🗞 News you need to know

Rise and grind, hustle fam. Happy Saturday! We are excited to brief you on the latest updates on the ever-evolving freight and logistic world, ensuring you stay informed even when you're on the move. So, kick back, relax, and keep scrolling to find out what developments are happening this weekend!

NEWS

UPS’ financial services arm, UPS Capital, is piloting a program to help merchants reduce the risk of shipping to destinations with histories of package theft, pilferage and damage.

Launched in July, DeliveryDefense is a program by InsureShield Shipping Insurance, a part of UPS Capital. This program helps merchants evaluate delivery risks and decide whether to redirect packages or buy shipping insurance to safeguard against possible losses.

Generating “delivery confidence” scores, DeliveryDefense is designed to relay a level of secure delivery for different addresses.

BUSINESS

It turns out Yellow Corp paid execs $4.6 million after its bankruptcy left 30k workers jobless. Of that amount, the Chief Restructuring Officer, Matthew Doheny received the largest retention bonus— $1 million.

On top of that, they received U.S. bankruptcy court approval on Friday to sell its vehicle fleet by October, which have already received a $1.525 billion bid.

The business owns approximately 12,000 trucks and 35,000 trailers, according to its bankruptcy court filings. Yellow has set an Oct. 13 bid deadline for those assets and intends to conduct an auction for the vehicles by Oct 18 and seek court approval for the vehicle sale on Oct 27.

LOGISTICS

Carriers are already announcing cost increases for 2024 by 5.9%, excluding surcharges. And, unlike FedEx and UPS, Amazon is bragging about how they won’t be adding peak season fees this year in hopes of keeping its competitive edge in pricing.

However, the service will eventually levy extra peak charges for larger shippers that may “go over capacity with certain criteria, but that’s not something that we’re doing this year,” said Michael Cox, director of Amazon Shipping.

SUPPLY CHAIN

Logistics companies are quickly buying other companies and releasing new products as they try to offer transportation and fulfillment services for shippers.

GXO Logistics Inc., the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider, announced they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which GXO will acquire PFSweb for $7.50 per share in cash, representing an equity value of approximately $181 million.

The enterprise value is $142 million and includes PFSweb’s cash balance of $39 million and the transaction is expected to complete by the end of 2023.

This purchase is expected to enhance GXO’s exposure to new high-growth verticals in North America and adds important capabilities to their offerings.

WEEKLY RECAP

Don't miss this exclusive interview with a true industry expert! This week we brought you one of the godfathers of the towing business, known to his peers as “The Professor”, Jan Qualkenbush! The founder and owner of Jan’s Towing breaks down EVERYTHING about the lucrative towing industry, from the secrets of successful operations to the challenges faced by tow truck operators on a daily basis.

“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction,”

— George Lorimer