FreightWaves Today | October 16

Craig Fuller (0:13)

It's FreightWaves Today, I'm coming to you from South Lake, Texas. This is a special edition of FreightWaves Today. It is Friday, it is mid-October, and it has kicked off earning season. JB. Hunt did it last night. And of course, we built this show specifically to deal with two types of topics, breaking news, which we had the opportunity just a few days ago with the RxO announcement that CH. Robinson was acquiring it, and then earning season. So that's the reason we're here. That's the reason I'm in a hotel, broadcasting you from a hotel, because this is important stuff. JB. Hunt sets the tone for the entire logistics sector. Everybody looks to JB. Hunt as a bellwether of logistics performance, and really Wall Street uses the information they get from that earnings report to really understand what's happening in the broader freight market, as well as what the other logistics companies are likely to report. So it's a really important barometer. Wall Street also looks at it as a barometer of the overall health of the both industrial economy, but also the consumer economy. What we heard last night was really positive in terms of activity. JB. Hunt was very constructive about their view of the overall freight market, but was cautious about cost increases in terms of their operating costs, particularly around truck drivers and what it costs to recruit drivers. What is interesting about that is that we haven't heard that from the other large truck load carriers, but I don't think that we should read into that at all. I think frankly, as anyone who's been around the industry has learned, when trucking companies go out and talk about the fact that the driver market is difficult, Wall Street takes notice and really punishes their stocks as we learned through NightSwift just a few years ago. Really my read on this is that it's a really positive report and really affirms what we have been saying for some time is that this freight market and this cycle will continue. Now, one point of caution is that the robustness and the momentum that we have seen in the freight market over really the last year isn't increasing to the degree that we all want it to be, and we see that in our data. Demand is a little softer than what we would expect. Now, we're expecting a big peak season, perhaps, but we've also talked about over the last couple of weeks that peak season is probably more muted than what we thought earlier this year.

At least looking at the date, and we'll get into that all on the show. Now, to talk about the JB. Hunt earnings, we're going to bring Todd Maiden in here in a minute to give us really his perspective on overall earnings. Of course, I think it comes down to two parts of the business that are really important. One is intermodal and the other is dedicated. There are some similarities in those businesses in terms of how they operate that we'll hear all about from Todd.

Then we're going to get to Matt Leffler later in the show to talk about what's happening in the regulatory and compliance front. He's going to give his perspectives on all of the different topics and issues, and the segment of called a miniature segment or a brief segment of freight expectations. But before we do that, let's get the headlines.

SPEAKER_2 (3:33)

We kick things off with a stunning look inside the personal finances of a trucking CEO whose company collapsed earlier this year. Richard Francis, CEO of the Collapsed Pittsburgh-based R&R Family of Companies, has disclosed nearly $12.7 million in personal assets in federal bankruptcy court documents filed on Wednesday. Francis' assets include an $8.5 million Florida Waterfront residence at Marco Island, while reporting approximately $7.5 million in liabilities. The bankruptcy filings also reveal that Francis is now employed by Giant Logistics LLC in a commissioned sales position, making over $37,000 a month in gross wages. The disclosures offer the most detailed accounting yet of Francis' personal finances, following the January shutdown of the Trucking and Logistics Group, which left hundreds of employees without jobs and prompted lawsuits from lenders, carriers and other creditors. The Marco Island residence is central to litigation brought by Huntington National Bank, which has challenged the December 2025 transfer of the property, alleging it was intended to place the asset beyond the reach of creditors.

Meanwhile, a California jury has delivered a massive verdict against a Wyoming-based logistics broker over fraudulent representations involving medical gloves. Los Angeles County Superior Court jurors awarded nearly $9.4 million to medical supply distributor Ashtel Studios Inc. on October 9th, after finding Oak Sourcing and Logistics LLC and its managing member, Matthew John Sandvig, liable for intentional misrepresentation. The dispute centered on Oak Sourcing's representations about its financial resources, customer contracts and ability to purchase millions of boxes of medical gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Ashtel's complaint, Sandvig told company executives in March 2021 that Oak Sourcing had an $800 million personal protective equipment contract, long-term supply commitments with hospitals, and access to substantial financing. Those representations helped persuade Ashtel to enter into two large glove transactions, totaling $14.7 million.