Freightvine

This week’s guest is Tracy Rosser, Executive Vice President, Operations at Transplace.  Tracy has been in the industry for almost 30 years at a carrier, a retailer (WalMart), and now at a premiere 3PL (Transplace).  In our conversation, Tracy discusses the differences and similarities of working at a 3PL versus a shipper, how the pandemic actually improved transportation management at many firms, and how important it is to consistently remove waste from supply chains and transportation - namely empty miles and excessive dwell.  We also touch upon how to handle low-volume lanes and the potential fate of owner operators in this deflationary market. DAT iQ

My guests today are Dr. Zac Rogers, Assistant Professor at Colorado State University in Supply Chain Management, and his father, Dr. Dale Rogers, Professor of Business at Arizona State University.  While I had Zac on the Freightvine about 18 months ago to discuss his research and the Logistics Managers Index (LMI) that he co-developed and currently leads, I had never had his father, Dale, on before.  Which is surprising since I have known Dale through our joint involvement in the CSCMP for over 2 decades.  He spent over 20 years at the University of Nevada where he was the Foundation Professor for Logistics & Supply Chain Management and has been at ASU now for about 8 years.  He was awarded the 2021 CSCMP Distinguished Service Award.   It is interesting to see the SC profession through the eyes of two different generations - what has changed and what has stayed the same.    We discuss this and the current state of the industry and market.  To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ. 

Dr. Jason Miller is the guest on this episode.  If you are in the truckload space, you are probably very familiar with Jason’s many blogs on LinkedIn covering all aspects of trucking, supply chain management, and the general economy.  He always applies rigorous data science and economic analysis to current situations - which is a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of hyperbolic commentary we see these days in both the industry and mainstream media.   In our conversation we discuss what happened to retail during the pandemic, the impact of rising fuel prices and inflation in general, recent news on soaring inventory levels, and we even try to answer the question “where is the bloodbath?”.  Jason often takes a contrarian view on things - so this leads to a very interesting conversation.  To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ

Today’s episode focuses on the softening TL market, the importance of creating and maintaining a resilient transportation portfolio, the increasing acceptance and use of dynamic rates by shippers, why carrier discovery should be a year round activity, and a whole lot more.  It is a great time to talk with one of the leading experts in freight transportation.    To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ. 

With over a decade at Transport Topics, Seth is an expert on how technology is transforming truck transportation.  While those not involved in the industry might think that trucking is “low-tech” - everyone on this podcast knows that is simply not true.  The level of tech in trucking has been growing exponentially. Today, owner operators have as much (if not more) technical capability than the drivers for the largest firms had just 5-10 years ago.  In this conversation Seth and I will discuss how different technologies are being adopted and the impact they have today as well as in the future.     To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ. 

Brent Beabout, President of Quiet Platform, is the guest in this episode of the Freightvine.     Brent started his career as a Submarine officer in the US navy but has spent the last 20+ years running the supply chains of some of the largest retailers in the world, to include Amazon, Office Depot, Nordstrom, and Walmart - where he developed and led their ecommerce supply chain.  In 2020, he founded a company called AirTerra based on the idea of combining parcel shipments from multiple retailers to leverage scale and volume.  It, along with the robot-based 3rd party fulfillment company Quiet Logistics, was acquired in 2021 by American Eagle and the combined firm is called Quiet Platform.    The new platform is providing a scalable eCommerce backend fulfillment and transportation solution for retailers and brands of all sizes to be able to successfully compete in the market.  To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ

In this episode, Dr. David Correll joins us for a conversation on Supply Chain Sustainability.  As the Director and Program Manager of the MIT Sustainable Supply Chains Survey, David has a unique perspective on what firms across the world are doing in the sustainability space.  This is the third year of the sustainability survey that is conducted jointly by MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.  In our conversation, David talks about what sustainability actually is and why it is such an elusive target, describes where pressure for firms to improve their sustainability is coming from, and suggests what shippers and carriers can do to be more sustainable.  To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ

In this episode, we focus our discussion on one topic - the incredibly rapid rise in diesel prices.  Peaking (for now) at $5.18 per gallon in mid March – this is a 25% increase in less than a month, 44% increase since the start of the year and a doubling of fuel prices in under 18 months.  To cover all of the implications of this historic rise, we invited Dean Croke, our resident expert on all things carrier, to join the conversation.  Dean explains the situation from a carrier’s perspective, how it impacts carriers differently, and we discuss near and long term implications for both shippers and carriers.  To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ

In this episode, we change up from discussing the trucking market to focus on railroads as Dr. Chris Caplice welcomes Ian Jefferies, President and CEO of the Association of American Railroads (AAR).  The conversation ranges from discussing the different types of railroads (from the seven Class 1’s to the hundreds of shortlines), how railroads and trucking companies are working better together than they have historically, as well as some current challenges that RRs are facing.  To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ

Dr. Chris Caplice welcomes Paul Bingham, Director, Transportation Consulting in S&P Global Market Intelligence.  They discuss both the direct and the indirect impacts that inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fuel prices, the pandemic and other factors have on global freight networks. To wrap things up, Dr. Inam Iyoob joins Dr. Chris Caplice for the latest North American truckload market rate trends and forecast powered by DAT iQ.