Guide to Inland Distribution & Warehousing

Special Report

“ We’ ve had a very aggressive past five years,” Charlie Prickett, CEO of AAA Cooper, said during a webinar sponsored by TranzAct Technologies in mid-July. The carrier is taking a more“ measured” approach this year,“ because we want to get the right balance.”

“ We’ ve had a very aggressive past five years.”

Knight-Swift was the fastest-growing LTL provider last year in terms of volume and revenue, growing 15.3 % and 19.7 % in those metrics, respectively, according to SJ Consulting Group. That growth came through acquisition and the purchase of dozens of terminals.

The list of LTL terminal additions and expansions goes on and on, often closely matching changing customer distribution needs. And that’ s not a trend limited to LTL providers.

Ocean shipping and global logistics provider A. P. Moller-Maersk said it would open a 617,000-square-foot fulfillment hub in Hopedale, Mass., to support a major e-commerce shipper and expand its presence in the northeastern US.

“( Shippers) are increasingly looking for logistics partners that can help them position inventory closer to customers and respond to demand with greater speed and flexibility,” Dave Hune, head of Maersk Contract Logistics / North America, said in a statement.

That, in a nutshell, is why LTL carriers are expanding their networks.

Still recovering

And those networks are growing. SJ Consulting Group research shows that the overall number of LTL terminals in the US increased 5 % in 2025 following a 13.3 % gain in 2024. From 2023 to 2025, the LTL terminal count jumped 19 %, an increase of 536 terminals.

That’ s far more terminals than can be accounted for by the reactivation of Yellow facilities. The total number of US LTL terminals climbed to 3,353 facilities last year, up from 3,191 in December 2024 and 2,817 at the end of 2023, according to SJ Consulting Group.

But the top 25 LTL companies added a net of just 28 terminals last year, bringing their total to 2,901 facilities, data from SJ Consulting shows. The 10 largest LTL carriers collectively lost four terminals, with their total dropping to 2,159 locations.

That suggests much of last year’ s land grabs took place among smaller carriers not in the Top 25 carrier rankings

FMCSA’ s‘ Motus’ rollout creates headaches for US motor carriers

By Dan Ronan

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’ s( FMCSA) new“ Motus” registration system is creating problems for some US motor carriers, including unexpected deactivation of Department of Transportation( DOT) registration numbers that, in some cases, have temporarily prevented otherwise legitimate carriers from operating.

Motus, a registration system requiring identity verification, is a key plank in the FMCSA’ s campaign to root out“ chameleon carriers” that continue to operate after being shut down for safety violations. FMCSA began implementing Motus in December and entered“ phase II” of its rollout in May, asking carriers to register through the system.

“ Their rollout hasn’ t been great; it’ s been a challenge,” P. Sean Garney, co-director of Scopelitis Transportation

Consulting, told the Journal of Commerce.“ As they continue to sort of fix things, we’ re seeing ongoing bugs.”

Garney said his firm has worked with several trucking companies experiencing Motus-related problems, including companies that have found incorrect or outdated licensing and insurance information associated with their records.

“ We are undoubtedly hearing instances where carriers have had their DOT numbers unexpectedly inactivated because of erroneous or outdated licensing and insurance information,” he said.

For shippers and brokers, the“ bugs” in the system tighten capacity and make it harder to vet carriers before tendering freight. That’ s an issue gaining traction following the US Supreme Court’ s May decision in Montgomery vs. Caribe Transports LLC, which is seen as increasing broker and shipper liability risk.

For carriers, incorrect information in Motus can mean an out-of-service order. Garney said his firm also has heard of conflicts between state and federal enforcement systems that have resulted in trucks being placed out of service, with material impacts happening to carriers because of the erroneous information.

FMCSA has publicly acknowledged problems with the transition. On June 22, the agency temporarily suspended the deactivation of USDOT numbers for entities that had not completed required biennial updates since June 1, saying the step was intended to reduce disruption. FMCSA said registrants should not worry about inactivation resulting from Motus-related access or system issues.

16 Journal of Commerce | September 7, 2026 www. joc. com