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Equipment

Class 8 truck orders plunge in October — FTR counts 15,600, down 36%, and ACT counts 13,500, down 45%, as EPA 2027 uncertainty freezes fleet buying

Both preliminary trackers agree on the direction if not the level: the 2027 order season opened with a drop to roughly half the 10-year October average. FTR says the EPA pre-buy is complete and orders now hinge on profitability and regulatory certainty; ACT says fleets cannot plan until they know what a 2027 truck will cost.

EquipmentUpdated Wednesday, November 4, 2026
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Regulations

Democrats win both chambers of Congress — and trucking's highway bill, lawsuit fights and CDL oversight now run through new committee chairs

Democrats flipped Senate seats in six Republican states and took the House on Tuesday. Transport Topics' trucking analysis says the lame-duck session is now the last window for infrastructure, chameleon-carrier and lawsuit-abuse bills under the old leadership — and that Rick Larsen, a backer of the BUILD America 250 Act, is in line to chair House Transportation and Infrastructure.

Regulations

A $23, two-hour online CDL theory course grew fat on FMCSA's school shutdowns — now ELDT Nation faces a proposed removal of its own

Overdrive reports the provider has educated nearly 30,000 students in the last year and saw sales rise directly from the shutdown of 110 rival schools. Its representative conceded translator-app exploits are 'probably something we need to tighten up more' — and neither representative mentioned the pending removal notice FMCSA requires providers to disclose to trainees.

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The Morning Mile — Wednesday, Nov. 4

Democrats win both chambers and trucking's bills change hands, a $23 two-hour CDL theory course faces removal, CVSA squeezes its 2027 brake week and Roadcheck into one spring, and Pagosa Springs reopens its streets while its highway stays closed.

Carrier watch

Pamt posts its truckload unit's 12th straight operating loss — a 109.1% operating ratio — as diesel timing and driver costs outrun an 11% sequential rate gain

Consolidated revenue rose 8.2% to $162.5 million and rate per mile improved 11% from the second quarter, but the net loss widened to $8.1 million. President Lance Stewart blames higher net fuel costs — surcharges lag weekly diesel moves by a week or more — and the rising cost of attracting and retaining qualified drivers.

Regulations

Oral-fluid drug testing is still not an option for DOT tests — HHS says no laboratory is certified yet, and marijuana rescheduling is down to written arguments due Nov. 5

The FDA eased a premarket-review requirement for testing systems on Oct. 6, but that change covers equipment, not laboratories — and HHS confirmed on Oct. 29 that none has been certified, three years after DOT authorized the method. DOT has also clarified that a state medical-marijuana card still cannot excuse a positive federal test.

Fuel & rates

Oil fell more than 6% Monday on U.S.–Iran diplomacy hopes and pump diesel eased to about $6.28–$6.29 a gallon — but Goldman still puts a $140 scenario on 2027

Brent crude was $106 a barrel and WTI $97.31 on Monday morning after a selloff that began in early overseas trading, AAA put diesel at $6.292 and GasBuddy at $6.281 — and the week's relief sits on top of distillate inventories about 10% below the five-year average, with no agreement yet on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Fuel & rates

October LMI: transportation capacity contracts for an 11th straight month at 38, prices read 88, and new truckload contracts are resetting about 13% higher

The Logistics Managers' Index rose to 70.7 in October, its second-highest reading in over four years, as inventories surged at the fastest pace in four years, inventory costs hit their highest since March 2022, and aggregate logistics costs grew at their fastest rate since March 2022. Knight-Swift is taking the survey into bid season targeting at least double-digit contract increases.

Fuel & rates

FTR's Eric Starks: truck utilization may be near 100% and contract rates could climb toward 20% in 2027 — but fuel cash flow decides which carriers keep the gains

Speaking Oct. 28 in Dallas, the FTR chairman credited data-center construction and improving manufacturing for demand, pointed to non-domiciled CDL and training-provider constraints for the capacity squeeze, and warned that smaller carriers paying for diesel today while waiting to collect are the recovery's exposed edge.

Fuel & rates

DAT says spot linehaul rates climbed again in the week ending Oct. 31 — van $2.23, reefer $2.71, flatbed $2.61 — while Truckstop's all-in rates fell for all three types

DAT's linehaul-only board tightened in every equipment type as load posts rose and truck posts fell, with flatbed's load-to-truck ratio jumping to 41.73. Truckstop/FTR's all-in broker-posted rates for the week ending Oct. 30 fell for van, reefer and flatbed for the first time since mid-August — a fuel-component difference, not a disagreement about how tight the market is.

Weather and roads

A U.S. 160 bridge over the Piedra River has failed, Pagosa Springs is largely cut off, and CDOT says a workable replacement is a week or two away

The San Juan River is receding after rising to nearly 17 feet, the highest since 1911 — but the Colorado Department of Transportation is calling the damaged U.S. 160 bridge over the Piedra River a "bridge failure," U.S. 160 is closed on either side of Pagosa Springs, and the town's one reopening, the First Street Bridge, does not restore the through route.

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