Not Today

Happy Monday. Today was supposed to be the day the government got the personal records of every CDL holder in the country. It didn't, and we explain why in today's feature.

Plus:

• One AI, 40 Countries Under Watch

• Security Escorts Are Getting Rammed for Cargo

• Kodiak Gets California's First-Ever AV Permit

💡 QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Every U.S. administration since ___ has had routine access to the CDL database, according to DOT.

🍳 WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN FREIGHT

📦 One AI, 40 Countries Under Watch. The White House accused more than 40 countries, including Canada, Mexico, the EU, India, Japan and South Korea, of helping China dodge U.S. tariffs by rerouting goods through lower-tariff nations, in a report titled "The Great Transshipment Scam." Under the report's central estimate of $75 billion in annual transshipment, federal revenue losses run $19 to $26 billion a year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is building an AI system, Detective Border, to cross-check shipping data, origin paperwork, and trade-flow anomalies and flag false-origin claims before goods clear customs. Violators could face additional tariffs, sanctions, or exclusion from the U.S. market.

🚨 Security Escorts Are Getting Rammed for Cargo. Data-center freight thefts have reached $110.6 million in known losses since June 3, according to Scott Cornell, EVP and Crime and Theft Specialist at SPG Cargo & Logistics. Individual cases have ranged from $2 million to $38 million. In two of the thefts, criminals deliberately rammed the security escorts protecting the loads, and the drivers kept going instead of stopping to report it, a detail Cornell says only works if the driver was in on it. "Six or seven out of every 10 loads stolen in the U.S. now leave the country," Cornell estimated.

🚛 Kodiak Gets California's First-Ever AV Permit. Kodiak became the first company to win a heavy-duty autonomous truck permit in California, four months after the state lifted an outright ban on testing such trucks. California was the only state with that kind of blanket prohibition; Texas, Arizona and Arkansas already had autonomous trucks running while California barred even testing. The permit still requires a human safety driver onboard, as California's approval process moves in phases toward eventual driverless operation. Kodiak already runs fully driverless trucks elsewhere, and its commercial partners include J.B. Hunt, IKEA and General Dynamics Land Systems.

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A Judge Hits Pause

A federal judge has stopped today's planned handover of 17 million commercial-driver records, but only until the court can examine why the government wants them.

Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia sued DOT, FMCSA and AAMVA on August 13, with a companion suit from 22 states against DHS.

American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), the nonprofit that runs CDLIS, the national commercial license database, had told the states a day earlier, on August 12, that it would not comply with today's deadline regardless.

Nothing New, DOT Says

FMCSA first asked AAMVA for the entire CDLIS database on June 25: all 17 million driver records, going back five years.

When AAMVA asked why, FMCSA said the data would support license verification and carrier safety assessments. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy calls the request routine: every administration since 1988 has had access to CDLIS, and AAMVA is contractually obligated to comply at FMCSA's direction.

DOT ties the demand to an enforcement campaign it says has revoked more than 30,000 improperly issued CDLs and pulled more than 26,000 drivers from service for failing English-proficiency checks since an April 2025 executive order.

AAMVA pushed back on June 30. At a July 23 meeting, FMCSA threatened to cut off all its federal funding unless AAMVA said by the next day whether it would comply; AAMVA agreed, targeting today as the deadline.

A Different Agency, Same Data

The immigration angle came later, from a separate agency: DHS served its own subpoena for the identical data on July 28, titled an "Immigration Enforcement Subpoena," then withdrew it once AAMVA signaled it would cooperate with FMCSA.

In early August, AAMVA told the government it might let states opt out; DHS reissued the subpoena within days, with the same deadline.

The states argue that this withdraw-and-reissue timing, along with FMCSA's own description of DHS's subpoena as a 'DOT action,' shows DHS was applying leverage on FMCSA's behalf rather than conducting an independent immigration investigation.

What Thursday Decides

The states argue that neither agency has explained why ensuring driver safety requires the records of all 17 million CDL holders, most of whom aren't suspected of anything.

AAMVA has told FMCSA directly that losing its federal funding would disrupt CDLIS enough to affect all 50 states' ability to issue or renew a commercial license, not just for the drivers whose records are being sought.

Judge Anthony Trenga paused the DHS subpoena Friday, ordering the agency to return without inspecting any records already produced. DHS's opposition is due today, the states’ reply Wednesday, and a hearing is set for Thursday in Alexandria.

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 🌎 AROUND THE FREIGHT WEB

📦 A Dozen Warehouses Hit. Ukrainian drones have destroyed or damaged at least 12 Wildberries warehouses since mid-July. Wildberries controls almost half of Russia's online retail; Amazon, by comparison, holds around 35-40% of the U.S. market.

🚂 A Rail Heist Just Became Attempted Murder. A shooting at a BNSF officer during a rail-car burglary near Cajon Pass led investigators to five suspects; one is now facing an attempted murder charge on top of the theft.

🐄 400 Extra Miles, Zero Notice. Tyson closed its Joslin, Illinois beef plant without warning, and the nearest replacement processing facility for local ranchers is now 400 miles away in Nebraska.

☝️ Look Up, It's a Ticket. Louisiana State Police used air support to catch all 26 trucks illegally using the left lane of the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge in one day, on the same 18-mile span that has recorded more than 1,500 crashes over the last decade.

🌉 This Bridge Keeps Winning. Ohio residents say a poorly marked underpass has trapped five trucks in a single week, three semis and two delivery vehicles, and Friday's crash left one trailer "opened as a tuna can."

✈️ Air Rates Are Coming Back Down. Air cargo rates fell 6% month-over-month in July, the second straight month of cooling, with year-over-year growth slowing from 41% in May to just 28%.

🎣 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER

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🎧 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR PODCAST

CEO & Founder at AscendTMS, Tim Higham, joined Paul-Bernard Jaroslawski and Tom Stawinski on the FreightCaviar Podcast to discuss his journey through the logistics industry, the future of freight tech, the challenges of entrepreneurship, and more.

Watch it on YouTube, or listen to the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.