More than 54 million tons of goods valued at $68 billion travel through America’s freight network every day
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Transportation today brought together the nation’s freight and supply chain leaders for the 2026 Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) Annual Meeting. The gathering focused on modernizing America’s supply lines to anticipate and prevent delays, bottlenecks, and disruptions-ultimately lowering consumer costs and accelerating the movement of goods for families and businesses nationwide.
More than 100 industry stakeholders-representing ocean carriers, railroads, trucking companies, chassis providers, and major shippers-joined senior USDOT officials for fireside chats, expert panels, keynote speeches, and strategic working sessions to unleash innovation across America’s freight network.
“Freight is the backbone of American commerce, connecting farms to factories, ports to communities, and producers to markets,” said Michael Rutherford, Assistant Secretary for Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy at USDOT. “When one link in that network falters, the effects ripple across every mode of transportation and every sector of the economy.”
FLOW advances USDOT’s mission of a safe, efficient, and modern transportation system by offering public and private sectors clear visibility across the freight network. By facilitating secure data sharing between supply chain partners and USDOT, FLOW delivers real-time visibility into incoming container demand-helping participants stay ahead of congestion and cut costs.
The meeting builds on the Trump Administration’s American Supply Chain Sovereignty Initiative and Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy’s 2026 National Freight Strategic Plan -a multi-year strategy initiative designed to modernize the nation’s nearly seven-million-mile freight network.