Trucking News Roundup: Uber Freight Q4 Capacity Warning, FMCSA CDL School Crackdown, California Non-Domiciled Fight, Record Diesel (Sept 14, 2026)

Uber Freight: tight capacity could fuel another Q4 rate surge

FreightWaves (Sept 11): Uber Freight’s Q3 Market Update says truckload is entering Q4 with capacity still struggling to rebuild and shippers exposed if peak demand accelerates. National average dry van contract linehaul hit $2.39 per mile in July — up 18% from July 2025 — and the 13-cent June-to-July jump was the largest on record. Dry van spot linehaul averaged $2.21 per mile the week of Aug. 26, still about 35.6% above the same week last year.

Primary tender acceptance improved only to 78% in August (from 76% in July) — well below the 90%–94% range of the prior three years. As of Sept. 10, the SONAR Outbound Tender Rejection Index (STRI.USA) sat at 13.45%, still much higher than the same period in the prior three years. Uber Freight estimates more than 48,000 noncompliant drivers exited over the past year; Class 8 truck backlogs represent roughly nine months of production.

On the border: about 20,000 Mexican truck drivers lost U.S. visas between April 2025 and April 2026; Laredo dry van load-to-truck in mid-August was still about 61.9% tighter year over year. The report recommends using the relatively stable September–October window to repair routing guides and lock backup carriers before the late-October peak.

What it means: Capacity — not booming demand — is still writing the rate sheet. Shippers out of DFW/Melissa: get asset trucks on the books now — quote page. Drivers/OOs with clean CDL-A and reefer paper: fleets are still picky on who they hire when tender rejections stay elevated.

• Source: FreightWaves — Uber Freight warns tight capacity could fuel Q4 freight rate surge

FMCSA: 110+ CDL training schools emergency-removed; 160+ more proposed

Heavy Duty Trucking / TruckingInfo (Sept 1): FMCSA emergency-removed more than 110 entry-level driver training providers from the Training Provider Registry after matching English-language proficiency roadside citations to registry records. Those providers must immediately stop operating as registered ELDT providers.

Separately, July investigations (about 400 probes across 40 states) produced more than 160 notices of proposed removal. FMCSA also launched a nationwide audit of third-party CDL skills testers and state oversight. DHS Homeland Security Investigations ran a coordinated Aug. 31 operation covering more than 200 driving schools across 23 states. DOJ stood up Joint Task Force Crossroads of America (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio) with DOT/FMCSA and other federal partners. ATA and OOIDA both publicly backed the crackdown. Agency figures cited: more than 28,000 commercial drivers placed out of service for English proficiency since stepped-up enforcement in June 2025.

What it means: CDL mills getting yanked from the registry raises the bar on who you hire and which school paper you trust. Prefer fleets that hire on clean, documented CDL-A — apply company drivers / owner-operators.

• Source: TruckingInfo / HDT — FMCSA removes 110 truck driver training schools from certified ELDT list

Texas and Pennsylvania lead CDL school shutdowns

FreightWaves (Sept 1): DOT’s state breakdown of the emergency CDL-school crackdown shows Texas and Pennsylvania with 13 physical-location schools each, followed by California (11), Florida (10), and Utah (9). Those five states account for about two-thirds of the 84 brick-and-mortar schools identified; 23 more providers were online-only.

FMCSA said every school targeted for emergency removal had trained at least 10 drivers later cited for English-language proficiency violations, and collectively those schools certified more than 5,000 such drivers. Agency remarks named ASC Technical Institute in Texas and Platinum Plus Truck Driving School in California among examples. No full public name list of all 110 was released with the state table.

What it means: Texas is top of the list — relevant for Melissa/DFW hiring lanes. Drivers: stick with legitimate ELDT providers. Carriers: verify training paperwork before you put someone in a seat. Hiring pages for CDL-A company drivers and owner-operators.

• Source: FreightWaves — Texas, Pennsylvania lead states in CDL school shutdowns

California vs FMCSA: non-domiciled CDL pause argued in D.C. appeals court

FreightWaves (Sept 11): California DMV and FMCSA argued before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit over FMCSA’s pause on new and renewal non-domiciled CDLs in California and related highway-funding freezes after an audit dispute. The federal brief: nearly one-third of California non-domiciled CDLs — roughly 20,000 out of 65,000 — were improperly issued because the license expiration exceeded the applicant’s period of lawful presence.

California argues no federal rule requires CDL expiry to match lawful-presence documents and that FMCSA lacks authority for an open-ended pre-enforcement pause that also blocks renewals of unexpired licenses. Related Lujan v. FMCSA arguments were set for the following week in the same court. Separately, North Carolina was reported cleared by DOT to resume non-domiciled CDL issuance after corrective changes — under the tighter federal rules now in force.

What it means: Non-domiciled CDL enforcement is still in flux state-by-state. Fleets that hire documented, roadside-ready CDL-A stay safer when rules tighten. Apply company drivers / owner-operators.

• Source: FreightWaves — California, FMCSA argue non-domiciled CDL halt in court

EIA: national diesel hits record $5.967/gal (week of Sept 7)

Logistics Management citing EIA (Sept 9): the national average on-highway diesel price for the week of Sept. 7 rose 36.8 cents to $5.967 per gallon — the highest on record. That is the eighth consecutive week above $5; up 83.3 cents since the week of July 20 ($5.134); and up $2.201 year over year.

U.S. diesel and heating oil stockpiles were at their lowest August level since 1982; East Coast inventories fell to 19.3 million barrels the week ending Aug. 28 — the lowest since 1990. Record fuel costs feed surcharges and all-in lane math heading into fall harvest and bid season.

What it means: Price the whole lane, not just linehaul. Maas dry van + reefer FTL from Melissa/DFW — asset-based, never re-brokered — quote page.

• Source: Logistics Management / EIA — National diesel average hits an all-time high for the week of September 7

More news

• Trucking News Roundup: Texas I-30 Truck Parking Near DFW, J.B. Hunt $25M Driver Spend, Link Logistics DFW Warehouses, FleetCor $100M Fees, Intermodal Shift (Sept 19, 2026)
• Trucking News Roundup: Tender Rejections 14.32%, Capacity Exodus Early Innings, Diesel $6.29, Uber Freight Q4 Rate Warning (Sept 18, 2026)
• Trucking News Roundup: FMCSA Fuel HOS Waiver, Diesel ~$6.31, J.B. Hunt Q3 Warning, DAT Weekly Van $2.20, ICE CDL Fraud Tipline (Sept 17, 2026)