CFI

There is a sharp, telling contrast among yields of trucking companies, depending on which niche they are operating. An expected slow first half for freight demand has morphed into uncertain expectations for the rest of the year. Most truckload (TL) executives are hoping for a second-half rebound to make up for a below-par first half.

What has been called “phenomenal” growth in near-shoring will only increase cross-border trade as manufacturers seek sites closer to their markets. While freight transportation providers are streamlining cross-border moves with strong data, partnerships, and expertise, there’s still a lot shippers need to understand before setting up a long-term strategy.

Shippers hoping to capitalize on excess capacity in the trucking industry are advised to act fast as top trucking executives say they expect boom times in the second half of this year. Meantime, those executives are bracing for a so-so first half followed by what they hope will be a solid second half of 2023.

Inflationary pressures are increasing chances of another large bankruptcy—or perhaps more—in trucking this year, a top industry executive tells LM. Greg Orr, executive vice president of U.S. Truckload of Montreal-based TFI and president of CFI, a major truckload carrier, says he’s beginning to see effects of higher prices on everything from heavy trucks to fuel.

TFI International Inc., a Canadian holding company that is parent to truckload giant CFI and other transport entities, said it has acquired Carthage, Missouri-based D&D Sexton, a provider of refrigerated transportation services.

CFI, a truckload unit of Montreal-based freight transportation and logistics services provider TFI International, said earlier this week that it has reorganized and expanded its operating groups into what it described as a portfolio of five separate service categories. The service categories, noted CFI, include: three asset-based services, Truckload, Dedicated and Temp-Control; as well as two non-asset services, Mexico and Logistics.

CFI, a truckload unit of Montreal-based TFI International, is expanding its capabilities and resources supporting shipments between the United States and Mexico into a single entity called CFI Mexico. The announcement accompanies CFI’s 35th anniversary of intra-Mexico and cross-border truckload freight services.