FreightWaves Today | October 7

Julie Van de Kamp (0:30)

Good afternoon and welcome to FreightWaves Today. I'm Julie Van de Kamp, joined today by Malcolm Harris. We've got a great show on FreightWaves Today.

We are going to have Trains Magazine editor Bill Stevens. It is Wednesday, so we get to talk about the rails. And we're also gonna be joined by Trinity Industries CFO Eric Marchetto. So we can talk about the rail traffic numbers and what is going on in the intermodal sector. Then we're gonna be joined by Evans Transportation Services Chief Revenue Officer John Conrad. He's here live in studio talking about managed transportation. Very cool, Wisconsin based company. They have a location here in Chattanooga too, so excited to hear about what they are doing. It's gonna be a great day.

Malcolm Harris (1:13)

It's gonna be a fantastic show, got a lot of great conversations, a lot of great guests, and a lot of good content, and a great sonar update. Gonna have my debut on the board.

Julie Van de Kamp (1:24)

Listen, Malcolm dropped that he had dreams of being a meteorologist and of being a weatherman as he was a child. So we are gonna make those dreams come true today.

Malcolm Harris (1:35)

Let's make these dreams come true.

Julie Van de Kamp (1:36)

We're gonna do the sonar update at the wall and talk about this storm brewing in the Gulf, Isaias, and what the potential impacts could be. So excited for that. Just test out pretending to be weather forecasters. Neither of us are at all, but we've read some news on it and can tell you and then bring in what we think is the potential freight impacts.

Malcolm Harris (1:56)

It's gonna be some good stuff. Excited for today's show, Julie.

Julie Van de Kamp (1:58)

Look at you repping Tennessee today.

Malcolm Harris (2:00)

I'm gonna Tennessee Vol through and through. Saw them beat Auburn last week and just carried it over to here today.

Julie Van de Kamp (2:07)

So it was a great weekend for sports, I think.

Malcolm Harris (2:10)

We're gonna talk about a college football game. Actually, believe it or not, during that sonar update.

Julie Van de Kamp (2:15)

That's a little nugget I have for you, yeah, for sure. Wait, cause it's gonna get messed up by the weather?

Malcolm Harris (2:19)

Potentially, potentially. That's a little nugget for you guys.

Julie Van de Kamp (2:23)

All right.

Well, with that, let's get into the headlines. We kick things off in Southern California, where law enforcement just uncovered a massive cache of stolen rail freight hiding in plain sight. Los Angeles Police Department detectives searched a Whittier shoe retailer called Shoes and Shoes last week and found 59 pallets of branded merchandise connected to stolen BNSF and Union Pacific rail cargo. The recovered property was about $1 million in value and included Nike, New Balance, Brooks and Sanuk footwear, along with Yeti cups and jugs, Jansport backpacks and shark vacuums. Police arrested a 45-year-old man on site and booked him at Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of receiving stolen property. The man admitted to purchasing much of the inventory from brokers or middlemen that police characterized as illegitimate distributors. Meanwhile, a major expansion is reshaping the US-Mexico cross-border logistics landscape. TA Services announced Tuesday it has acquired two Texas trucking companies, Carmen Pacheco Transportation and Interload Forwarding. The deal adds 133 trucks, 123 drivers, and a massive 550,000 square feet of warehousing to TA Services' growing cross-border network. The transaction expands TA Services' footprint in El Paso and Laredo, Texas, two critical gateways for freight moving between the US and Mexico, and includes five warehouses plus a truckyard covering about 10 acres. The acquired carriers provide local and long-haul trucking, warehousing, cross-stocking, freight consolidation, brokerage, and customs-related services. TA Services' CEO Scott Shell emphasized that the acquisitions strengthen the company's ability to serve manufacturers moving freight through the U.S.-Mexico corridor as the industrial economy continues to expand in 2026 Finally, Uber is making a colossal bet on high-value business deliveries. Uber Technologies announced Tuesday it has agreed to acquire the catering platform EasyCater in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.3 billion.

The deal combines EasyCater's corporate catering business with Uber Eats and Uber for Business, giving Uber access to a large pool of higher-value, scheduled deliveries generated by corporate meetings, employee meal programs and events. EasyCater generated more than $2.5 billion in gross bookings during the trailing 12 months, growing in the high teens year over year, with an average order value exceeding $400.

The platform allows businesses to order for more than 140,000 restaurants nationwide and is already profitable on a non-GAAP operating income basis.

All right, so we started the week with like huge news, right? Talking about seeing Trump and then acquiring RxO. And the news has gotten a little quieter as the week has gone on.