American Trucking Associations (ATA) provided its advanced and seasonally adjusted truck Tonnage Index showing a 6.3% decrease in October following a smaller level increase in September. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello explained that even though it is possible that the economy may be “losing momentum” - he attributes this decrease more to seasonal and pandemic factors. See more data available at ATA.

Britain left the European Union this past January and now the UK and EU are attempting a “thin” trade deal as Britain’s informal membership (transition period) ends in about nine weeks on December 31. Points of contention revolve around issues of economic fair play, fisheries and resolution of disputes, while three main scenarios are being suggested ranging from a narrow deal to no deal at all, or a partial compromise in between.

The US Government Accountability Office, after a continued review of protests submitted by competing companies, issued a decision on Wednesday to cancel the award of the Defense Department's global household goods contract to American Roll On Roll Off Carrier Group (ARC), of Parsippany, New Jersey.  The process will now require US TRANSCOM to review its procedures and to reissue a new RFP on the estimated $19.9 billion contract.

Elaine Chao, U.S. Transportation Secretary explained yesterday, the critical need to focus long-term on the country’s infrastructure needs well beyond the recent one-year extension of the FAST Act(national highway bill). Chao discussed this strategy at the October 8thvirtual event, “The Future of Freight and Supply Chain Management” that was co-hosted by Transport Topics and CQ Roll Call...

According to Michael Roeth of FleetOwner, Bill Gates and Elon Musk have a substantially different outlook about the future of electric trucks. Their opinions appear to particularly diverge in relation to the area of heavy long-haul vehicles, even as Tesla now has an order this week for 130 electric semi trucks from Walmart Canada.

Long queues were much more than just likely this week when there were reports of queues ranging from six to ten hours due to a huge police action on Wednesday. The Mirror reported that extensive delays at the Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel developed as a result of a nationwide counter-terrorism operation by Britain’s police force. The action involved checking all vehicles causing as much as nine mile queues approaching the port.