Rates, Rejections and Red Tape – Reading the Market Before It Moves

Still Foggy at the Top – What the New Logistics Report Means for the Rest of Us

For all the hope around trucking bouncing back, the new CSCMP “State of Logistics Report” just affirmed what most small carriers already feel: Things are still off. Freight isn’t booming, costs haven’t come down, and the people at the top are still “navigating the fog” — while small fleets are stuck in it with no GPS.

Here’s what matters from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals report and what you need to take away from it now:

Logistics Costs Are Still High

Based on the report, the industry spent $2.6 trillion on logistics last year. That’s 8.7% of GDP — the same as before — even though volumes didn’t really grow. That means it’s still expensive to move freight, and the system isn’t getting more efficient. If you’re feeling like you’re paying more just to stay in the same place, you’re not imagining it.

Rates Are Stuck Because Capacity Won’t Budge

The report admits it: The market is still oversupplied. And that’s why rates are dragging. Tender rejections barely moved in 2024-2025, and although they’ve ticked up a little recently, it’s not enough to quite call it a turnaround. The market isn’t tight — it’s still crowded. That means brokers are still low-balling and big fleets still have the majority of contract freight.

Tariffs Are Back in the Picture

New tariffs are going to hit certain equipment categories, and it’s already adding more cost pressure. If you’re thinking about adding trucks or trailers, you’ll want to time that decision carefully. Prices could move again. It’s not just about freight anymore — now you have to game out the geopolitical stuff, too.

Sustainability Mandates Are Creeping In

One of the quietest parts of the report is also one of the loudest signals for the future. While Europe is charging full-speed ahead on zero-emissions freight, the U.S. is still stuck in a patchwork of state-by-state rules. That uncertainty means carriers are going to be the test dummies again — dealing with new equipment costs and unclear enforcement.

So What Should Small Carriers Do?

1. Get real with your costs:
   Don’t expect market rates to do the work for you. Use your breakeven number as your anchor — if a load pays under it, walk away. Control what you can control!
   
2. Avoid overextending:
   The report shows volatility isn’t going anywhere. Be cautious with debt and expansion right now. Grow where you have control — better broker/shipper relationships, better lanes, better driver performance.
   
3. Watch for real capacity shifts:
   The freight market won’t move until capacity really bleeds off. We’re not there yet. Track net authority changes weekly and listen for shifts — not noise. SONAR’s data still isn’t showing exits fast enough.
   

Build a resilient business, not a reactive one:
The ones who’ll win in this fog are the ones who aren’t hoping it clears — they’re building a GPS system of their own. You do that by tracking your key performance indicators weekly, staying nimble and treating every load like a business decision — not a survival scramble.

$158M Ponzi Scheme Wrapped in a Trucking Company – What You Need to Know

A South Florida man is facing serious federal charges after allegedly using his trucking company, Royal Bengal Logistics Inc., as the front for a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that preyed on hundreds of truck investors across the country.

According to the indictment unsealed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Sanjay Singh, 45, of Coral Springs, Florida, was arrested and charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering tied to a fraudulent investment operation that took in more than $158 million from approximately 336 investors between June 2020 and September 2023.

The scheme, as outlined in court documents and the DOJ press release, revolved around convincing people — many of them aspiring owner-operators or individuals with no prior trucking experience — that they could earn passive income by investing in the purchase and operation of semitrucks run by Singh’s company.

“Singh is alleged to have tricked investors into thinking they were purchasing commercial trucks to be operated by his trucking company,” said U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe in a May 30 press statement. “Instead, Singh took investors’ money and used it to keep the scheme going and for his own personal benefit.”

Here’s how authorities say the scam worked:

• False promises: Singh told investors they were buying trucks that would be leased out through his company and used to generate revenue. Investors were promised high monthly returns, often guaranteed in the form of fixed payouts.
  
• Bogus contracts: According to prosecutors, Singh fabricated trucking contracts and revenue statements to back up his claims, giving the illusion that trucks were on the road and generating profit when, in reality, many didn’t exist or weren’t in use.
  
• No real ownership: While Singh claimed that investors owned physical trucks or had partial ownership in them, court records show he never actually transferred any truck titles into their names. Some trucks allegedly didn’t even exist.
  
• Ponzi mechanics: The indictment describes a classic Ponzi setup — new investor money was used to pay earlier investors, not from actual trucking revenue, but to create the illusion of profitability and keep the scam alive.
  
• Lavish spending: Singh is also accused of using investor funds to bankroll a luxury lifestyle, including high-end cars and personal expenses, rather than running a legitimate logistics business.
  

The government’s case includes records from wire transfers, bank accounts, and alleged misrepresentations made through email and investor communications. The FBI and IRS are both involved in the investigation.

Singh faces multiple felony charges, and if convicted, could spend decades in federal prison. He has not yet entered a plea at the time of this publication.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Young and Gabrielle Charest-Turken.

Freight Market Update – Rate Bump or False Start?

This week’s charts are a reminder: Just because rates lift, it doesn’t mean the recovery is here to stay. Let’s break it all down for the small fleets and owner-operators who don’t have time to guess what’s next.

Linehaul rates took a slight dip to $2.30 a mile after last week’s strong climb. This comes after a steep rebound in mid-May, when we saw NTI gain about 10 cents in just over a week. That’s fast — and when that happens in this market, it’s usually tied to short-term pressure, not a long-term shift.

But here’s the truth: This number is still higher than what we saw for most of April, which means capacity did tighten. If you were quick, you likely caught better rates on hot lanes, especially out of the Southeast and parts of Texas. If you waited for confirmation, you probably missed your shot.

What to do now:

Don’t assume this bump will last. This is a week-by-week game. Stick close to your best brokers, stay aggressive on accessorials, and if you’re in a soft market — run short, don’t deadhead far chasing what’s not there.

Rejections are down just slightly this week, but here’s what matters: They’re still above 6%, and for the past two months, they’ve refused to drop back into that 5% danger zone.

This means one key thing: Carriers are getting choosier. Brokers are getting pushback, especially on the lowball stuff. And where that happens, rates have room to climb.

Important to note: This is the canary in the coal mine. If this number trends back toward 7% in June, you’re going to see stronger rate floors, even on bread-and-butter lanes.

Small carrier takeaway:

If rejections are up in your outbound market, don’t undercut yourself. Run your breakeven. Ask for more. Use phrases like:

“Rejections are up this week. Trucks are saying no to cheap freight. I need $X to move this.”

You don’t win by staying quiet while the data works in your favor.

Load volume is slightly up. A 0.69% bump might not seem like much, but it confirms one important trend: Volume isn’t crashing. We’re still hovering just under that 10,000 index mark — the line that usually signals solid, steady demand.

The good news? More tenders usually mean more choices for carriers. The bad news? If volume is stable but too much capacity is still out here, rates stay unpredictable.

Your move as a small fleet:

Pick your battles. Avoid long-haul loads that drag you into cold markets. Stay clustered around areas where tenders are climbing — North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, parts of Texas, etc. Work short hops. Stack regional wins.

This one speaks volumes.

For the first time in several weeks, the market is losing capacity again — 173 authorities dropped off the map. That’s not massive, but it’s notable. If this pace continues through June, we’ll start to feel the gap between freight volume and available trucks widen — and that’s when rates stop flirting with a rebound and actually start moving.

Keep this in mind:

Small fleets and single-truck ops have been holding on since Q4. A decline in new entrants and a slow drip of exits puts the pressure back on brokers to pay up when freight starts moving fast again.

Advice for small carriers:

Watch this number every week. It’s your forward indicator of pricing power. The less competition out here, the more leverage you have. If this negative trend continues, your negotiating seat gets stronger by the day.

Bottom Line

This isn’t a recovery yet — but it’s a setup. The market hasn’t flipped, but it’s coiling. If tender rejections climb while net authority drops and volume holds, you’re looking at an upward freight cycle brewing.

Don’t celebrate. Don’t overextend. Just be ready.

The winners in this type of market are the ones who run lean, watch closely and don’t flinch when it’s time to charge more.

More updates next week. Until then — run smart.

Rear Underride Guards Are in the Hot Seat — But FMCSA Just Rolled Back a Rule

There’s been growing pressure in D.C. for regulators to take underride crashes more seriously — but this past week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration took a step in the opposite direction.

In a recent move, the agency decided to roll back a rule that would’ve required carriers to add a label showing the manufacturing date of rear underride guards. On the surface, this might sound like a minor tweak, but here’s why it matters. The FMCSA’s proposed rule would eliminate the requirement for these certification labels, asserting that this change would remove an unintended regulatory burden without compromising safety. The agency emphasizes that the physical condition and proper maintenance of rear impact guards remain critical for safety compliance. 

Rear underride guards — those metal bars attached to the back of trailers — are designed to prevent cars from sliding underneath in a crash. When they fail, the consequences are catastrophic. Think sheared-off rooftops, instant fatalities and no chance of survival for the folks in those smaller vehicles. That’s why safety groups and crash investigators have been sounding the alarm for years.

The now-rolled-back label rule came from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which required FMCSA to implement labeling so enforcement officers could easily verify that the guard was compliant with federal safety standards. It was supposed to be a commonsense step forward — one more way to ensure unsafe or outdated guards weren’t flying under the radar.

So why did FMCSA back away?

According to the agency, it’s all about logistics. It argued that since rear guards are often added after the trailer is built — sometimes by aftermarket shops or upfitters — requiring the OEM to date-stamp the guard itself would be confusing and difficult to enforce. In FMCSA’s view, the existing process of checking the equipment visually during inspections is good enough.

But that position isn’t sitting well with safety advocates. Groups like the Institute for Safer Trucking and the Truck Safety Coalition argue this is one more example of regulators backing off when the pressure gets real. And with fatal underride crashes still making headlines, they say now’s not the time to ease off the gas.

Here’s the takeaway for small carriers and fleet owners:

Even without the label requirement, you’re still on the hook to keep your rear impact guards in top shape. DOT inspectors can (and will) write you up for damaged, rusted or missing components — and that means possible fines and CSA points. But beyond the compliance box, there’s a bigger ethical issue here: These guards save lives. They are the only thing protecting a family sedan from going under your trailer at 70 mph, so they better not be an afterthought.

Keep your maintenance tight. Stay ahead of inspections. And don’t wait for Washington to tell you what’s safe. Regulators may be backpedaling — but that doesn’t mean you should.

Honoring Lesa ‘Yo-Yo’ Worley

This week, we say goodbye to a true road warrior and pioneer in the trucking community — Lesa “Yo-Yo” Worley.

Yo-Yo wasn’t just a trucker. She was a trailblazer. Back in 1979, she made history as the first winner of the Atlanta Motor Speedway’s semitruck race — a moment that shattered expectations in a male-dominated field and set the tone for the decades she’d spend behind the wheel. Her CB handle was known far and wide, and her presence on the road earned the respect of drivers from every corner of the country.

She drove for 39 years. Not just for a paycheck — but because trucking was in her bones. It was her identity, her freedom, her family.

In 2011, Yo-Yo was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and eventually had to park her rig for good. The disease slowly stripped away her physical strength, including the muscles around her heart. Even in the face of terminal decline, Yo-Yo remained sharp, spirited and full of gratitude for the life she lived on the road.

A few years ago, thanks to an outpouring of support from drivers and her Tennessee community, Yo-Yo got to ride in a semi one last time. It wasn’t just a gesture — it was a full-circle moment. Her eyes lit up, her spirit soared, and everyone in that convoy knew they were witnessing something sacred.

She passed away this week, leaving behind a legacy that deserves to be remembered in every driver lounge, fuel island and old CB radio story. Rest easy driver …

If you’d like to honor her memory and help her family with final expenses, you can do so here.

There’s no FMCSA regulation for a life well lived. But if there were, Yo-Yo would’ve passed inspection with flying colors.

Final Word – Between the Lines

This week wasn’t just about data and headlines — it was about reading between the lines of where this market is really heading.

Tender rejections are quietly ticking up. Freight volumes are holding steady. But capacity? Still sticky. That means we’re in a market where discipline matters more than momentum. The wins right now are small — but they add up if you know what you’re looking for.

And while the FMCSA debates rear guard labeling and the courts wrestle with AB5’s long-term impact, small carriers need to be wrestling with something else: how to build staying power. Because surviving isn’t about waiting for the market to change. It’s about being prepared for when it does.

Take the lesson from Yo-Yo Worley’s legacy: Commit to the craft, respect the road, and never lose sight of the bigger picture.

Until next week — stay sharp, and keep rolling.

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