DALLAS — Higher operating costs, more volatile market cycles and a shift from West Coast ports are characteristics of the post-pandemic freight market, according to an industry analyst.

Norfolk Southern Corp. agreed to acquire Cincinnati Southern Railway, tightening the company’s grip on a critical 337-mile line it already operates under a lease agreement.

The nation’s major shipping companies are in the best shape to get holiday shoppers’ packages delivered on time since the start of the pandemic, suggesting a return to normalcy.

The possibility of a nationwide freight rail strike beginning as early as Dec. 9 moved one step closer when the union SMART-TD, one of the largest in contract talks with the six Class I freight carriers, turned down a tentative agreement negotiated in mid-September by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and other officials.

A federal judge has ordered Amazon to stop retaliating against employees engaged in workplace activism, issuing a mixed ruling that also hands a loss to the federal labor agency that sued the company earlier this year.

The trucking and logistics industries could be headed for another year-end boost in merger and acquisition activity.

Railroad engineers accepted their deal with the railroads that will deliver 24% raises but conductors rejected the contract, casting more doubt on whether the industry will be able to resolve the labor dispute before December’s deadline.

A surge in spot market rates that led some truck drivers to leave fleet jobs and go into business for themselves has cooled off, bringing with it a downturn in the number of drivers striking out on their own, industry data shows.

FedEx Corp. defused a threat by its delivery contractors to walk off the job on Black Friday in protest of dwindling profits as a trade group representing disgruntled logistics company owners disbanded.