Freightvine

This week's guest is Jason Haith, Vice President Commercial Forwarding US & Mexico, for DP World.  With 20+ years experience in Import/Export operations, Jason is the perfect person to discuss global trade in general and trade with Mexico in particular.  In our conversation, we discuss how trade between the US and Mexico has changed over the years, the impact of recent tariffs being enacted and then almost immediately modified or removed, and how Near or Friend shoring might evolve. 

This week's guest is Dr. Jason Miller, Professor and Head of the Supply Chain Management Department at Michigan State University's Eli Broad College of Business.  This is Jason's 4th time on the Freightvine podcast -  we last had him on the podcast about two years ago when we were one year into what is now called the rate trough.  Jason discusses this and how the market was expected to have rebounded by now, but the spate of tariffs has definitely had an impact.   In our conversation we discuss tariffs both conceptually and in practice.  We also look back at the past several truckload business cycles and discuss what the next cycle might look like.  

This week's guest is Ben Steffes, Vice President, Solutions & Strategy, Managed Transportation, at RXO.  Ben was last on the Freightvine 3 years ago when he had just published a white paper on Logistics KPIs for Coyote.  RXO acquired Coyote in the fall of 2024, so this time we talk about the RXO white paper on Logistics KPIs that Ben recently authored as a follow-up to and expansion of the 2022 study.   In our conversation, we discuss changes in how logistics performance was measured during the pandemic and now post-pandemic, how shippers, carriers, and brokers have aligned on important metrics, and the impact of the increasing use of technology like AI and control towers.  We also touch upon strategies for shippers to become "shippers of choice," and on the evolving role of brokers and the dynamics of consolidation in the logistics industry.  It was a pretty wide ranging conversation covering different aspects of freight transportation. 

This week's guest is Dr. Josue Velazquez Martinez.  Josue is a Research Scientist at MIT's Center for Transportation & Logistics and is also the Director of MIT's Sustainable Supply Chain Lab.  In our conversation, we discuss his lab's focus on environmental and social sustainability within supply chains.  Josue describes the lab's work on the sustainability of freight transportation, emphasizing the need for diverse decarbonization strategies and better measurement of scope three emissions. Also, we discuss the annual State of Supply Chain Sustainability report, co-published with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), that tracks trends in corporate sustainability efforts.  Additionally, Josue introduces the Low Income Firms Transformation (or LIFT) Lab that he also leads.  The LIFT Lab empowers Latin American and Caribbean micro-retailers and micro-restaurants (also known as nanostores) by enhancing their supply chain management skills and developing and deploying AI driven technology to improve their business operations.  The ultimate objective of the LIFT Lab is to alleviate poverty in these regions. 

This week's guest is Kary Jablonski, VP & GM, Broker Growth & Trucker Tools at DAT Freight & Analytics.  As her title implies, Kary previously led Trucker Tools before its acquisition by DAT at the end of 2024. Our conversation centers on her path to the freight industry, her experiences transforming Trucker Tools into a leading visibility and tracking solution for freight brokerages, and the company's subsequent acquisition by DAT. Kary shares insights on the evolution of Trucker Tools as well as the dynamics of the freight technology market including consolidation and the role of technology like AI.  Finally, the conversation touches on broader industry trends such as the relationship between brokers, carriers, and shippers, and the balance between contract and spot freight.

This week's guest is Mike Roeth, Executive Director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency or NACFE.  NACFE has been around for over 15 years - originating from a workshop run by the Rocky Mountain Institute in 2009.  Their objective is to drive the development and adoption of efficiency enhancing, environmentally beneficial, and cost-effective technologies, services, and operational practices in the movement of goods across North America.  Mike has been leading NACFE in these efforts pretty much since its inception.  In the conversation, Mike discusses the concept of the “Messy MIddle” - a term that NACFE introduced to the industry.  The Messy Middle is the period between the trucking industry transitioning from a well established and known technology (that would be diesel internal combustion engines) to a future technology (zero emission battery electric vehicles).  Major technology transitions are never simple or clean, and NACFE recognizes this and analyzes how different powertrain technologies (to include Renewable diesel, Biodiesel, Natural Gas, Green Hydrogen, and battery electric) can be employed to bridge this middle ground.   In the podcast, Mike discusses how different trucking operations (payload, duty cycle, required range) are better suited to different powertrain technologies, highlights the challenges and hurdles to the adoption of these powertrain technologies, and outlines the roles that the various stakeholders play.

This week's guest is Bobby Holland,  Vice President and Director, Freight Business Analytics, at US Bank.  US Bank has been around since 1863 and is currently the 5th largest bank in the United States.  They also process over $40B in freight payments each year.   In our conversation, Bobby explains his unexpected entry into the trucking industry and the incredible reliance everyone has on it.  He also discusses how US Bank's Freight Payment Index provides data-driven insights into freight trends at the national and regional levels and utilizes a "same-source sales" type algorithm to ensure data accuracy.  The conversation also touches on challenges and importance of data integration, quality, and governance.  Finally, Bobby discusses future plans for the index, including incorporating more transportation modes and using AI for predictive analytics.

This week's guest is Jerrod Mounce, Vice President of Energy & Sustainability at JB Hunt.  Our conversation focuses on JB Hunt's sustainability initiatives and the broader landscape of alternative fuels in trucking.  Jerrod discusses his 26-year career at JB Hunt, detailing his shift from operations to a focus on fuel efficiency and sustainability. He highlights the complexities of fuel surcharge programs and JB Hunt's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 32% by 2034. The conversation explores the challenges and opportunities in transitioning to alternative energy platforms, such as electric and natural gas, and the importance of a "polyfuel" approach. Jerrod emphasizes the need for technological advancements in battery technology, considering economic factors, and achieving carbon reduction targets. Finally we discuss the role drivers and technology play in fuel efficiency.

This week's guest is Matt McLelland, VP of Sustainability and Innovation at Covenant Logistics Group.  In our conversation today we discuss the connection between sustainability and innovation, the potential impact of emerging technologies, and the paroles of overly prescriptive regulations. We also talk about the pros and cons for alternative fuels. Matt makes a strong case for having regulations that encourage innovation in a variety of different energy platforms, rather than dictating a single one. All shippers, carries, and brokers can learn from this conversation. 

This week's guest is Ian Jefferies, President and CEO, Association of American Railroads.  Ian has been with the AAR for over 10 years taking over as President in 2019.  Ian was last on the Freightvine in February 2023 and obviously a lot has happened since then.  In the conversation, Ian talks about the long term effect of the 2022 Railroad Labor Dispute, how the rail industry is currently evolving, and where it is heading over the long-term.  He discusses the challenges of adopting new technologies that improve both safety and efficiency in a highly unionized and regulated industry and finishes up discussing cybersecurity noting the critical role that railroads play in the national infrastructure.    

This week's guest is Andrew Petrisin, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multimodal Freight in the U.S. Department of Transportation and the creator of the USDOT's Freight Logistics Optimization Works or FLOW. FLOW is a public private partnership whereby different players in the global supply chain share previously unshared commercial data to better understand changes in international freight flows.  These data are securely anonymized and harmonized within the platform and the results are available for the members to use in their analysis.  Created and launched by Andrew just over three years ago during the depths of the massive containership backlogs in West Coast ports, FLOW is  now a well-established source of freight flow data as well as a consortium of almost 100 supply chain partners ranging from port operators, ocean carriers, trucking companies, railroads, freight brokers as well as manufacturers, retailers, and distributors.  In our conversation we discuss the importance of being a neutral trusted party and how trust is earned (hint - consistency over time), how different companies are using FLOW both strategically and tactically, and the challenges of getting so many private sector organizations (to include competitors) to contribute detailed data.  

This week's guests are my two DAT iQ colleagues: Ken Adamo, Chief of Analytics, and Dean Croke, Principal Analyst. This is our annual end of the year podcast where we revisit our predictions from last year, discuss the major issues of the current year, and take our best guesses as to what will happen next year.   As always our conversation ranged wide - to include the continued soft market of 2024, challenges of current air travel, predictions of a rising market in 2025, the impact of the election, and the misery of being an Ohio football fan.  Our predictions from 2023 for the spot market were pretty much dead on - while our contract forecasts were slightly off the mark.   

This week's guest is Rob Haddock the recently retired Group Director of Planning & Logistics at Coca-Cola North America.  In his retirement, Rob has started a new firm (Albedo Logistics), begun consulting projects on the side, and written a book!  I asked Rob to join me on the Freightvine to discuss his book, titled, Transportation Adventures of a Food Shipper: A Shipper's Guide to Truckload Transportation - The Sapient Shipper Adventures.  Rob has distilled his almost 40 years of experience in the freight trucking and supply chain  industry and instilled it into his book.  In our conversation, we talked about how transportation executives should communicate up to their C-suite, the importance of having intellectual curiosity and willingness to ‘break things', and the need for an organizational ‘plan on a page' to act as a north star to guide strategy and actions.  Rob also discussed how he believes that Artificial Intelligence is akin to Iron Man's AI equipped suit, J.A.R.V.I.S., in that it can make an executive or manager be better and smarter at their job.  Not as a replacement.  

This week's guest is Kevin Zweier, Vice President of Transportation Practice at NTT, formerly Chainalytics.   Long term listeners might recall that Kevin has actually been on the Freightvine 3 times: pre-pandemic in 2019, during the pandemic in 2021, and in the post pandemic in 2022.  Now that we are apparently ending the pandemic induced TL market cycle, it is time to bring him back again to talk about how shippers' TL Procurement strategies are, or should be, changing.    During our conversation, we discuss the current TL market cycle, the impact of low lane volume strategies on the RFP process, and how shippers are taking risk off the table when it comes to bids.  Finally, we debate whether it is better to expand or contract a carrier base as the market starts to turn inflationary.   It is always a great time to talk with one of the leading experts in freight transportation.    

This week's guest is Tim Denoyer, VP and Senior Analyst at ACT Research.  Tim has been a financial analyst covering the transportation space for pretty much his entire career.  At ACT Research, he is the lead analyst in their transportation research effort and is the primary author of the ACT Freight Forecast, U.S. Rate and Volume Outlook.  In our conversation, we talked about the current state of the TL market, the rise of private fleets, and why he views it as “revolutionary change at an evolutionary pace.”  We also discuss automation versus Artificial Intelligence and the lag in productivity gains following the implementation of any technological innovation.  

This week's guests are Chad Kennedy, Senior Product Manager at DAT, and Samuel Parker, Associate Director Shipper Segment at DAT.  Chad and Samuel hosted and ran the most recent Shipper Summit in Kansas City, which had close to 100 shipper customers.  As the kick-off event of DATCON each year, the Shipper Summit is an invitation-only, shipper-only event that features expert panels on procurement and transportation management as well as a forum for peer-to-peer discussion on a variety of pertinent topics.  The following two days of DATCON featured speakers and discussions on a range of topics from AI to cybersecurity.   In this episode, Chad, Samuel, and I discuss the highlights of the Shipper Summit and DATCON and share the key takeaways from this unique event.

This week's guest is Dr. Erika Voss, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at DAT.  Erika joined DAT earlier in 2024 as our first CISO coming from a long career in security and risk at companies such as MicroSoft, Salesforce, Oracle, and CapitalOne.  In her role, she is really changing the game in cybersecurity for the entire trucking transportation industry.  Erika explains that the types of fraud and theft that occur in our industry are all essentially cybersecurity issues.  Interestingly, the introduction of greater digitalization of operations, while greatly increasing efficiency, has a dark side in that it opens the door for potential cybersecurity breaches.  In our conversation, we discuss the concepts of each person's ‘identify fabric,' how the ‘attack landscape' for companies has expanded dramatically over the past several years, what ‘zero-trust' transportation with continuous authentication might look like, and exactly what a ‘script kiddy' is.  Finally, we talk about how a shipper should include cybersecurity capabilities as part of their carrier and broker vetting for any RFPs.  As shippers, carriers, and brokers continue to automate and digitize various functions, the importance of cybersecurity is only going to increase.  

This week's guest is Bill Cassidy, Senior Editor for Trucking and Domestic Transportation at the Journal of Commerce.  Bill has been covering transportation for over 30 years writing and editing at Fleet Owner, Transport Topics, Traffic World, and now for the last 10+ years at the JOC.  He has a great perspective on all things freight.  In our conversation we discuss the potential impact on the transportation industry of different events to include the Federal Reserve recently voting to lower interest rates by a half-percentage point, the potential strike of the International Longshoremen's Association union impacting the east and gulf coast ports, the pending changes to the de minimis exceptions for customs, and the recent downsizing trend of TL carriers.  Finally, we talk a little about the use of AI in transportation and in media in general. 

This week's guest is Felipe Capella, CEO and co-founder of LoadSmart. After 10 years as a lawyer, Felipe decided to start a company to build something along with his co-founder, Ricardo Salgado. They chose freight transportation since it has a huge total available market, is highly fragmented, and was ripe for technological improvement. They initially started out as a brokerage but over the last ten years they have grown LoadSmart into being a platform that provides, among other things, TMS software as a service, managed transportation, brokerage services, and dynamic algorithmic truckload pricing. Recently, they have added two versions of generative AI to their platform: Co-Pilot which enables plain language querying of a shipper's data within their TMS and, most recently, Freight Intel AI which makes proactive recommendations on a shipper's network based on an analysis of their actual transactions.  In our conversation, we discuss how the truckload and brokerage market has evolved over the last decade, the importance of context when generating a rate, the growth of algorithmic spot pricing, and where AI should (and should not) be used within supply chains.  

This week's guest is Dr. Alex Scott, Associate Professor of SCM at UTK and co-founder of Sustainable Logistics. There is growing pressure on companies - both regulatory and socially - to reduce the emissions that they generate. One of the largest sources of CO2 emissions is freight transportation. Unfortunately, most companies outsource their transportation to carriers - so they do not have direct control over the asset being used. These types of emissions - where the company is responsible for it but does not have direct control over the asset - are referred to as scope 3. They are the hardest type of emissions to measure.  In our conversation, Alex describes how Scope 3 emissions are currently being measured today, discusses the regulatory trends in emissions monitoring, and explains the trade-offs between reporting accuracy and cost of collection. Through his research and now his company, Sustainable Logistics, Alex has developed a better approach that improves the accuracy of the measurement of Scope 3 emissions from truck transportation. This is an issue that is only going to become more critical for all transportation executives, so I encourage everyone to take a listen.  

This week's guest is Josh Brogan, Partner at Kearney. Josh is one of the lead authors of the recently released CSCMP's Annual State of Logistics Report titled “Waiting for the tide to turn”. As most listeners probably know, the report is authored by the management consulting firm Kearney and presented by Penske Logistics. The conversation, while focusing mainly on the report itself, meandered through other topics including reshoring trends, potential consolidation of the 3PL or Lead Logistics Provider sectors, the increasing need for rapid network flow analysis for shippers, and the blending of asset and non-asset-based providers. The report has a ton of great information - we encourage everyone to reach out to CSCMP and read the report. 

This week's guest is Alex Leslie, Senior Research Analyst at the American Transportation Research Institute. Alex is the lead author of ATRI's latest research publication “Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2024 Update”. I had Alex on just about a year ago for the 2023 report. Using detailed polling and data analysis, Alex can reveal not only the current average per-mile costs, but also changes in the individual cost components, the impact of carrier size on costs, and underlying trends in trucking activities. In our conversation, we discuss the report in detail and try to understand changes year over year - as well as what to expect going forward.   

This week's guest is Terry Donohoe, Senior Vice President of Freight Forwarding, U.S & Mexico for DP World. As most of us know, DP World is a leading global logistics company headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  They operate a large network of marine and inland terminals across more than 40 countries, handling approximately 10% of global container traffic.  In our conversation, Terry provides an overview of DP World as well as the global freight forwarding industry.  We discuss the impacts of the United States - Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) that superseded NAFTA, the challenges companies face in meeting changing and differing regulatory requirements across the globe, and DP World's evolution from a basic transport provider to an integrated solution provider moving product from “Factory Floor to Customer Door.”  Finally, we talk about the future of global trade.  As opposed to some pundits who have claimed that we have reached and passed “Peak-Global Trade”, Terry compares trade to water - in that, it always finds a way. 

This week's guest is  Gonzalo Cordova, Director of Decision Science and Automation at The Home Depot.  Gonzalo has a long history of solving business and supply chain problems using sophisticated analytical methods.  After finishing his MS at GaTech in 2005, he worked for companies as varied as GE Energy, Lafarge, Coca-Cola, and The Home Depot.  His current role is leading the team that is applying AI, and other analytical methods they have in their tool belt, to solve various challenges within the company.  Gonzalo and his team's approach is a problem first rather than leading with a set methodology.  In our conversation, Gonzalo offers his definition of AI and talks through examples of its success and other areas where it was not. 

This week's guest is Chad Kennedy, Group Product Manager of the Rate Benchmark platform at DAT Freight & Analytics. Chad has been in the trucking and transportation space for over two decades now as both a carrier and a shipper.  While originally trained in finance, he joined a small family-owned trucking company in the early 2000s.  He moved on to CHEP (the blue pallet people) where he rose to be Director of Transportation. Finally, he joined Chainalytics in 2018 and was part of the acquisition by DAT in 2020. In our conversation, we discuss the different major use cases of rate benchmarking  (past, present, and future) and why that matters in how the rates are created. We also talk about how the shipper-carrier interface has evolved over the years as well as the challenges of managing a data-driven software solution.    

This week's guest is Keith Brandis, Vice President of Partnerships and System Solutions at Volvo Trucks.  Keith is a 40-plus-year veteran of the trucking industry with a diverse background in truck manufacturing, engineering, sales, and marketing for the Volvo Group. He began his career with Volvo Trucks at its New River Valley manufacturing operations in Dublin, Virginia, where all of the brands' Class 8 trucks for the North American market are assembled. Today, he works in the Project and Product Strategy Office as the vice president of system solutions and partnerships for North America and is actively involved in several projects driving technological and industry-transforming progress in transportation and sustainability. In our conversation, we discuss Vovlo's three-pillar approach to decarbonization with an extended discussion of Battery Electric Vehicles. We also talk about the challenges involved in transitioning to a zero or near-zero emissions market.   

This week's guest is David Landau, currently Advisor at Moguntia Capital in Atlanta.  David has  25 years of experience in the Supply chain software space - mainly focused on the creation and delivery of product strategies and M&A. He spent almost 20 years at Manhattan Associates - culminating in being VP of Product Management, and has also served in leadership roles at E2Open, Cloud Logistics, BluJay, and Transporeon.  In our conversation, we talk about how the SC software industry has evolved and changed in terms of technology, customer expectations, the people involved, and how it is delivered.  We also talk about the product management process and what it is like running a product pipeline for software. 

This week's guest is Matt Waller from New Roads Capital Partners and the University of Arkansas.  He has held various positions, including Dean, and taught for 30 years at the University of Arkansas, where he currently holds the William Dillard II Leadership Chair at the Sam M. Walton College of Business.  He is also a Strategic Advisor at NewRoad Capital Partners.  In our conversation, we talk mainly about the always evolving Retail Value Chain - how it has changed over the last 30 years and where we might expect it to go.  Matt also gives some examples of new start-ups in this space that bear watching.

This week's guest is Mike Bassani, Partner and Product Leader at Microsoft. Despite starting in Finance, Mike is no stranger to supply chains having worked in supply chain roles for Best Buy, Nike, Amazon, Convoy, and currently, Microsoft where he was the General Manager of the Supply Chain Platform. His role has changed over the last year to lead the integration of Copilot and other LLMs into the  Power Platform. In our conversation, we talk about how a finance background can help a supply chain professional, the difference between traditional and generative Artificial Intelligence, whether generative AI will be centralized or decentralized (and why that matters), as well as what it is like running very large, diverse, and geographically dispersed team. Mike has a solid grasp of not only supply chains but also how this new emerging technology might be leveraged. There is no wonder why he was named one of the top 10 Most Influential People in Supply Chain by CIO Magazine in 2023.

This week's guest is Woody Richardson, former executive at Schneider. Woody was in the trucking industry for 40 years - all at Schneider.  Before retiring in 2021, he had held multiple leadership roles including Revenue Management/Pricing, Sales, Logistics Transportation Procurement, and many others. He recently published his book, Roads Rarely Traveled: Avoiding the Biggest Mistakes in Truckload Purchasing. Based on his decades of work with literally hundreds of shippers, the book outlines the 13 biggest mistakes that a transportation procurer can make. In our conversation, we'll discuss just three of these mistakes: #5 Thinking size has an advantage, #6 Thinking that a commitment of carrier capacity is a guarantee, and my favorite, #8 Being enamored with ‘paper savings'. We could have talked for an hour more on related topics - but these three give you an idea of Woody's perspective on transportation procurement.  Unsurprisingly, we do not disagree too much on this topic!  I encourage any professional working in this space - whether as a carrier, a shipper, or a broker, to consider buying this book - it has incredible insights. 

This week's guest is Dr. Callie Federer, Senior Data Science Manager at DAT Freight & Analytics. Callie comes to the freight and transportation industry from a pretty non-traditional path - a Ph.D. in Computational Bioscience from the University of Colorado-Denver.  After earning her PhD, she went straight into industry holding various data science roles in the medical, education, and advertising domains. She joined DAT about 18 months ago and currently manages and leads the data science team responsible for the development of all next-generation tools and models that DAT uses for its shipper, carrier, and broker customers. In our conversation we debate what Artificial Intelligence or AI is, what it does and does not include, and how other methodologies such as ML or OR complement the newer methods like generative AI or LLMs. Callie also describes the recently released AI-powered DAT iQ rating platform and how it is fundamentally different than other rating engines. We finish up with a discussion on how to manage and lead a team of highly skilled data analytics professionals in the very nuanced and quirky industry of freight transportation. 

This week's guest is Dylan Alperin, VP of Professional Services at Keelvar.  Founded in Ireland in 2012, Keelvar is a software company specializing in procurement automation and optimization solutions.  The word Keelvar can be loosely translated from Irish as “sensible” or having “better intelligence.” Dylan joined Keelvar about 3 years ago after having spent the previous fifteen years in logistics procurement at a number of shippers as well as consultancies.  His experience across these companies as well as his current role at Keelvar has given him a great perspective on transportation procurement.  In our conversation, we discuss how sourcing optimization and automation each play a role, how the pace of procurement has changed over the years, and how AI, ML, and OR techniques and methodologies all play a role in helping humans make better decisions.   

This week's guest is Jeff Short, Vice President, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).  ATRI publishes a wide variety of reports on all aspects of freight and trucking from costs to bottlenecks and everything in between.  Jeff is the author of the December 2022 ATRI Report entitled “Charging Infrastructure Challenges for the US Electric Vehicle Fleet”.  The report identifies and quantifies three major challenges associated with the adoption of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs).  These are (1) US Electricity Supply and Demand - can we generate the electricity needed, (2)  Electric Vehicle Production - can we mine sufficient materials to produce the required number of vehicles, and (3)  Truck Charging Requirements - how will charging work?  I recommend that you look up this report and other ATRI reports at truckingresearch.org.

This week's guest is Ann Marie Jonkman, Senior Director, Global Industry Strategies for Blue Yonder.  Ann Marie has had extensive experience in the logistics and supply chain space working for carriers, brokers, and shippers before joining Blue Yonder about 2 years ago.  In her current role she is helping Logistics Service Providers, or LSPs, solve their supply chain challenges.  In our conversation, we discuss how the supply chain software space has evolved over the years, the importance of understanding and having empathy for the people involved in implementation as well as knowing the business processes and technology, and, of course, the growing role of AI in supply chain management.

Hello and welcome to the Freightvine podcast, your source for all things freight transportation.  I'm Chris Caplice, Chief Scientist at DAT Freight & Analytics, and today I am joined by Adam Buttgenbach, Director of Fleet Engineering and Sustainability for PepsiCo.

This week's guest is Rob Kelly SVP of Business Development for Forum Mobility. Forum Mobility provides accessible zero-emission trucking solutions for drayage in California. Their services range from building and operating charging infrastructure to offering class 8 zero-emission electric trucks. They are currently developing a network of charging depots around the Oakland and Los Angeles/Long Beach ports, and along common trucking routes to warehouse destinations. Rob joined Forum Mobility about 2 years ago and he has a long career in the clean energy space - including 10 years with SolarCity and then Tesla when they acquired it in 2016.  In our conversation, we discuss the current regulatory situation in California, the challenges and opportunities to electrifying truck fleets, and what the industry might look like 5 - 10 years in the future. This is an important discussion for anyone who has freight coming in from California ports - which is pretty much everyone!  What is happening in California usually finds its way to other states and sometimes federally - so it is important to keep your eyes on it. 

This week's guest is Dr. Erez Agmoni, Global Head of Innovation at Maersk. Erez has been in the global freight industry for over 30 years and at Maersk for over a decade. In the newly created role of Global Head of Innovation he is charged with changing the status quo rather than providing incremental improvements to the movement of freight. In our conversation, we discuss the challenges associated with introducing change, the need for pilots and proofs of concept in real situations, why having a team with a diversity of experience and cultures matters, and a dozen topics in between. 

This week's guests are my two DAT iQ colleagues: Ken Adamo, Chief of Analytics, and Dean Croke, Principal Analyst. This is our annual end-of-the-year podcast where we revisit our predictions from last year, discuss the major issues of the current year, and take our best guesses as to what will happen next year. Our conversation ranged widely - from changes in ocean shipping patterns to the challenge of EVs and ETs and the ability (or lack thereof) of the US electrical grid to meet this rising demand to the roller coaster ride of fuel prices.

This week's guest is Bill Driegert, EVP and head of North America for Flexport. Bill has over 20 years in the industry with key roles at Coyote Logistics, Amazon, UberFreight, and now Flexport. With the recent acquisition of Convoy's technology stack, Bill is back in the familiar position of starting up brokerage operations from scratch - something he did at UberFreight and before that at Convoy. We talk about how technology has changed the way brokers operate, the opportunities for Flexport with the acquisition of the Convoy tech, and how he sees the market evolving in 2024. 

This week's guests are John Stoufer and Brian Cristol, co-founders of Isometric Technologies. ISO is a performance management solution that centralizes service data between business partners and connects costs from chargebacks and service-level failures to the responsible parties. Anyone in the industry knows how hard it is to reconcile the root cause of service failures, that is the problem that Iso addresses. John and Brian have extensive experience in the industry and were both at Uber for several years as well as at Turvo before starting up Isometric. We had a great conversation about the challenges of working with data from multiple sources, harmonizing the definition of what ‘on-time' means, as well as the industry as a whole.    

This week's guest is Dr. Zac Rogers, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Colorado State University.  In addition to his academic duties at CSU, Zac also co-developed and currently leads the publishing of the Logistics Manager Index or LMI.  Fashioned in the same way as the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) which has been around for over 50 years, the LMI is a diffusion metric that captures whether an activity is expanding or contracting. The LMI captures the monthly change in inventory levels and costs as well as the capacity, utilization, and pricing changes for both warehousing and transportation.  In the discussion, Zac talks about the recently published October 2023 numbers that indicate an expansion of the logistics market as well as the market impact of the Yellow and Convoy bankruptcies and the recently resolved UAW strikes.

This week's guest is  Jim Filter, EVP, Group President Transportation & Logistics. The conversation centers on Schneider's adoption of electric vehicles within their California drayage operations. This is a highly relevant topic for all shippers and carriers as we see the electrification of transportation - both freight and passenger - continue to be promoted and subsidized by the government at the local, state, and federal levels. 

This week's guest is Dean Croke, Principal Analyst and all-around trucking expert here at DAT Freight & Analytics. Dean has over 20 years of experience in the long-haul trucking industry - from (and still) being a driver to insurance to software and analytics.  In this episode, Dean discusses the state of the TL market - specifically the capacity side - to include the current level of spot rates and their relationship to carrier breakeven costs, the importance of tracking the spot market even though it is much smaller than the contract side, and highlights from the most recent DATCON event. 

This week's guest is Steve Raetz, Dir. Research and Market Intelligence at CH Robinson. Steve is a perfect person to discuss strategic use of the spot market as he not only brings 30+ years of experience in a variety of roles at CHR, but he currently leads CHR's research efforts working with universities and others. The topic of spot as a strategy has been a research focus for the last few years and is gaining acceptance in the market.

This week's guest is Kelly Abney, Chief Logistics Officer and EVP for the United States Postal Service. Kelly has over 30 years of experience in retail and third-party logistics prior to joining the USPS. He previously held senior roles in transportation at Walmart, New Breed Logistics, XPO Logistics, and most recently, the US Postal Service. During the conversation, Kelly shares how the postal service is being transformed based on the Delivering for America plan that the USPS adopted in 2021. There are a lot of lessons to be learned for any supply chain professional.  

This week's guest is Jennifer Carpenter, President & CEO of The American Waterways Operators or AWO. Most shippers are not as familiar with the  US Domestic Tugboat, Towboat, and Barge Industry. This episode should shed some light on this often-overlooked segment of the freight transportation industry. With more than thirty years in the industry, Jennifer has great insights into where it has come from, where it is going, and how it contributes to the national economy. In our conversation we discuss the size and scope of the domestic waterways industry, how it fits into various supply chains, and the importance of the Jones Act. A sometimes contentious regulation, the Jones Act essentially restricts all domestic water routes, that is from one U.S. port to another, is restricted to U.S.-built, -crewed, and -flagged vessels. Cabotage rules like this exist for most other transport modes and are common in most other countries, but it is still a point of contention as it does, by design, restrict competition.  

This week's guest is Alex Leslie, Research Analyst at the American Transportation Research Institute.  Alex is the lead author on ATRI's latest research publication “Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2023 Update”.  ATRI has been publishing these very detailed reports on trucking costs for over 15 years now.  Using detailed polling and data analysis, Alex is able to reveal not only the current average per mile costs, but also changes in the individual cost components, the impact of carrier size on costs and underlying trends in trucking activities.  In our conversation, we discuss the report in detail and really focus on trying to determine where the “floor” is for TL carrier costs.  This is something that all shippers, brokers, and carriers are trying to determine.

This week's guest is Seth Clevenger, Managing Editor at Transport Topics, where they just released their 2023 Top 100 Carriers List. Published annually for over three decades, the Top 100 Carriers list provides the most accurate detailed snapshot of the leading companies in the trucking industry. In our conversation we discuss some surprises in this year's list, recent mergers and acquisitions, and future trends for the industry as a whole.

This week's guest is my colleague Jeff Hopper, CMO for DAT. Jeff is leading DAT's initiatives for combating double brokerage and other fraud on transportation load boards. Working with shippers, brokers, carriers, government agencies, as well as other platform providers, DAT is actively designing and implementing approaches to both keep bad actors out and detect behavior that indicates potential fraudulent activity. In the conversation, we talk about what fraud looks like, why we are seeing more of it now, and what we all can do to minimize if not eliminate it.

This week's guest is Professor Yossi Sheffi, Director of MIT's Center for Transportation & Logistics and author of the recent book, The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, AI, and the Future of Work. Written mainly in response to the general public's newly awakened awareness of and interest in supply chains during the pandemic, the book explains in great clarity how supply chains work, why they are complex, and where the challenges are. Additionally, he addresses and explores the impact of future trends including robotics, automation, shifting labor patterns, and the need for continuous education. The conversation touched upon the influence of the pandemic on supply chains, the impact of technology implementation on labor, and, of course, the challenges and opportunities that AI brings. 

This week's guest is Matt Harding, Head of 4PL Data and Analytics at UberFreight.  With over 25 years in the industry at logistics.com, Chainalytics, Transplace, and now UberFreight, Matt is a leading light in applying analytics and visualization to the transportation industry.  In our conversation, we trace the evolution of data science in trucking, discuss the understanding gap between the C-suite and transportation executives, debate the impact that the wide availability of market data has had on drivers, carriers, and the industry as a whole, and talk about the challenges and hurdles of introducing change - especially data driven - within an organization.