Truckload volumes show signs of recovery: May4- 10- For the first time since March, rates rose on most high-traffic lanes last week. load posts on DAT One network also continued to climb, with business reopening in some states and produce season increasing the demand for truckload shipments.

How is COVID-19 affecting capacity and freight rates.
COVID-19 has become one of the most disruptive events to hit supply chains in our lifetime.

FMCSA: extends exemption for truckers assisting with COVID-19 relief. Free COVID-19 training video for drivers. American Trucker welcome Cristina Commendatore to editorial staff. Truckers find refuge at closed high school during COVID-19 crisis. Pilot Flying J offers fuel perks program for Truckers.

Airlines shift to Cargo as Passenger Volume Falls: Faced with hundreds of parked planes and near- empty flights, some of the worlds’s biggest airlines executives are turning their focus to cargo.

How Trucking Apps Support Drivers in Coronavirus Pandemic: Mobile Apps are helping truck drivers tackle routing challenges for swell of necessary deliveries brought by the coronavirus.

Latest News: Drivers needed/Flatbed Truck Drivers needed/ Leading home Time

Good news on the Oil front as Coronavirus Spreads, Global Demand for Oil lessens, and Prices Fall. Oil industry analyst fear that what they thought was a contained in China is spreading to more countries.

Fed cuts rates by half point in Emergency Move amid spreading Virus. House Transportation Leader presses USDOT on Coronavirus plan.

DAT update for truckers Say good riddance to February rates which the lowest since May with reductions in import cargo volumes due to coronavirus.

DOT ramps up efforts to combat human tracking in transport sector. Join at an event with leaders from Congress, state governments and the transportation industry, Secretary Elaine Chao renewed focus on the ” Transportation Leaders After Human Trafficking” pledge.

Potential changes to the hours-of-service rules for commercial drivers remain under review, a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration official said. Speaking Feb. 17 at the Omnitracs Outook user conference in Las Vegas, FMCSA acting associate administrator for enforcements led with the agency last year.

Latest news:
FMCSA officials says HOS rule changes still under review effect Feb 21,2020.
Joe De Lorenzo declines to offer any specific timetable but HOS is among the “top priorities” for agency’s acting administrator Jim Mullen.

ARO 2020: Trucking Industry seeks clarity on driver classification. This story appeared in the print edition of the Jan. 6, 2020, Journal of Commerce Annual Review and Outlook. This comes on the heels of the debate over the classification of owner operator truck drivers as either independent contractors or employees.

Top News:
On December 18, Convoy announced that it had reached 100% automatic freight brokering in top freight markets.

Breaking News:
Celadon’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing–industry structure. The news of Celadon’s chapter 11 Filing on December 8 has consumed the trucking industry. That news has been well covered by Freight Waves and other news outlets.

DOT Awards $900 Million in Build Grants
Overall, the U.S. Department of transportation would receive 86.2 billion, a decrease of about $324 million from 2019enacted level. Recruiting and keeping drivers remain a difficult task for carriers, but several experts said that a strong social media approach improves both tasks.

Top News: House Oks Fiscal 2020 Transportation Funding Bill.
Funding for freight safety programs would be increased and infrastructure grants would receive $1 billion under fiscal 2020 legislation the U.S. House of representatives advanced Dec. 17.

Truck Orders to Plunge, GDP to Fall Lower, Diesel Prices to Rise in 2020.
DAT Solutions, which operates a load board , forecast truck availability to be more constrained in 2020 compared with 2019, and anticipates a rebound in spot market rates- with van rates up 4% to 6% in the second half of 2020.

China to Buy $52 Billion of Additional US Energy Products.
China agreed to buy 52 billion of additional U. S. energy products as a landmark trade deal signed by the world’s top economic superpowers.

US, China Sign Deal That Aims to Simmer Long-Running Trade Tensions
President Donald Trump signed a Trade agreement Jan. 15 with China that is expected to boost exports from U. S. farmers and manufactures and is aimed at lowering tensions in a long- running dispute between the economic powers.