FreightWaves Today | October 15

Malcolm Harris (0:23)

I am Malcolm Harris, of course, joined by Zach Strickland. Zach, hello, good sir, how are you?

Zach Strickland (0:27)

Happy Thursday.

Malcolm Harris (0:28)

Happy Thursday indeed. How's it going?

Zach Strickland (0:31)

Man, it's, you know, we're in the midst of, it feels like, you know, that fall, like fall break is now a thing. When I was growing up, you got like maybe half day for parent-teacher conferences or something.

Malcolm Harris (0:43)

Yeah, for sure.

Zach Strickland (0:45)

And now like fall break is like widespread. So when I'm encountering people in the world, in the wild, we'll call it, there's a lot of fall breaks going on, you know, around Columbus Day. It feels like a, I don't know, you get spring break in the spring, there's a lot of vacations happening. So from the business world perspective, it feels like a little bit of a nudge in the market.

Malcolm Harris (1:06)

You know, I'm showing my age right now. I was like the first group of students that had a fall break.

Zach Strickland (1:11)

Man, that's not even-

Malcolm Harris (1:12)

In like the late 2010s, well not 2010s, but like the early 2010s, that's when I graduated high school. So, yeah.

Zach Strickland (1:20)

So I gotta say something on this note, because I get a lot of people, especially my age and older and some younger, they kind of complain about this fall break development. And I'm like, listen, guys, they've done studies. What they did was they put a week, they now start them earlier.

And the breaks are actually better, because the summers have been shown statistically to really be hurtful to a large portion of the kids. So I'm like, look, guys, just because we didn't get it don't mean we need to hate.

Malcolm Harris (1:52)

Just because you didn't get it, you don't have to hate, and that's okay. Zach is indeed for the children, for Frasier.

Zach Strickland (1:58)

I'm for doing what's right.

Malcolm Harris (1:59)

Yeah, and I'm for doing the right things as well. And give the kids their fall break.

I started school in early August. It was like August 1 when we used to start school. Which is crazy, up north it'd be Labor Day, but you would not get a fall break. So that's why spring break was a big deal.

Zach Strickland (2:16)

Because what are they going to do? It's cold.

Malcolm Harris (2:18)

It is cold indeed.

Zach Strickland (2:20)

We go to the beach in the fall now apparently.

Malcolm Harris (2:22)

Yeah, we do.

Zach Strickland (2:23)

I don't, but a lot of people.

Malcolm Harris (2:24)

Some people do.

Zach Strickland (2:24)

Yeah.

Malcolm Harris (2:25)

Well, it is cold up north, but it's hot here on FreightWaves Today. And we have an awesome show in store. Two great guests are going to be here with us. All right, Samsara's VP of Platform of AI, Brendan O'Driscoll is joining us and talking about how it works. And then many freight brokers lease trailers to serve their clients. And that can change their liability picture. And the sponsor segment, Centerline Insurance's president and our guy, Andy Kuchar, is going to join us to talk about how to manage it. So between Andy as well as Brendan, we're going to have a fantastic show. But before we get to it, let's check out the headlines with the Morning Minute.

SPEAKER_3 (3:04)

We kick things off with Volvo Trucks aggressively pushing into a segment where it has long been an afterthought. Volvo Trucks North America wants to capture 15% of the North American heavy truck market. And President Peter Vorhoff says that ambitious goal absolutely depends on cracking the vocational truck segment, where Volvo currently holds just 2% to 3% market share. The Swedish manufacturer just unveiled the VNX, the third truck on a massive shared platform that's part of a more than $2 billion new product investment program, or $3 billion when manufacturing is included. Vocational trucks represent roughly 25% to 30% of the North American market, and Vorhoff is betting that Volvo's global construction truck expertise, combined with stronger demand driven by data center construction and infrastructure spending, will finally push the brand into double-digit territory. Volvo's North American heavy-duty market share stood at 8.4% in 2025, down from 9% in 2024

Meanwhile, a bitter legal battle is exposing the cutthroat world of freight brokerage employee departures. Chicago-based Edge Logistics has filed a sprawling 51-page federal lawsuit against rival broker FreightTech Management Group and four former employees, alleging the workers orchestrated a scheme to systematically divert customers using confidential information and kickbacks funded by inflated freight charges.

According to the complaint filed in the US. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Edge's expedited freight division cratered 66.4% within weeks of the employees' departures in May 2026, while the rest of its business grew 8.5%.