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Walmart Inc.’s initiatives to strengthen its in-house trucking operations have elevated it to No. 1 on this year’s updated Transport Topics Top 100 Private Carriers list.

Even at a time when for-hire truck capacity is readily available at com­petitive rates, many shippers have continued to invest in their own private fleets.

Profits and revenues at Ryder System Inc. increased in the second quarter of 2024 on the back of higher returns from its leasing and maintenance program, the integration of the Cardinal Logistics acquisition and the absence of an accounting charge taken in the year-ago period.

Atlas Energy plans to deploy self-driving trucks developed by Kodiak Robotics for delivery of fracking sand to Permian Basin oil and natural gas wells in Texas beginning in early 2025.

Across the major logistics market segments, 2023 brought a spate of challenges including compressed margins, rising labor costs and inflationary pressures, ensuring a down year for many.

2023 was a generally downtrodden year for 3PLs, with plummeting transportation rates and shippers focused on right-sizing inventories and reducing logistics costs.

A freight market recession, compressed broker margins and major acquisitions in 2023 have markedly altered the landscape of North America’s largest third-party logistics providers.

Stubbornly weak freight market conditions have placed financial strain on 3PLs in recent years with an oversupply of truck capacity driving down rates and squeezing brokers’ margins.

Eaton is to start selling, distributing, servicing and providing installation support for Michigan-based technology developer Traxen’s iQ-Cruise system.