Trucking news and briefs for Monday, Aug. 11, 2025:
- Freight volumes and spending increased in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of the year, according to U.S. Bank, yet volumes remained nearly 10% below Q2 2024 levels.
- A month in prison for former state trooper, and a year of supervised release, for his role in a CDL testing scheme.
- Trucker Flavio Ortega De Cespedes of Cutler Bay, Florida, helped extinguish a vehicle fire, earning Highway Angel designation.
Freight volumes show signs of recovery, but uncertainty remains
The U.S. truck freight market showed signs of recovery in the second quarter of 2025, with national shipment volumes rising 2.4% and spending increasing 1.2% from the previous quarter, according to the latest U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index.
The improvement in Q2 over the first quarter marks the first quarter-to-quarter gain in both metrics in three years. All five U.S. regions posted sequential volume gains, led by a 6.7% increase in the Southwest.U.S. Bank
“While the national year-over-year metrics remain down, the second quarter’s sequential growth in both shipments and spending are a welcome shift after years of contraction,” said Bobby Holland, U.S. Bank director of freight business analytics. “However, with all of the tariff-related volatility potentially impacting trucking activity, it is too soon to say if the market has turned the corner.”
Compared with the second quarter of 2024, national shipments were down 9.8% and spending declined 4.9%. However, the year-over-year decrease in shipments was the smallest since Q3 2023.
Spot rates, contract pricing, and fuel costs all declined modestly from Q1 levels, reversing the price increases seen earlier in the year. According to U.S. Bank, spending was likely softer than shipments on a sequential basis because of lower fuel surcharges. DAT’s data showed that fuel spend was down 2 cents per mile, or 4.5% from the first quarter of the year. In addition, DAT’s contract freight rate data showed it was flat from the first quarter. While contract rates were unchanged from the previous quarter, DAT data revealed that spot market rates were down 1.4%, or 3 cents per mile. Compared with a year earlier, all three metrics were down. Spot rates fell the least, contracting 0.5%. Contract rates were down 1.6% largely due to declines in the third and fourth quarters of last year. Finally, fuel outlays were off 10.6% as the price of diesel was down from a year ago.
“With unevenness in key freight drivers like manufacturing, housing, and port activity, the quarter-over-quarter gains are encouraging,” said Bob Costello, senior vice president and chief economist at the American Trucking Associations. “There are signs the industry is beginning to rebalance, even if the road ahead remains bumpy.”
U.S Bank noted that economic activity in Q2 was generally “very mixed in the second quarter, especially for" sectors related to truck freight. Manufacturing activity in the five U.S. regions of the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and West was mixed but was up slightly nationally. Consumer spending rose, but only slightly, from the first quarter of the year. Housing activity was up and down, with overall activity down slightly nationally. Finally, port volumes for both U.S. land ports of entry and seaports were mixed in Q2.
A tightening of capacity likely led to the increase in shipments and spend, as some fleets exited the industry and existing carriers worked to right-size their fleets to bring capacity in line with demand.
“As shippers deal with carrier failures and exits, they move their freight to other fleets,” U.S. Bank noted. “As a result, carriers that remained in the market likely saw some improvement in freight levels. This was less because freight surged, but more because there was less capacity to meet that demand. While it is too early to say the freight market has definitively turned the corner, the second quarter of 2025 was a very good step in the right direction.”
[Related: Freight recession? Trucker of the Month insulates biz with direct customers]
Former Mass. trooper sentenced in CDL testing fraud scheme
A former Massachusetts State Police (MSP) trooper was sentenced last week in federal court in Boston for his role in a conspiracy to falsify records by giving passing scores to certain commercial driver’s license applicants, including individuals who had failed or did not even take the CDL skills test.
Perry Mendes, 64, of Wareham, Massachusetts, was sentenced to one month in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release with the first two months on home confinement. The government recommended a sentence of one year in prison and a fine of $5,500.
Mendes pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to falsify records, three counts of falsifying records and two counts of making false statements. In January 2024, Mendes was charged in a 74-count indictment along with five others in the alleged conspiracy and related schemes.
Members of MSP’s CDL Unit were responsible for administering CDL skills tests. Only drivers who have passed the test and thereby proved they are capable and qualified to drive a commercial vehicle may be issued a CDL, with the primary goal of public safety.
Between January 2019 and April 2022, Mendes conspired with others to give automatic passing scores to at least 17 CDL applicants on their skills tests regardless of whether they actually passed, using the code word “golden handshake” or “golden,” for short, to identify applicants who would receive special treatment.
Mendes admitted to his role in the alleged conspiracy, including that he cut skills tests short for “golden” applicants; that he entered false information on CDL score sheets indicating that certain applicants had passed the skills test when they had not; and that he reported passing scores for one applicant he knew had never taken the skills test.
Mendes is the first of the six defendants to be sentenced in the scheme.
[Related: Police officer convicted of extortion over fake CDL testing]
Driver earns recognition for stopping to extinguish vehicle fire
The Truckload Carriers Association has named truck driver Flavio Ortega De Cespedes of Cutler Bay, Florida, a Highway Angel for stopping to help extinguish a vehicle fire.
Flavio Ortega De Cespedes
“I used my fire extinguisher to help kill the fire,” he said. “Then I helped control the traffic.”
De Cespedes and another driver who stopped and had an additional fire extinguisher were able to keep the flames under control until emergency personnel arrived and took over.
“I had to do something,” he said. “If there’s something I can do to help people, I do it.”
[Related: Thank a trucker today. I know I will]
