STG Logistics Names New CEO, FMCSA Doubles HOS Emergency Relief, & Class 8 Orders Jump 18% | The Morning Minute

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We kick things off with a major leadership overhaul at STG Logistics where the asset-based Intermodal Marketing Company has installed a new CEO fresh off its massive financial restructuring. Jack Holmes, who spent 37 years with UPS, including serving as president and CEO of UPS Freight before retiring in 2016, took over as CEO effective immediately. He succeeds Jeff Anderman, who successfully navigated the company through a Chapter 11 restructuring that slashed STG's funded debt by a staggering 90 percent. The company entered a prepackaged Chapter 11 agreement back in January, and under the recapitalization plan, reduced funded debt by nearly $1 billion while securing $150 million in new capital from a group of investors including Fortress, Fidelity, and Invesco. STG also appointed Gary Enzor as chairman, who previously led Quality Distribution, North America's largest liquid bulk chemical trucking network, from 2004 up to the 2021 sale of the business to CSX.

Over in Washington, truckers responding to regional emergencies just got some major regulatory relief. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published a final rule Monday that doubles the length of automatic hours of service exemptions available to drivers providing direct assistance during certain declared emergencies. The rule, which took effect immediately, restores the automatic exemption period from 14 days back to 30 days, following a regional emergency declaration by a state governor, a governor's authorized representative, or Fmcsa itself. This reverses a 2023 change that had shortened the window to just two weeks. Fmcsa said returning to the longer period should drastically reduce administrative burdens associated with seeking extensions when disaster recovery operations stretch beyond two weeks, and the agency estimates the change will cut annual extension requests from about 50 down to 25

Finally, Class 8 truck orders are climbing as fleets navigate a murky regulatory landscape heading into the 2027 model year. Preliminary net orders totaled 21,300 units in September, marking an 18% increase from August and 3% higher than the same month last year, according to FTR Transportation Intelligence. Year-to-date orders have surged to 263,499 units through September, up a massive 95% compared with the same period in 2025

However, the market is facing significant uncertainty as truck and engine manufacturers take different approaches to complying with upcoming EPA nitrogen oxide emissions requirements, including whether to use non-conformance penalties. FTR estimates NCPs could result in a $6,000 to $7,000 pass-through cost to fleets for a Class 8 truck, compared with an estimated $8,000 to $12,000 upcharge for an engine that fully complies with the new emissions requirements.