WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation is pushing a new national supply-chain data initiative that would connect major ports, ocean carriers, trucking companies, railroads and retailers through a shared freight-visibility platform designed to move cargo faster and reduce logistics costs.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced the American Supply Chain Sovereignty Initiative in June, calling for a high-visibility dashboard that would connect major freight hubs such as the Port of Los Angeles with private-sector participants across the logistics chain. DOT says the goal is to give companies a clearer, more coordinated view of freight movement and capacity instead of forcing each part of the supply chain to operate with incomplete information.
For trucking, the significance is simple: better freight visibility could mean fewer blind spots around incoming container volumes, chassis availability, terminal congestion, appointment demand and where freight is likely to move next.
DOT says the initiative would require congressional authorization so the department can create role-based access to specific freight data while protecting sensitive commercial information. The department has asked Congress to include that authority in the National Defense Authorization Act.
DOT is building on an existing freight-data system
The proposal is not starting from scratch.
DOT already operates Freight Logistics Optimization Works, or FLOW, a public-private data partnership that gives participating companies access to aggregated and anonymized supply-chain information.
According to DOT’s 2026 National Freight Strategic Plan, FLOW provides participants with a forward-looking view of demand and available logistics capacity, helping companies make earlier decisions about routing, equipment positioning and cargo flow. DOT says the system can provide up to 90 days of demand visibility.
The department says FLOW currently focuses largely on containerized imports but is intended to expand to exports, domestic freight movements and bulk cargo.
As of June, DOT listed 94 FLOW members, including major trucking and logistics companies, railroads, ports, ocean carriers and retailers such as C.H. Robinson, FedEx, NFI Industries, RoadOne, UPS, Werner, Walmart, Amazon Logistics, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Maersk and MSC.
That gives DOT a large existing base of industry participants for a broader national freight-visibility system.
Why this matters to trucking
A container arriving at a U.S. port can involve multiple companies before the freight ever reaches its final destination.
The ocean carrier knows when the ship is arriving. The terminal knows when the container is available. A drayage carrier needs to know whether an appointment can be secured. A trucking company needs equipment and drivers positioned correctly. Railroads and warehouses need to know what volume is coming next.
When those systems do not communicate, the result can be trucks sitting in line, chassis shortages, missed appointments, warehouse congestion and equipment being positioned in the wrong place.
DOT says improved data sharing can help reduce that uncertainty.
The department’s stated objective is to give freight participants a more complete picture of what is coming before the cargo actually arrives.
For motor carriers, that could potentially improve dispatch planning, driver utilization, trailer and chassis positioning, terminal scheduling and route planning.
It could also give shippers and brokers earlier warning when congestion or capacity problems are developing.
Privacy and commercial data will be a major issue
The biggest question is how much private freight data companies would be expected to share and who would be allowed to see it.
DOT says FLOW data is aggregated and anonymized and that participant information is protected within the platform. The department also says member data shared through FLOW is not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, subpoena or legal discovery, or regulatory use.
That protection is likely to be important to trucking companies, brokers, ports and retailers that may be reluctant to provide commercially sensitive information to a federal platform.
The new sovereignty initiative would go further by creating role-based access, meaning different users could receive access to different data depending on their role in the freight network. DOT says congressional authorization is necessary to establish that framework.
The details of that access structure have not yet been fully defined publicly.
Part of a broader freight modernization plan
The initiative fits into DOT’s larger 2026 National Freight Strategic Plan, which calls for modernization of the country’s nearly seven-million-mile freight network.
DOT says more than 54 million tons of goods worth roughly $68 billion move across the U.S. freight system every day.
The department has identified freight visibility as one of the weaknesses in the current system.
DOT’s own research agenda says federal freight tools historically have lacked visibility into the production, consumption and supply-chain patterns that actually create transportation demand. The department has also acknowledged that freight information is often fragmented between modes and agencies.
The new initiative is intended to close some of those gaps.
This is not a mandate yet
One important distinction: the American Supply Chain Sovereignty Initiative is not currently a mandatory nationwide trucking-data system.
DOT has announced the initiative and is asking Congress for additional authority to build out the national role-based dashboard.
That means the exact scope, participation requirements, data standards and access rules remain subject to congressional action and further implementation.
For trucking companies, however, the direction is becoming increasingly clear.
Washington wants a much more connected freight network where ports, carriers, railroads, warehouses and retailers can see supply-chain conditions before bottlenecks form rather than after trucks are already sitting in line.
If it works as intended, that could give carriers better information and improve freight efficiency.
If it is poorly designed, it could create another complicated federal technology layer in an industry already dealing with fragmented data systems.
Either way, DOT is signaling that freight-data visibility is becoming a core part of national transportation policy.
