Road Scholar | Transport Blog's

For shippers, transportation capacity can sometimes feel like a light switch: trucks are available when freight volumes are soft, rates are competitive, and carriers are actively looking for business.   Then, seemingly overnight, capacity tightens, pickup options disappear, transit times stretch, and transportation costs begin climbing. The important question is: Where did the trucks go? The answer is more complicated than simply saying there are fewer loads—or more loads.   Trucking capacity can shrink for a variety of reasons, including driver availability, rising insurance costs, equipment expenses, regulatory requirements, and carriers exiting lanes or entire segments of the market. For manufacturers and distributors that depend on reliable truckload and LTL transportation, understanding these pressures is critical.   Capacity can disappear much faster than it can be rebuilt. The Trucking Market Is More Than Supply and Demand The traditional explanation for ...

The trucking industry is facing another potential shift in federal safety and compliance requirements following the introduction of H.R. 10620, the Trucking Safety and Accountability Act of 2026, also known as “Barron’s Law.” Introduced in the U.S. House on September 28, 2026, the legislation would make significant changes to commercial motor vehicle safety requirements, including stronger penalties for carriers that knowingly use ineligible drivers, standardized English-language testing for CDL applicants, additional requirements for non-citizen commercial drivers, tougher penalties for cabotage violations, and measures intended to prevent so-called “chameleon carriers” from avoiding federal safety sanctions.   The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. For trucking companies, the proposal is about more than immigration or licensing.   It could substantially increase the importance of driver qualification, employment verificati...

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month—a time to increase understanding, challenge misconceptions, celebrate people with Down syndrome, and recognize the families, advocates, educators, healthcare professionals and organizations working to create more inclusive communities. At Road Scholar Transport, awareness is something we believe should travel far beyond a single month.   Through our fleet of awareness tractor-trailers, we use the open road to bring important causes directly into the communities we serve.   Our awareness trailers turn miles of highway into opportunities to educate, encourage conversation and remind people that every individual has a story worth knowing. This October, we are proud to highlight Down syndrome awareness and the importance of inclusion. The Numbers Behind Down Syndrome Down syndrome is a genetic condition caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21.   It is the most common chromosomal condition diagnosed in the Unite...

Cargo theft has long been a concern for trucking companies, manufacturers, distributors and retailers.   But the threat is changing.   Criminals are increasingly using technology, deception and stolen transportation data to identify valuable shipments and manipulate the logistics process itself. A new 2026 Cargo Theft Report from SmartSense by Digi, based on a survey of 150 U.S. loss-prevention and organized-retail-crime professionals, highlights just how quickly the threat is evolving.   The findings suggest that cargo theft is no longer simply a matter of someone breaking into a parked trailer.   Instead, sophisticated criminal networks are targeting the entire supply chain—from shipment information and carrier identities to pickup appointments, routing and tracking systems.   For shippers, that means cargo security needs to begin before a truck ever arrives at the loading dock. Cargo Theft Is Becoming More Organized The SmartSense survey found that 81% ...