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Left Lane Associates

North America's premier supply chain M&A experts that companies trust to drive their growth and exit plans.

09/02/2026

FreightWaves' recent article puts the current trucking cycle in clear terms, highlighting that accepted tender volumes have essentially gone nowhere for two years, yet rejection rates have tripled. That combination of flat demand and surging rejections is the clearest data signature of a supply-driven market, not a demand-driven one. FreightWaves' Accepted SONAR Truckload Volume Index (ASTVI), which measures the volume of truckload tenders carriers accept for loads moved under existing rate agreements, is similar to 2019, but rejection rates are more than twice as high.

Carriers are coming off one of the longest downturns since the Great Recession. Cash reserves are low, debt is high, and for many, Q2 earnings are signalling limited fleet growth. With risks skewing toward further tightening rather than rapid softening, demand growth, rail disruptions, intermodal rate increases, and continued government pressure on capacity all point the same way.

Read the article for more: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/supply-driven-trucking-market-cycle-explained-in-the-data

09/01/2026

Four years of excess capacity is finally deflating, and the recovery underway is almost entirely supply-driven. Spot rates are up 35-36% this year, contract rates are projected up roughly 10% this year and another 10% next, and FTR’s Avery Vise is direct about what’s changed: “Spot is no longer a refuge for shippers who want a better deal.”

The ISM Manufacturing PMI came in at 55.6 in July – its highest reading since May 2022 – which supports a gradual demand recovery running alongside the capacity tightening. The recovery isn’t uniform and it isn’t dramatic, but the structural conditions that kept this market suppressed for four years are finally unwinding.

Find out more by reading this article in DC Velocity: https://www.dcvelocity.com/transportation/truckers-finally-see-end-to-freight-recession-as-capacity-fallout-continues-demand-firms

08/31/2026

Colorado, Idaho, and Michigan have joined a growing list of U.S. states that no longer issue non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses (CDLs), following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) March 2026 final rule narrowing eligibility to drivers holding H-2A, H-2B, or E-2 visas. Rhode Island, Utah, Ohio, Oregon, and Nevada have also ended or suspended their programs this year. Before last year's federal audit, most states issued non-domiciled CDLs, and the audit found more than 30 states noncompliant, triggering enforcement actions and the revocation of thousands of improperly issued credentials.

The capacity implications are cumulative and ongoing. Michigan alone has 1,548 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients facing cancellation at renewal. Colorado had issued 1,848 non-domiciled licenses before suspending its program. As existing credentials expire without renewal across multiple states simultaneously, the pool of available drivers continues to shrink, reinforcing the structural tightening that is driving the current freight rate environment.

Read this Transport Topics article for more information: https://www.ttnews.com/articles/3-states-non-domiciled-cdls

08/28/2026

National truckload tender lead times have climbed to 3.71 days – the highest level in at least three years – and are holding elevated even during August, a period that historically sees lead times fall. FreightWaves’ Craig Fuller attributes the sustained rise to three converging forces: shippers using more sophisticated forecasting tools, a shift back toward contract freight with naturally longer lead times, and inventory holders tendering earlier to secure capacity ahead of a tightening market.

The regional variation is striking. West Texas markets are running at 7.53 days, while St. Louis tender rejections are hitting 27.6%, double the 13.5% national average, compressing local lead times as freight gets repeatedly re-tendered. Fuller and his team characterized the broader environment as “orderly tightness”, with contract rates moving steadily higher and spot rates near record levels without spiking. For shippers and brokers, the practical implication of this is that in markets flagged as tightening, waiting to tender is an increasingly expensive decision.

Read more: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/why-your-trucking-lead-times-are-getting-longer

08/27/2026

Most growing shippers don’t delay adopting a Transportation Management System (TMS) because they’ve decided against it. Instead, they delay because the signals prompting action are easy to misread. Volume isn’t at “enterprise scale” yet, the team can still manage manually, or maybe hiring another coordinator feels faster than implementing new technology.

The real costs compound quietly: manual data entry errors that become detention fees, visibility gaps that push customers to call before the team knows there’s a problem, and skilled logistics staff spending their day chasing confirmations instead of managing carrier strategy. A TMS doesn’t just negotiate better rates, it makes the operational backbone of the business something the team runs rather than something that runs the team.

Read this Inbound Logistics article to learn more: https://www.inboundlogistics.com/articles/why-growing-companies-wait-too-long-to-adopt-a-tms/

08/26/2026

Canada’s trucking and logistics sector added nearly 32,000 jobs year-over-year in July, bringing total sector employment to 825,400, according to new data from Trucking HR Canada. Employment of transport truck drivers reached 344,100, up 4.4% from June alone. At the same time, the number of active job seekers in the sector fell 17.9% year-over-year, with the driver unemployment rate dropping to 4.3%, down from 4.8% a year earlier.

For Canadian carriers heading into the peak season, the labour market reality is that more trucks need drivers, and fewer people are looking for jobs. Workforce planning, retention, and recruitment are no longer background priorities, they’re front-line operational challenges.

Check out this TruckNews.com article for more: https://www.trucknews.com/transportation/canadas-trucking-employment-rises-4-as-pool-of-job-seekers-shrinks/1003220199/

08/25/2026

The American Trucking Associations (ATA)’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 1% in July after a 1.5% gain in June, landing at 113.5, down 0.5% year-over-year. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello was direct about what’s driving the market: “The industry is seeing a recovery, but that is nearly all due to excess capacity leaving the market.” Aside from pockets of strength tied to AI data centre construction, broad freight demand remains lacklustre.

That distinction matters. A supply-driven recovery and a demand-driven recovery look similar in rate data but carry very different implications for durability. When the recovery depends on capacity exiting rather than freight volumes growing, it can reverse quickly if economic conditions soften further or if new capacity enters the market. Year-to-date tonnage is still ahead by 1.4% compared to 2025, but the path from here depends heavily on whether demand catches up to the structural capacity story.

Read this Bulk Transporter article for more details: https://www.bulktransporter.com/fleet-management/news/55399010/us-trucking-activity-drops-1-in-july

08/24/2026

Transport Canada’s new Commodities Sectoral Support Program will rebate 50% of eligible transportation costs for Canadian steel moving interprovincially, but only by rail or marine transport. Trucking is explicitly excluded, despite carrying a significant share of domestic steel freight. The Canadian Trucking Alliance says it flagged this risk to the federal government multiple times earlier this year and received no response until the announcement itself. As CTA president Stephen Laskowski put it: “I guess that’s the extent of our consultation.”

The concern here is straightforward, as the program effectively subsidizes competing modes against carriers – many of them family-run businesses – that haul steel on the same lanes. Helping Canada’s steel industry is a legitimate policy goal. Doing it in a way that puts one mode of freight transportation at a structural cost disadvantage is a different matter entirely, and the CTA is calling on the government to revisit the decision.

To learn more, check out the trucknews.com article: https://www.trucknews.com/transportation/trucking-excluded-from-100m-steel-transport-rebate/1003219766/

08/21/2026

FTR’s Shippers Conditions Index came in at -5.4 for June, and while still negative, this marked a 10-point improvement over May’s -15.4 reading, which ranked among the six least favourable monthly readings since 2000. Putting the improvement in context, FTR noted that overall market conditions “are deteriorating at a much slower rate.” Stabilizing freight rates and a temporary decline in diesel prices – which reversed in July – were the primary drivers of June’s improvement.

Presently, shippers are in a better position to address challenges methodically rather than reactively, but with diesel back on the rise and capacity continuing to tighten, the window for methodical planning is narrower than it looks.

Check out this Logistics Management article to learn more: https://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/while_showing_gains_ftrs_shippers_conditions_index_remains_negative

08/20/2026

A U.S. District Court judge temporarily halted the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to obtain the entire Commercial Driver’s License Information System (CDLIS) database, with records tied to roughly 17 million CDL holders nationwide, including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and five years of licensing history. A coalition of 22 state attorneys general and Pennsylvania filed suit last Thursday, alleging the request violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act and constitutional limits on federal spending authority. Federal officials had also threatened to terminate more than $10 million in funding if the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators refused to comply.

The case has significant implications for the trucking industry. The CDLIS was created in 1986 as a state-to-state licensing tool, and never before has the federal government sought access to the entire database. A hearing is scheduled for today, Thursday, August 20, in Alexandria, Virginia.

Read the FreightWaves article for more information and stay tuned as this story develops: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/court-freezes-trump-administration-bid-for-nationwide-cdl-database

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