Carriers Gain Leverage: Become a Shipper of Choice to Win Capacity

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6}#fwtv_P87wyEm3UfQ. fwtv-panel p{margin:0 0 12px}#fwtv_P87wyEm3UfQ. fwtv-transcript p{margin:0 0 12px}SummaryView TranscriptIn today’s evolving freight market, gaining carrier loyalty means becoming a true “shipper of choice.”

Covenant’s Tyson Wimberly shares actionable insights from the Univar Carrier Kickoff on what carriers look for in long-term partners. Discover strategies for visibility, operational alignment, and how to differentiate your business to secure capacity amidst fierce competition.

Carriers are entering a stronger negotiating position than they have held in years, but the industry still faces compounding cost pressures from insurance inflation and an underpaid driver workforce, according to Tyson Wimberly, Senior Vice President of Sales and Revenue Management at Covenant Transport.

Wimberly spoke with FreightWaves at the Univar Carrier Kickoff event in Chattanooga, where Covenant joined peer carriers and shipper leadership to align on long-term capacity planning. “We are in a much more favorable marketplace than we were the last four years — that’s a fact,” Wimberly said.

The shift matters for shippers because carriers with leverage will increasingly direct capacity toward accounts that offer network visibility, freight predictability, and what Wimberly called “linear consistency” in weekly volumes.

“How are we collaborating with our shippers to take out this variability of saying, I really need steady business — linear consistency. And that’s really why we’re here today with Univar, is to understand how do we plug in and solve more solutions for them.”

On the regulatory front, Wimberly cited six or seven rules currently in full national enforcement, with another three to five on the docket — a pipeline he said is meaningfully tightening supply. Insurance costs are compounding the pressure.

Wimberly referenced a $604 million judgment recently disclosed on the broadcast as evidence that brokers and asset carriers alike face escalating litigation exposure when subcontracting freight. He noted Covenant has maintained more than four consecutive years of improving safety records, yet has seen no corresponding relief on insurance premiums.

Driver compensation emerged as what Wimberly called the number one driver of attrition. He argued that professional drivers did not benefit from the inflation cycle during the freight recession period and that pay packages are now coming in with more demanding terms.

The core problem, he said, is utilization variability — a solo driver whose weekly mileage swings from 1,600 to 2,200 miles sees a paycheck “moving like in a regular heartbeat,” which he described as unsustainable for retention. Wimberly also highlighted Covenant’s sustainability push as a differentiator in shipper conversations.

The carrier is running B100 fuel fleets on a handful of dedicated accounts and frames its approach as customer-led — willing to absorb the transition costs of alternative-fuel equipment when a shipper prioritizes emissions reduction. “If it’s something that’s important to you, it’s important to us,” he said.

Covenant is celebrating its 40th year in 2026, having been founded by David Parker in 1986. Wimberly noted the company spent its first 30 years as a one-dimensional over-the-road asset carrier before pivoting over the past decade toward a logistics model that integrates dedicated, brokerage, and warehousing services.

Parker was scheduled to discuss Covenant’s recently released earnings on FreightWaves the following day. Covenant SVP says carriers are in their most favorable market position in four years, with capacity exits giving them leverage to prioritize shippers offering predictable, steady freight volumes.

Six to seven active federal regulations and three to five more pending are constraining truck supply, while insurance costs continue to rise independent of individual carrier safety records.

Driver pay correction is the top retention issue; Wimberly says mileage variability that causes weekly paycheck swings is the central problem carriers must solve with shipper collaboration. Speaker 1 [0:00] Welcome back to FreightWaves Today, live at the Univar Carrier Kicko