About The Backhaul
The Backhaul is a freight and logistics newsletter for the people doing the work. Brokers, carriers, 3PLs, shippers, and the operators trying to build something that lasts longer than the current cycle.
It's written by Ted Fyock, founder of Carolina Expressways Inc., a first logistics firm headquartered in North Carolina. Our primary business is freight brokerage. We also do managed logistics for shippers who need more than a load covered, advisory and consulting work for operators figuring out their next move, and federal contracting as an SBA-certified SDVOSB.
What The Backhaul is not: a trade press rewrite. A thought-leadership factory. A consultant deck in disguise.
What it is: the notes I take from the desk, published on a schedule, written the way I'd tell it to a friend at the bar on a Thursday night.
Why this exists
Freight and logistics is an industry that runs on thin margins and long memories. Most of the coverage written about it is either puff or press-release-laundering. Most of the useful conversation happens privately, on the phone, between people who will never write it down.
The Backhaul is me writing some of it down.
I started Carolina Expressways because I got tired of watching shippers get burned by brokers who wouldn't answer the phone at 4 PM, and tired of watching good carriers get shorted on rate and respect by the same people. The newsletter is a natural extension of that work. If I'm spending my days in the market anyway, I might as well write about it.
What you get each week
The Backhaul publishes on Tuesday mornings. Here's what you can expect in the inbox:
The Lane. What's moving, what's softening, what shippers and carriers I'm hearing from are seeing on their books.
Rate Check. Spot vs. contract, fuel, accessorials, and the places where the indexes don't match reality. Honest reads, not trade-press reprints.
Founder's Desk. What I'm working on at Carolina Expressways. The calls I got right, the ones I got wrong, and what I'd do differently if I were starting this week.
Federal Desk. SDVOSB and federal contracting notes for operators in the GovCon space, plus what's happening at GSA, DLA, USTRANSCOM, and the civilian agencies that move freight.
Shipper Spotlight. Who's tendering, how they want it moved, and what a good partner looks like from the other side of the desk.
Viral Freight. The stories, memes, and dock-floor moments worth forwarding.
The Deal Sheet. M&A, funding, and the operators quietly changing the industry.
Who this is for
If you're a broker fighting for margin, a carrier trying to run leaner, a shipper tired of getting sold to instead of served, or a founder building something in or adjacent to this industry, you're the reader.
If you're an investor, analyst, or consultant who wants ground-level intel instead of a deck, you're also the reader. I won't pretend otherwise.
About Carolina Expressways
Carolina Expressways Inc. is a first logistics firm based in North Carolina. We're an SBA-certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). Our work spans four lines:
Freight brokerage. Our primary business. Truckload, LTL, flatbed, reefer, and specialized moves across the lower 48, with a Southeast concentration.
Managed logistics. We run transportation programs for shippers who want a dedicated team managing their freight spend without hiring one internally.
Advisory and consulting. We work with operators, shippers, and founders on network design, carrier strategy, pricing, and the hard questions that don't fit inside a single load.
Federal contracting. As an SDVOSB, we pursue and perform transportation and logistics contracts for federal agencies and prime contractors.
More at carolinaexpressways.com.
The mission
The Backhaul is building toward becoming the publication that freight and logistics operators open first on Tuesday mornings. Not the longest read. Not the loudest. The most useful.
If the newsletter earns an hour of your week and saves you ten, we're doing our job.
Subscribe, read, argue, forward
Free to subscribe. Always will be a free tier. Paid tiers are coming for readers who want deeper material: proprietary rate data, quarterly field reports, subscriber Q&As, and invites to operator roundtables. Early subscribers get first access when those open.
Advertising and partnerships
The Backhaul offers sponsorships, classified placements, and custom content partnerships for companies that want to reach freight and logistics decision-makers. For a media kit or to start a conversation, email hello@thebackhaul.io.
Need freight services, managed logistics, advisory, or an SDVOSB partner on a federal contract? Carolina Expressways handles all of it. carolinaexpressways.com.
Loads of signal. Zero deadhead.
— Ted
Founder, Carolina Expressways Inc.
Publisher, The Backhaul