The biggest trade association for freight brokers has responded to the national media firestorm over Super Ego operating and C.H. Robinson using a ring of "chameleon carriers" that led to several deadly crashes.
Chris Burroughs, president of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, recently wrote an op-ed for "Inbound Logistics" called "Improving Highway Safety: Beyond the Blame Game."
The editorial, much like Super Ego and C.H. Robinson's own responses to explosive reporting from CBS News that detailed concerted efforts to avoid safety enforcement, basically argues the media got the story wrong.
But Burroughs himself, reached by Overdrive for comment, backed down a bit from some of his bolder claims.
"A key flaw in the CBS segment was its misrepresentation of roles within the freight system -- particularly the role of freight brokers," Burroughs wrote. "Brokers are intermediaries who connect shippers with motor carriers, helping freight move efficiently by matching supply and demand."
What exactly did CBS misrepresent?
Here's how CBS described C.H. Robinson: "C.H. Robinson, the nation's largest freight broker, a Fortune 500 company." That's all true, right?
The broader point from CBS was that C.H. Robinson had loaded up carriers in Super Ego's network of "chameleon carriers," entities that intentionally evade enforcement -- neither Burroughs nor C.H. Robinson itself disputes that.
Burroughs' article goes on to say that "brokers do not own trucks, employ drivers, or control operational aspects such as training, maintenance, or compliance" and that those "responsibilities belong solely to motor carriers."
But doesn't C.H. Robinson vet those carriers? Don't they employ Highway to onboard and monitor carriers? C.H. Robinson refers to itself as an industry leader in using technology and even AI to move freight.
Why doesn't the mega broker avail itself of commercially available ways to spot chameleon carriers like Fusable's MC Advantage, with brokerage options?
Dale Prax, who runs FreightValidate, a broker and carrier vetting platform, offers a service that exposes chameleon carriers by linking fleets with common ownership, too.
"How can a company like C.H. Robinson throw up their hands saying it's all the government's fault, and at the same time saying they've been doing this for 120 years?" said Prax. "If you’re going to say it’s all the government's fault, why’d you subscribe to Highway?"
Carriers know brokers disqualify them from hauling if they can't link an ELD, or run on paper logs, or don't have an old enough authority, or if the carrier fails to meet any of about a hundred other arbitrary metrics. Yet chameleon carriers, rebooting with a different authority to outrun a bad safety record, just keep booking freight.
[Related: 'Fraud apocalypse': Brokers circling the wagons, shutting carriers out of freight]
Burroughs' article says the "notion that freight brokers should be responsible for evaluating carrier safety is not only unrealistic but counterproductive."
Ultimately, Burroughs calls on FMCSA to step up enforcement, issue safety ratings on the 90% of fleets unrated, and basically take carrier vetting out of their hands.
On the enforcement front, Prax and lots of others around trucking would agree. FMCSA itself has repeatedly vowed to overhaul enforcement and crack down on chameleons.
But CBS's reporting isn't about broad industry-wide topics, it's about a few specific deadly crashes that changed lives forever.
Specifically, CBS cited a videotaped deposition from a carrier who said a C.H. Robinson employee told him to open up a new carrier after safety scores got so bad that he was shut down. TIA didn't acknowledge this, until Overdrive asked Burroughs about it straight. Why misrepresent CBS reporting while dodging the point about intentional evasion of enforcement?
"While [the CBS report] acknowledges the role of brokers, it implies they have a level of control over safety outcomes that they simply do not have," Burroughs said. "Brokers are continually improving how they vet carriers, but they cannot replace federal oversight."
What about C.H. Robinson allegedly telling a carrier to open up a new MC?
"TIA isn’t in a position to comment on or defend the actions of any one company," said Burroughs, who recommended Overdrive reach out to C.H. Robinson directly. (We did, multiple times, with no response.)
To CBS, the broker didn't deny the allegations against its staff, but said the claim "comes from a carrier owner whose credibility is in question."
Burroughs said what TIA "can speak to is how the system is structured and where it is breaking down."
Even if C.H. Robinson did tell a chameleon carrier how to evade enforcement, it wouldn't matter to TIA's broader point, he continued.
"Isolated allegations or even bad decisions -- if proven -- don’t change the underlying framework: brokers do not control carrier operations or safety compliance, and they rely on federal systems to determine who is authorized to operate," said Burroughs.
Here's the rest of his response:
The broader concern we’re raising is that those systems are incomplete. When the vast majority of carriers operate without a full safety rating, it limits visibility for everyone in the market -- brokers, shippers, and insurers alike. That’s the gap that allows risk to persist longer than it should, and it’s where we’ve consistently pushed for reform, including a publicly available high-risk carrier list and modernized safety data.
Focusing solely on broker liability, rather than strengthening enforcement and transparency, risks missing the larger issue that impacts the entire industry, including the vast majority of brokers who are small businesses trying to operate responsibly within the system they’re given.
Much of the trucking safety advocacy world agrees that better enforcement and transparency, even broker transparency, would help.
But TIA isn't a safety advocacy group, it's a trade association of profit-seeking businesses. There are plenty of commercially available products that can help spot chameleon carriers, and even though brokers have an appetite and budget to vet carriers via Highway, they don't seem interested in other safety data.
Responding to the specific, tragic deaths from chameleon carriers hauling C.H. Robinson loads, Burroughs was mournful.
"The tragedies highlighted are real and devastating, and we share the goal of safer roads," he said. "The industry’s story is far bigger than what can be told in a brief television segment."
