Updated

Updated · FreightWaves · Jun 15

SCOTUS Rulings Force Brokers to Add Safety Vetting, Squeezing Carriers With 100% Operating Ratios

Updated

Updated · FreightWaves · Jun 15

SCOTUS Rulings Force Brokers to Add Safety Vetting, Squeezing Carriers With 100% Operating Ratios

1 articles · Updated · FreightWaves · Jun 15

Transportation brokers now need formal safety standards embedded in carrier vetting and audits after recent Supreme Court rulings ended blanket federal preemption as a defense.
Jordan Graff of Highway said insurers are already tightening risk profiles, making it harder for smaller or newly authorized carriers without safety histories to win freight.
Cargo fraud is shifting toward post-tender credential hijacking, with bad actors exploiting unencrypted email and WhatsApp to steal carrier identities at tender or pickup.
Public carriers including Heartland Express, PAM Transport and Werner often run on razor-thin or negative margins, with some posting operating ratios above 100%, complicating the push for safer capacity.
Wholesale diesel prices are down about $1 a gallon from their peak, prompting carriers to favor cost-plus rack buying and use index data that can signal price moves up to 24 hours earlier.

Sources

Will new safety rules force carriers to raise rates, ending the era of cheap freight and impacting consumer prices?

With brokers now liable for carrier safety, are small trucking companies being priced out of the market by rising insurance costs?

As cyber cartels target freight, is the industry's slow tech adoption creating a multi-billion dollar security crisis?

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