Your Q2 2026 Transportation Action Plan

Published by LeAnne Coulter | BlueWave Supply Chain

Originally presented at ISM World 2026 | Decoding the Transportation Market — Part 5 of 5

We closed the ISM World session with a simple challenge. What is one thing you can do this quarter. The objective is to identify the immediate action(s) to support and build the foundation for your transportation strategy. There is time in the future to develop a three or five year roadmap, or assess and deploy enabling technology. That is not what this session, or this series, is about. Deploy one, three, or five tangible actions now that move the needle on your transportation resilience before the next market flip lands. One more reminder: Transportation strategy equals supply chain strategy. Start now and build on. You won’t regret it.

So, let’s get to it. Here is the full action plan from all three panelists. They are all easy to apply to your network.

Watch the Right Signals

LeAnne Coulter, BlueWave Supply Chain

• Review market indicators monthly to include both demand AND capacity signals. PMI and housing starts tell you one story; truck order cancellations and small carrier bankruptcies tell you another.

• Monitor tender rejection rates on your key lanes on a weekly basis. Declining acceptance rates are an early warning signal of capacity tightening. Catch it early and you can respond strategically. Catch it when your freight isn't moving and you're reacting. When the signals are telling you the market is moving swiftly, shift from weekly to daily monitoring.

• Track one capacity indicator: small carrier bankruptcy filings. This is public data. Sub-100 truck fleet exits are happening quietly, but they have a loud impact on the market.

• Monitor FMCSA rule changes affecting hours of service, driver training requirements, and other regulatory moves. Regulatory changes are the primary mechanism pulling capacity out of the market right now.

Know What's in Your 3PL's Carrier Base

Heidi DeMello, SVP Supply Chain, Blount Foods

• Assess carrier financial health in your 3PL's network. Don't assume your 3PL is doing this. Ask them directly and frequently. These conversations will be helpful to your network’s performance.

• Ask your 3PL: "Show me your carrier vetting criteria." This one question tells you a great deal about how seriously they take supply chain resilience. This is a hot topic after the recent Supreme Court decision.

• Watch reefer capacity specifically. Specialty lanes tighten first. If your freight has temperature or specialty equipment requirements, you have less margin for error when capacity tightens.

Get Operational Clarity

Chad Claude, Principal/Owner, CLEAR Plan Consulting

• Review one KPI: empty miles percentage with your fleet or dedicated provider. This is one of the clearest windows into fleet efficiency, and one of the most underused.

• Have capacity commitment conversations with your top 3–5 carriers now, before you need to. Strategic conversations happen at the table. Emergencies happen on the phone at crazy hours.

• Evaluate your fleet lease decisions: renew, pivot to dedicated, or hybrid approach? The clock is running on 2021–2023 leases. Make this an active decision, not just a default because it was in the budget or time is short.

The Underlying Message

Markets will flip again. The question isn't whether you'll face a tightening cycle, but rather will you see it coming. Your strategy needs to have guiding principles so you can flex and meet the demands of the market.

The organizations that come through the next flip well won't be the ones who react fastest. They'll be the ones who monitored the right signals, built the right relationships, and made fleet and technology decisions before they became urgent.

The signals are already there. You just have to know where to look.

Download the Transportation Market Decision Checklist for more information to guide your strategy.

Schedule time with me to discuss your transportation strategy. Let’s find the gaps and risk, and get you on a path for resilience. Schedule time now.

This is Part 5 of 5. Start the series from the beginning: The 2026 Freight Market Isn't What You Think It Is.

LeAnne Coulter is CEO & Founder of BlueWave Supply Chain and a member of ISM's Deliver Committee. Connect at https://www.linkedin.com/in/leannecoulter or [email protected].