intermodal companies and Class I railroads have recently described how the competitiveness with truckload is keeping a lid on intermodal rates despite intermodal volume that grew in the mid-single digits in the first quarter. Looking at long-haul tender rejection rates, which limits the datasets to lengths of haul exceeding 800 miles to exclude many noncompetitive loads is one way to monitor the competitive dynamic between truckload and intermodal.
Average long-haul tender rejection rates typically exceed rejection rates for other lengths of haul, as they do currently. (The national long-haul tender rejection rate is 5.55% versus a national tender rejection rate of 4.95% for all lengths of haul.) What also stands out is that long-haul tender rejection rates are significantly below the national tender rejection rate for many locations that serve as major intermodal hubs. Most notable is the depressed long-haul Los Angeles and Atlanta outbound tender rejection rates of just 2.5% and 2.9%, respectively. Those rates suggest that carriers are accepting nearly all loads available on the contract market and imply that shippers may be able to move freight at lower rates on the truckload spot market. One example is the Atlanta-to-Chicago lane – SONAR Market Dashboard shows a highway spot rate of just $1.35 per mile, well below the highway contract rate of $2.29 and even below the intermodal contract rate in SONAR of $1.48. (All rates include fuel surcharges.)
The Stockout on final mile at Werner
(Image: FWTV)
On Monday’s The Stockout, FreightWaves’ retail and CPG show, Grace Sharkey and I discussed the impacts of tariffs and Sharkey interviewed Meg Meurer, vice president of dedicated and final-mile sales at Werner Enterprises.
As Meurer explained, Werner has built an extensive training program to ensure that final-mile customers are getting white-glove treatment, whether that involves the delivery of furniture or appliances at a residence or specialized equipment at a hospital or auto assembly plant. Staff is trained on installation, assembly and disassembly. The training involves role-playing and ride-alongs to help drivers deal with unique situations, which could include an unruly dog or a customer with disabilities.
Monday’s show can be viewed on The Stockout YouTube channel.
To subscribe to The Stockout, FreightWaves’ CPG and retail newsletter, click here.
The post Ocean carriers blank sailings as bookings drop appeared first on FreightWaves.
AI for duty drawback: Get back 99% of what you pay in tariffs; Walmart’s drones | WHAT THE TRUCK?!?
On Episode 830 of WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, Dooner is back from Chicago, where he got to see that state of freight on the world’s most powerful visibility platform: project44. With ocean booking cancellations up bigly on the East and West coasts, when will trucking feel the pain?
Did you know that if you export or destroy goods that you’ve paid tariffs on, you can claim 99% of your duties back? We’ll meet Caspian CEO and co-founder Justin Sherlock to talk about his AI-driven duty drawback program.
Drones are taking off as Walmart expands aerial package drop-offs to 1.8 million households in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. James McDanolds at Sonoran Desert Institute has dedicated his career to working on drones. We’ll find out if 2025 is the year drone delivery goes mainstream.
Olivia deMars is a high school student in Massachusetts. Today we’ll find out how Gen Alpha views the tariff situation.
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 Trucking Channel 146.
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The post AI for duty drawback: Get back 99% of what you pay in tariffs; Walmart’s drones | WHAT THE TRUCK?!? appeared first on FreightWaves.
Packsize to Acquire Sparck Technologies
Packsize, supplier of sustainable, right-sized, on-demand packaging, has announced the company’s completed agreement to acquire Sparck Technologies, a European-based manufacturer of high-throughput, fit-to-size, automated packaging solutions.
The acquisition marks a significant milestone in Packsize’s growth strategy and strengthens its position in the automated packaging industry. By combining Packsize’s technology and service model with Sparck’s best-in-class box last and lid and tray solutions, the company will now provide the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of solutions to meet evolving customer needs.
“Sparck has long been recognized for its innovation, reliability, and strong commitment to sustainability – values that align perfectly with our own,” said David Lockwood, CEO of Packsize. “Together, our complementary technologies create a more complete product offering for our customers. This acquisition brings us one step closer to realizing our mission of Smart Packaging for a Healthy Planet by accelerating our ability to deliver more sustainable, right-sized packaging solutions to customers around the world.”
“Bringing Sparck into the Packsize team is a strategic move that expands what we can offer our customers – especially in high-volume, high-efficiency environments,” said Brian Reinhart, Chief Revenue Officer at Packsize. “Sparck’s box last and lid and tray solutions allow us to solve a broader range of packaging challenges. This isn’t just about growth – it’s about delivering smarter, more sustainable automation at scale.”
Sparck Technologies, headquartered in Drachten, Netherlands, is best known for its advanced CVP Impack and CVP Everest systems – automated solutions that optimize throughput and reduce waste by creating fit-to-size boxes at scale. “This acquisition is a perfect match,” said Kees Oosting, CEO of Sparck. “It allows us to bring more value to our customers faster and at a greater scale than either company could achieve alone.”
Standard Investment has worked closely with Sparck to execute a successful transformation of the activities in Drachten. Originally part of French-listed multinational Quadient, Standard Investment segmented Sparck to become a standalone company in 2021.
Herbert Schilperoord, Partner at Standard Investment, said: “We are very proud of what the Sparck team has achieved with the involvement of Standard Investment, pivoting the organization to a cutting-edge technology leader in the fit-to-size packaging area. We’re confident that together, Packsize and Sparck will continue a strong growth trajectory, delivering fit-to-size technology to global tier 1 customers.”
similar news
The post Packsize to Acquire Sparck Technologies appeared first on Logistics Business.
Volvo Trucks seeks CARB-24 certification for new low-NOx engine
Volvo Trucks North America is seeking certification for a new engine that meets the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) 2024 Omnibus emissions standards. Once certified, the engine will be available […]
Introducing Freightos Enterprise: End-to-End Procurement, Benchmarking, and Management
Introducing Freightos Enterprise: End-to-End Procurement, Benchmarking, and Management
Freightos Enterprise unifies market intelligence, tender management, and shipment operations into one solution, enhancing logistics efficiency for large import-export businesses.
Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of Freightos Enterprise – our comprehensive solution designed specifically for large enterprises that import and export, who need to bring control, visibility, and efficiency to their global logistics operations.
The Power of Integration: One Solution, Three Powerful Modules
Freightos Enterprise unifies three critical components of the freight management lifecycle into a single, integrated solution:
Freightos Terminal
– Market Intelligence & Benchmarking
Terminal provides you with unprecedented visibility into freight rates, featuring powerful benchmarking capabilities. Now featuring both spot and contract rate benchmarking, Terminal helps you:
- Real-time rate benchmarking: Compare your contracted rates against current market rates across specific lanes, equipment types, and service levels
- Market trend analysis: Identify emerging patterns in pricing, capacity, and transit times before they impact your operations
- Scenario planning tools: Model the impact of potential disruptions or market shifts on your supply chain costs and performance
- Customizable dashboards: Configure your view to focus on the metrics and lanes that matter most to your business
Terminal processes over 1.2 billion rate data points monthly to provide the most comprehensive view of the market, helping you identify savings opportunities and make data-driven decisions.
Key Features:
- Both spot and contract rate benchmarking
- Air and ocean freight coverage
- Lane-specific insights
- Customizable analytics dashboards
- Historical trend analysis
- Proactive alerts for rate changes
Benchmark Your Rates Against the Market
Find out if you’re overpaying on your key shipping lanes
Freightos Procure – End-to-End Tender Management
Procure (formerly Shipsta by Freightos) revolutionizes how enterprises manage tenders and contracts. It creates a single source of truth for your rate management, automating RFQs and streamlining the entire procurement process.
Procure delivers:
- Automated RFQ management: Standardize your bid process, collect responses in a structured format, and eliminate manual consolidation work
- Scenario modeling: Compare different award scenarios to optimize your carrier mix based on cost, capacity, service levels, and sustainability metrics
- Contract management: Maintain a digital repository of all carrier agreements with automated alerts for expirations and renewals
- Supplier performance tracking: Monitor carrier compliance with contracted rates and service levels to inform future procurement decisions
- Collaborative workflows: Enable stakeholders across your organization to participate in the procurement process with role-based permissions
Procure supports both strategic (annual or bi-annual) and tactical (mini-bid) procurement events, giving you the flexibility to adapt your approach based on market conditions and business needs.
Key Features:
- Automated RFQ creation and distribution
- Standardized bid collection and comparison
- Scenario modeling and optimization
- Contract lifecycle management
- Supplier performance analytics
- Mini-bid capabilities for tactical sourcing
Automate Your RFQ Process
Reduce procurement cycle time by up to 75%
Freightos Rate, Book & Manage – Operational Excellence
Rate, Book & Manage (formerly Enterprise Shipper) takes you from procurement to execution seamlessly. It handles everything from rating and booking to shipment management, invoice auditing, and beyond.
This comprehensive operational solution provides:
- Multi-carrier rate management: Access all your negotiated rates in one place for instant comparison and optimal routing decisions
- Automated booking: Create bookings directly with carriers and forwarders without rekeying information or switching systems
- Shipment visibility: Track your freight across all modes and providers with proactive alerts for exceptions
- Document management: Centralize and automate the handling of shipping documents, from booking confirmations to proof of delivery
- Invoice auditing and payment: Automatically verify charges against contracted rates and approved shipments to eliminate billing errors
- Analytics and reporting: Gain insights into operational performance with customizable reports and dashboards
Key Features:
- Centralized rate repository
- Direct carrier and forwarder booking
- Real-time shipment tracking
- Automated document management
- Invoice auditing and reconciliation
- Performance analytics and reporting
Simplify Your Freight Management
Book, track, and manage shipments across all carriers in one place
Breaking Down Silos, Building Up Efficiency
What makes Freightos Enterprise truly transformative is how these modules work together. Instead of managing procurement, benchmarking, and operations across disconnected systems, everything flows through a single provider:
- Use Terminal to identify lanes where your rates are above market
- Launch a mini-bid in Procure for those specific lanes
- Automatically update your rates in Rate, Book & Manage
- Book and track shipments using your newly optimized rates
This seamless workflow eliminates data silos, reduces manual work, and provides a single source of truth for your entire logistics operation.
Built for Enterprise-Scale Operations
Freightos Enterprise is specifically designed for:
- Large enterprise importers & exporters with $40M+ annual freight spend (or 4% of revenue)
- Global shipping operations across air and ocean freight
- Key industries include Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Automotive, Electronics, Manufacturing, Chemicals, Food & Beverage, and Fashion & Retail
Seamless Integration with Your Existing Systems
Freightos Enterprise is built to integrate with your existing ERP, TMS, and other critical systems. Our platform can be deployed alongside your current solutions, providing immediate value without disrupting established workflows.
- API-first architecture: Connect directly to your existing systems for seamless data exchange
- Pre-built connectors for major ERP and TMS platforms
- Flexible data import/export options to accommodate your specific needs
- Role-based access control to ensure proper security and permissions
The Power of the Freightos Network
As part of the Freightos (NASDAQ: CRGO) ecosystem, Freightos Enterprise connects you to the world’s largest digital freight network:
- 10,000+ forwarder offices worldwide
- 70+ leading carriers representing over 70% of global air cargo capacity
- 13,000+ importers and exporters
- 1.3 million+ transactions annually
This network effect means better visibility, more competitive rates, and unparalleled connectivity across the global logistics landscape.
Ready to Transform Your Freight Operations?
Schedule a demo today to see how Freightos Enterprise can help you:
- Reduce freight procurement cycle time by up to 75%
- Identify cost-saving opportunities across your carrier network
- Improve operational efficiency and eliminate manual processes
- Enhance visibility and control over your global supply chain
Freight forwarders and enterprise shippers looking to learn more about Freightos Enterprise can click here or request a demo.
Join Leading Enterprise Shippers
See why global companies trust Freightos Enterprise
Keep reading
Put the Data in Data-Backed Decision Making
Freightos Terminal helps tens of thousands of freight pros stay informed across all their ports and lanes
The post Introducing Freightos Enterprise: End-to-End Procurement, Benchmarking, and Management appeared first on Freightos.
Running on Ice: UPS makes another play in the health care space
All thawed out
UPS continues its expansion in the health care industry, most recently with plans to acquire Andlauer Healthcare Group, a Canada-based cold chain logistics company. The acquisition was a casual $1.6 billion all-cash transaction. It is part of UPS’ plan to double revenue in health care logistics to $20 billion by 2026.
In a news release, Kate Gutmann, president of international, health care and supply chain solutions for UPS, said: “Next-generation treatments are driving more complexity than ever, expanding the needs of healthcare customers and increasing demand for the integrated, end-to-end cold chain solutions UPS Healthcare provides around the world.”
The acquisition is expected to be finalized in the back half of 2025 but is still subject to approval by AHG’s shareholders and regulators. The buyout for shareholders is CA$55 (about $40) per share, roughly a 30% premium to closing stock prices on the day the deal was announced.
Eric Kulisch writes for FreightWaves: “UPS Healthcare has more than 19.2 million square feet of pharma-certified warehouse space under management, including extensive temperature-controlled facilities. Services include inventory management, cold chain packaging and shipping, storage and fulfillment of medical devices, and lab and clinical trial logistics.”
Temperature checks
Jacksonville, Florida, is turning up the chill, in the best way possible. FreezPak Logistics, a specialist in the temperature-controlled logistics space, is expanding its national footprint with a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility near the Port of Jacksonville.
The new facility spans 272,000 square feet and offers capacity for more than 50,000 pallet positions, across both frozen and cooler zones. That’s a serious amount of space dedicated to keeping things cool in the Southeast, a region where demand for cold storage is rising fast.
With 32 dock doors, the Jacksonville facility is built for efficiency and scalability. This move is part of a bigger expansion strategy. Jacksonville follows on the heels of FreezPak’s recent development in Los Angeles, and it’s just the beginning. Another new facility is already on the horizon in Norfolk, Virginia.
Food and drug
Frozen pizza is not always top of mind as an economic indicator. Much like the Lipstick Index, an informal economic theory that when consumers perceive that a recession is looming, sales for “affordable luxury” items such as lipstick increase. Turns out frozen pizza is a barometer for that as well. While these different indicators may not be “economically proven,” they are related to an extent.
In recent weeks the sale of higher-priced frozen pizzas has increased. The rise of frozen pizza, specifically the higher-end variety, is a sign of shifting consumer habits. According to market research firm IBISWorld, the U.S. frozen pizza industry generated $6.5 billion in annual revenue in 2024 and remains well above its pre-pandemic level.
Craig Zawada, chief visionary officer at price optimization firm Pros Holdings, clarified that while “It may seem paradoxical for consumers to choose high-priced frozen pizzas during a downturn, it’s a trade-off as they substitute dining out with eating at home. This happens every sort of downturn in the economy.”
As consumers put a pause on luxury vacations and big purchases, the smaller splurges or “little treats” are more commonplace. If going out to dinner isn’t in the budget, a $12 frozen pizza is a much easier cost to swallow.
Cold chain lanes
This week’s market under a microscope heads south to Dallas. Capacity is loosening significantly in Dallas as both reefer outbound tender volumes and reefer outbound tender rejections plummet. Reefer outbound tender volumes have dropped 36.65% week over week. During the same period, reefer tender rejections dropped 568 basis points to 5.88%.
Both reefer volumes and reefer rejections in Dallas are at the lowest level thus far this year. This is a strong indication of a weakening market for spot rates and demand for capacity. These trends are atypical for this market and this time of the year, meaning historical rates and trends won’t be as reliable for pricing spot rates on the decline. The one good thing about the falling capacity is that shippers can expect stronger contract carrier compliance.
Is SONAR for you? Check it out with a demo!
Shelf life
Bar Tender by Wingstop: The first bar dedicated to chicken tenders
Synear Foods USA brings authentic Chinese dumplings to Sam’s Club stores nationwide
Demand for cold storage projected to stay hot
Birds Eye goes green: Solar-powered refrigerated trailers set to hit the roads
Maine’s new cold storage facility is at the center of a legal battle over millions in unpaid bills
Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@freightwaves.com.
See you on the internet.
Mary
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The post Running on Ice: UPS makes another play in the health care space appeared first on FreightWaves.
US Shale Output Has Peaked as Prices Fall, Diamondback Says
Diamondback Energy, the largest independent oil producer in the Permian Basin, says production has likely peaked in America’s shale fields and will decline in the months ahead.