LAST MILE
DoorDash is buying Instacart
On October 29, DoorDash agreed to buy Instacart for about $17 billion. That's $65 a share, 26% above its pre-rumor trading price. At least 75% is cash. Instacart's board approved it unanimously, and holders of about 19% of the shares have already committed to vote yes.
Instacart works with nearly 100,000 stores, and DoorDash says its customers could shop at more than 50,000 additional ones. Anyone paying for both DashPass and Instacart+ would pay one fee, which DoorDash figures saves members about $100 million a year.
Nothing changes soon. The deal is expected to close at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028, after a shareholder vote, antitrust review, and approvals in Canada and Israel. DoorDash promised local grocers can keep using any delivery platform they want, and that Instacart shoppers can choose whether to take DoorDash orders.
So why is a grocery delivery deal in a logistics newsletter? Because Instacart and DoorDash are fulfillment networks that happen to have apps. The order gets picked off a store shelf and delivered the same day, with no warehouse involved. We've been tracking Instacart's move from delivery app to the technology layer inside the store: Instaleap in Edition 42, the smart carts in Edition 49, and Arpalus in Edition 55, the shelf-scanning company that says it can read what's on a shelf with more than 95% accuracy. DoorDash earned FAA approval for its own drone program in Edition 57. Combine the two, and the store-based, same-day lane sits under one roof, right next to the warehouse-based lane you run.
TRADE
Robots are now under a national security review, with no tariff yet
On October 28, President Trump signed a Section 232 proclamation on robotics and industrial machinery. It says imports of robots, machine tools, and their parts threaten national security. Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative must negotiate with other countries and report back within 180 days, which falls around the end of April.
If those talks go nowhere, the proclamation says the president "may consider alternative remedies in the future, including imposing or modifying tariffs, duties, quotas, and fees." Robotics 24/7 reports it names autonomous mobile robots, humanoids and four-legged robots, along with machine tools and stamping equipment. The robotics trade group A3 asked the administration last year to skip tariffs entirely.
Edition 57 had the FCC ban new imports of foreign-made humanoid and four-legged robots, and Edition 59 made the average robot order more expensive. Now there may be a tariff on top of both.
What this means for you: If you're collecting automation quotes, ask every vendor where the hardware and parts are made, and whether the price holds until delivery or can change if a tariff shows up. A quote that's good for 30 days and a quote that's good until the robot arrives are two different documents. If you've already signed for something shipping in 2027, read who pays if a tariff lands first.
CROSS-BORDER
Mexican truckers shut down highways for a day and a half
On October 26, Mexican truckers blocked highways at 38 points in 19 states, per the Interior Ministry. Blockades hit Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Monterrey and Tijuana, among others. By Tuesday, the government had agreed to set up working groups on highway safety, infrastructure, taxes and labor conditions, and roads were clear about 34 hours after the first blockade.
The trucking association CANACAR, which called the strike with three other groups, says a stoppage costs about 7 billion pesos a day, around $370 million. A proposed 2027 cap on toll deductions remains unresolved. President Sheinbaum asked why anyone shut the roads while talks were open. The timing wasn't accidental: Buen Fin, Mexico's biggest shopping weekend, was about three weeks away.
Laredo handled 38.8% of trucks coming from Mexico into the U.S. last year, according to the article, so a longer stoppage would show up there first.
What this means for you: If you have cross-border freight, ask your carriers and brokers what their plan is if talks fall apart and the roads close again. Anything with a hard delivery date, like holiday product, gets a day or two of buffer on the Mexico leg.
PORTS
The LA/Long Beach strike threat got pushed back a few days. It didn't go away.
About 250 watchmen at the Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals gave notice that they could strike on November 1. That sounds small until you see that the terminals they cover handle about 85% of Long Beach's cargo and a third of Los Angeles's. The employer group warned that other dockworkers might refuse to cross a picket line.
On October 30, the union (ILWU Local 26) and the Pacific Maritime Association agreed to keep talking with a federal mediator and moved the deadline into this week. Reuters says November 5. FreightWaves says 5 p.m. Pacific on November 4. Either way, it's days. The watchmen's last contract expired in July 2025, and their president wrote that "nothing of value has resulted from the Union's commitment to bargaining in good faith," per gCaptain. The employers say a quick deal matters for "the entire Southern California supply chain."
The timing is rough. Both ports just had their busiest September ever, and as Edition 69 covered, containers were already sitting longer waiting on trucks and rail. The broader West Coast longshore contract, covering about 22,000 workers at 29 ports, runs through 2028. The picket-line risk is what makes this one worth watching.
What this means for you: Ask your drayage partner and forwarder this week what they'll do if the terminals shut for two or three days. Pull the containers due to arrive or get picked up between November 4 and 6, and see which ones can move earlier. If you have holiday inventory still at sea headed for Southern California, ask whether a different port is realistic. For most boxes it's too late, but your client will ask whether you looked.
Quick hits
AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS
Kodiak signed a binding deal for 75 driverless trucks. Aurora signed a non-binding one for up to 500. Kodiak's deal, announced October 28, is with DTL Transport, a Fresno carrier that hauls produce, on Dallas to El Paso and Dallas to Atlanta, with DTL paying by the mile. Kodiak calls it the first announced definitive agreement of its kind by an interstate carrier, a claim Kodiak makes itself. Aurora's October 26 deal with Charger Logistics is a memorandum of understanding, so either side can walk, and Aurora's own release says it might never become a contract.
TRUCKING
221 small trucking companies have filed for bankruptcy this year.
That's Bloomberg's count, reported October 28. In a survey of small carriers (20 or fewer trucks), about two-thirds said revenue is flat or down, and almost 40% expect to leave trucking within six months or aren't sure.
PARCEL
FedEx says it has closed 260 stations while merging Express and Ground into one network. On its October 28 earnings call, FedEx said it expects close to $1 billion in savings from that work by the end of this year and $2 billion by the end of 2027, and it raised its 2026 profit outlook. If your clients ship with FedEx, ask your rep whether a closed station changed your pickup or delivery routes.
PORTS
The Transportation Department is giving $498 million to 35 port projects in 19 states. The October 27 list includes a new dock and cranes in Whittier, Alaska, and a hardened liquid-bulk terminal at Port Everglades. If a port you ship through is on it, construction can temporarily limit berths or terminal access.
TRADE
The new Canadian tariff list took effect October 30.
CBP says it removed 22 product categories and added 100, and it covers goods released from customs warehouses on or after October 30. Check that your customs broker is using the new list.
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