More self-driving trucks are finding their way to Wall Street. Embark Trucks is joining the rush toward public markets with an agreement to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company, the WSJ’s Amrith Ramkumar reports, in a deal that values the autonomous technology startup at about $5.2 billion. The five-year-old business is the oldest U.S. self-driving truck firm and counts truckload giant Knight-Swift Transportation and beer seller Anheuser-Busch InBev among companies helping run its technology through road tests. Embark joins Plus and TuSimple Holdings in heading to public markets for what they hope is large sums of funding and compete for customers in the developing field of robot trucking. Knight-Swift CEO Dave Jackson says the carrier has invested in Embark and its 25-year old CEO Alex Rodrigues because of the company’s strategy of working with existing carriers as “the most effective way to scale autonomous truck technology.”

One of the warmest years on record has Russia closer to its dream of creating a new northern shipping passage. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, the WSJ’s Thomas Grove writes, and the shipping season across the passage spanning Russia’s long northern coastline started earlier than ever this year. The fast-shrinking ice coverage is pushing Moscow to add infrastructure along the route, which can cut the distance of trips between Europe and Asia by a third compared with conventional routes across the Indian Ocean. So far this year, Russia-regulated traffic is up 11% from the record 1,014 trips made last year. That’s a drop in the bucket for ocean trade. But fully opening the passage would put Russia at the center of a new routes for energy supplies and cargo, which is raising concerns in the U.S. and in China.

A narrowing pay gap between the manufacturing sector and service companies appears to be holding back the industrial economy. Pay for factory jobs has grown so slowly in the U.S. that manufacturers are having trouble competing with fast-food restaurants, the WSJ’s Austen Hufford and Nora Naughton report. Manufacturers like other employers have raised wages in the rebounding U.S. economy. But an analysis shows that jobs in many industries including restaurants and retail have posted their highest-ever hourly wages relative to wages in manufacturing since the start of 2020. Michigan-based automotive-parts supplier Gentex says manufacturers now are competing for labor with traditionally low-wage sectors such as restaurants, as well as landscaping and agriculture businesses. That may help explain some of the difficulty trucking and logistics companies report in recruiting workers. Many say they have raised pay but that candidates have more choices as businesses across the economy also boost wages.

A bipartisan group of senators agreed to a framework for an infrastructure package and it to present the plan to President Biden today. (WSJ)

OPEC and its allies are considering boosting the group’s collective output by some 500,000 barrels a day when they meet next week. (WSJ)

Existing-home sales in the U.S. fell for the fourth straight month on continuing inventory constraints. (MarketWatch)

Trucking fleets won't face enforcement of California's gig-economy law until the Supreme Court decides whether to take up a case challenging its application to freight carriers. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Online pet-products retailer Chewy expects to open a second highly-automated fulfillment center this summer and another next year. (WSJ)

Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng plans an initial public stock offering in Hong Kong. (WSJ)

Southwest Airlines Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Kelly will step down as CEO early next year. (WSJ)

U.S. authorities have seized unauthorized versions of the Covid-19 treatment remdesivir at airports destined for distribution in Mexico. (WSJ)

A draft European Union plan to reduce shipping emissions would promote liquefied natural gas as an alternative to traditional bunker fuel. (The Guardian)

The heavily congested Yantian port in Shenzhen, China, was set to resume full operations today. (Seatrade Maritime)

Orders for new dry-bulk ships are up 82% over last year and 53% ahead of 2019. (Lloyd’s List)

Germany’s MPC Container Ships acquired Songa Container and its 11 feeder vessels. (Splash 247)

North Atlantic container line Eimskip reached a settlement with Icelandic authorities over a collusion investigation into its relationship with competitor Samskip. (Maritime Executive)

Seaspan added two mid-size container ships to the 35 vessels the ship-leasing company has on order. (TradeWinds)

The Port of Liverpool will increase container handling capacity until at least Christmas to meet demand growth and clear a backlog caused by a recent IT outage. (Port Technology)

Private equity-backed software firm ASG acquired digital freight management platform Trucker Tools. (DC Velocity)

Chinese online grocery platforms Missfresh and Dingdong Maicai scaled back their expected returns from public stock offerings in the U.S. (South China Morning Post)

Qatar Airways is “hungry for more freighters” from both Boeing and Airbus. (Air Cargo News)

Target plans to make all its private-label products sustainable by 2040, with all plastic packaging for such items sustainable by 2025. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Lego has successfully made a prototype of its toy bricks from recycled drinks bottles. (Financial Times)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Write to him at paul.page@wsj.com.

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