Good morning,

Motive, which provides software to help businesses manage fleets, drivers, vehicles, and equipment, has raised more than $1.3 billion from General Catalyst and withdrawn its previously filed IPO registration.

The company serves nearly 100,000 customers across transportation, logistics, construction, manufacturing, retail, and other industries, and says its annual recurring revenue has surpassed $600 million.

Motive plans to use the new funding to expand its software and AI capabilities and invest in products designed to improve fleet maintenance and operational efficiency.

Let's dive into the top news.

The Port of Los Angeles handled a record 2.9 million TEUs from June through August, as retailers accelerated imports to get holiday merchandise into the U.S. ahead of new tariffs and higher fuel costs.

The three-month volume surpassed the previous record set during the pandemic-era shipping boom, with August alone reaching 955,907 TEUs.

Key Details: Retailers brought in Halloween costumes, Thanksgiving decorations, and Christmas and Hanukkah merchandise months earlier than usual as importers sought to avoid tariffs and higher fuel costs tied to the war with Iran.

Port officials said June was likely the peak, although a significant amount of holiday inventory is already in the country and will continue moving through the supply chain in the coming months.

Continued Imports: Some shipments were delayed by severe weather in China and rerouted away from the Panama Canal because of potential drought conditions. Despite tariffs, inflation, and elevated fuel prices, retailers continue to import goods to meet consumer demand, and the early rush could boost the holiday retail season.

U.S. lawmakers have introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at cracking down on “chameleon carriers” — trucking companies that shut down after safety or regulatory violations and resume operations under new names.

Key Details: The REVOKE Act, introduced by Reps. David Taylor and Shomari Figures, would require certain commercial carriers to maintain an active USDOT number.

The bill would give the transportation secretary authority to immediately deactivate a USDOT number if a carrier lacks valid registration or fails to submit required updates. It would also prevent carriers from receiving new USDOT numbers until they meet federal registration requirements.

Big Picture: The legislation comes amid a broader push to strengthen oversight of trucking operators. A separate bipartisan bill introduced in July would require the FMCSA to study chameleon carriers and develop a detection tool, while the Trump administration has also proposed modernizing carrier-identity verification and launched a multi-agency initiative targeting fraud in the trucking industry.

President Donald Trump has ordered new restrictions that would ban imports of many Canadian dairy products, alcoholic beverages and motorcycles, escalating the trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada. The prohibitions take effect Sept. 29, while changes to existing tariffs begin Sept. 15.

Key Details: Trump also modified existing 50% tariffs on Canadian goods, removing levies on products including cement, road salt and some hospital supplies while applying the 50% rate to other goods such as certain all-terrain vehicles, boats and cheeses.

The new import bans would initially affect only a “single-digit billions” of dollars in trade, according to a senior administration official.

Tit-for-Tat: The measures are retaliation for Canada’s new tariffs of 15% to 50% on about $20 billion of U.S. goods, which took effect Tuesday. The latest escalation follows failed negotiations in late August and could trigger further retaliation, particularly affecting industries in U.S. border states.

Trump has also threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian metals and vehicles to 50% beginning Jan. 1, 2027.

U.S. trucking conditions remained historically strong in July, although the market began to cool after May and June delivered the two strongest months for carriers ever, according to Freight Transportation Research.

Key Numbers: The company’s Trucking Conditions Index fell to 12.4 in July, with weaker upward pressure on freight rates driving the slowdown, partly offset by tighter capacity and lower financing costs.

Challenges Ahead: FTR says carrier conditions are still favorable over the next two years, but the period of extraordinary improvement may be ending. Two major variables could determine whether the market stays strong: tighter enforcement against foreign truck drivers and other capacity restrictions, and continued data-center construction, which is supporting freight demand.

Other Risks: Fuel costs remain another risk. Diesel prices are near record levels, and if spot freight rates weaken while fuel stays expensive, trucking companies could face margin pressure and a potential influx of drivers from failed small carriers.

U.S. rail freight had a strong start to September, with total traffic reaching 533,545 carloads and intermodal units for the week ended Sept. 5, up 13.8% from a year earlier, according to the Association of American Railroads.

What’s Happening: Intermodal led the gain, climbing 18% year over year to 299,148 containers and trailers.

Carload freight increased 8.9% to 234,397, with nine of 10 commodity groups posting year-over-year gains. Metallic ores and metals led growth at 26.6%, followed by grain at 24.1% and farm products excluding grain and food at 15.3%. Coal was the only major category to decline, falling 5.8%.

Big Picture: The strength extends beyond the latest week. Through the first 35 weeks of 2026, U.S. railroads have moved 17.89 million combined carloads and intermodal units, up 3.6% year over year. Across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, weekly rail traffic rose 12.4%, while year-to-date North American volume increased 3.3%.

U.S. manufacturers are increasingly bringing production closer to home, with 36% of OEMs saying they have reshored or are actively reshoring, up from 29% last year, according to the 2026 Reshoring Survey Report from the Reshoring Initiative and Regions Recruiting.

Key Details: Tariffs were the biggest driver, cited by 65% of OEMs, followed by geopolitical risk at 60% and the need to be closer to customers and shorten delivery times. Manufacturers are increasingly looking at total cost of ownership: 40% now assess TCO, up from 30% last year, as tariffs make domestic production more competitive with imported goods.

The shift is happening despite significant uncertainty. Fifty-seven percent of OEMs identified policy uncertainty as their biggest challenge, while 31% said they have no plans to reshore.

Reshoring Results: Companies that have reshored reported faster speed to market, better on-time delivery and freight savings, but also higher labor and overhead costs, shortages of domestic components and difficulty finding workers.

China’s exports jumped 25% year over year in August, beating economists’ expectations and pushing the country’s monthly trade surplus to $119.1 billion, as strong global demand—particularly from the artificial-intelligence buildout—continued to drive shipments overseas. Imports also grew strongly, rising 28.2% from a year earlier.

Key Numbers: China’s trade surplus reached $805.5 billion in the first eight months of 2026, putting it on track to approach last year’s record $1.2 trillion surplus. Exports to the U.S. rose 34.3% in August, accelerating from July, while growth to the European Union slowed to 6.6%.

Tech Boom: The global AI boom is helping power China’s export machine. Semiconductor exports by value surged 130% in August, while exports of data-processing equipment and related parts rose 76.5%.

But the strength was partly price-driven: chip export volumes actually fell 7.9%. The export surge is also cushioning China’s economy as domestic consumption, investment and the property sector remain weak.

Eighteen major shipping nations warn that armed conflicts, trade wars, and extreme weather are creating a structural shift in global trade, not temporary disruptions.

Geopolitical Leverage: The Consultative Shipping Group said shipping routes are increasingly becoming instruments of geopolitical leverage and risk, raising the threat of prolonged disruptions at key maritime chokepoints.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has become a stark example of how regional conflicts can disrupt global supply chains, while the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine have exposed the system’s vulnerability to shocks.

The group warned that growing fragmentation is already increasing costs and commercial and environmental risks for businesses and consumers, while hundreds of vessels operate outside standard insurance, safety, and transparency frameworks.

Big Picture: The disruption is also changing how major carriers approach the market. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc said the company is moving away from its strategy of using land-side logistics to contain shipping volatility and instead plans to add vessel capacity to capitalize on higher freight rates.

Samsung Electronics has filed a $186 million claim against CMA CGM over allegedly excessive charges and failures to complete inland deliveries during the pandemic.

Key Details: Samsung alleges CMA CGM repeatedly failed to meet its inland transportation obligations and charged it roughly 120,000 detention and demurrage fees on inland shipments.

Samsung also claims CMA CGM placed holds on cargoes when it disputed the charges and, in some cases, converted prepaid store-door bills of lading into standard “CY” bills, shifting inland transportation costs back to Samsung. One container cited in the complaint accumulated $160,000 in rail storage fees.

Largest Demand: Samsung says it ultimately paid $148 million to CMA CGM or third parties over the disputed charges and spent another $8 million completing inland deliveries itself. It is also seeking about $30 million in prejudgment interest and attorney fees, making the claim at least $186 million and potentially the largest monetary demand ever filed with the Federal Maritime Commission.