Heading into the second quarter earning season there was some sentiment that the results posted by publicly traded freight transportation and logistics services providers would be one of a kind, or unique, in that they represented a quarter unlike any other, due, of course, to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. jberman@peerlessmedia.com

The report’s key indicator—the Services PMI (formerly the Non-Manufacturing PMI)—rose 1 percent, to 58.1 in July (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth is occurring). This followed an 11.1% increase, to 57.1, in June, which halted a two-month stretch of declines, which was preceded by 122 consecutive months of expansion. ISM noted that June marked the largest single-month percentage increase, for the NMI, going back to its inception in 1997. jberman@peerlessmedia.com

YRC Worldwide (YRCW) said that its subsidiary, YRC Freight, the fourth largest less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier, has expanded its Regional Next-Day Service to the mid-South region and also into Waco, Texas. The company said that offering up more two-day lanes between the mid-South and Texas serves as the most recent example of YRC’s enterprise network optimization strategy. jberman@peerlessmedia.com

With an eye on helping shipper customers work through the myriad challenges presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, DHL Global Forwarding, an air and ocean subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group, said this week it is taking steps to support more than 200 customers via its exclusive Multi-Modal Express (MMEX) service. jberman@peerlessmedia.com

Roughly four months after acquiring the yard management service offerings from Denver-based TrackX Holdings Inc., an enterprise asset management company deploying SaaS-based solutions geared towards the tracking and managing of physical assets, Chicago-based FourKites, a provider of real-time tracking and visibility solutions across transportation modes and digital platforms, has rolled out a new offering, entitled Dynamic Yard. jberman@peerlessmedia.com

STB officials said that the objective of this rule is to “establish a streamlined approach for pleading market dominance in rate reasonableness proceedings,” adding that “The final rule provides an option for simplifying the market dominance inquiry, which otherwise can be costly and time-consuming, especially in smaller cases. jberman@peerlessmedia.com

YRC lost $37.1 million in the second quarter on revenue of $1.015 billion, compared with a $23.6 million loss on $1.273 billion in the year-ago second quarter. Operating loss was $4.6 million, which included a $6 million net gain on property disposals. By comparison, operating revenue in the second quarter of 2019 was $1.273 billion and operating income was $14.3 million, which included a $6.2 million net gain on property disposals. jberman@peerlessmedia.com

jberman@peerlessmedia.com