Trucking companies say a new federal rule on independent contractors could have a broad impact on their business. The Biden administration’s regulation issued this week is aimed at putting more contractors on company payrolls. The WSJ’s David Harrison and Preetika Rana report the rule, which would go into effect in March, would replace a Trump administration rule and impose a stricter test to determine whether companies can classify their workers as independent contractors. App-based companies including Uber Technologies, Lyft and DoorDash may be the most directly affected, but trucking’s independent owner-operators may also come under scrutiny. American Trucking Associations CEO Chris Spear calls the rule a “tangled mess” that may affect around 350,000 independent truckers. Intermodal Association of North America CEO Joni Casey said it may hit the widespread use of independent contractors in port trucking particularly hard, potentially touching about 80% of the sector’s drivers.

• Chicago-area US Foods drivers went on strike as the food supplier brought in a temporary workforce to continue deliveries. (Trucking Dive)

Coal is still a glowing part of global commodities markets even if prices for the energy source are sliding. Despite widespread perceptions that the coal industry is under threat, output is actually hitting new records—at least outside the U.S. and EU. The WSJ’s Megha Mandavia reports in a Heard on the Street column that China’s voracious appetite for thermal coal is a big driver of the market, and the country built up coal stocks in 2023 thanks to an influx of supply from Indonesia and Australia and an uptick in coal mining globally. Yet prices of Newcastle thermal coal, the main Asian benchmark, have fallen about 13% over the past month, according to Refinitiv. Newcastle coal prices are down 66% over the past year. One main reason: Global coal production rose about 1.8% in 2023 to a record 8.7 billion metric tons, according to the International Energy Agency.

• The Energy Information Administration revised downward its 2024 U.S. coal export projection to a 9% decline from 2023 exports. (S&P Global)

Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy have agreed to merge in an all stock-transaction valued at $7.4 billion that is aimed at creating a premier natural gas company. (WSJ)

European researchers say record global high temperatures that spawned heavy rainfall, disastrous floods and raging wildfires in 2023 will likely continue this year. (WSJ)

Cargill and Tyson Foods both shut some operations at Kansas meat processing plants because of disruptions from severe storms. (WSJ)

The U.K. is proposing to exonerate hundreds of postal managers who were wrongfully convicted of theft or false accounting because of a software problem. (WSJ)

U.K. analysts MDS Transmodal says containership capacity moving through the Red Sea fell 60% in a recent three-week period compared to last year. (Lloyd’s List)

Cosco Shipping Holdings is projecting a nearly 80% decline in operating earnings for 2023. (Journal of Commerce)

Parts of Spain’s northern coastlines have been inundated by tiny plastic pellets following the loss of six containers from a Maersk Line vessel. (MarketWatch)

Georgia named a general contractor to oversee the raising of a bridge to allow bigger ships to serve the Port of Savannah. (Associated Press)

Carmaker Maruti Suzuki plans to build a $4.2 billion factory in India’s western state of Gujarat. (Nikkei Asia)

Union Pacific is warning of shipment delays of up to two days as severe weather hits parts of its rail network. (Reuters)

The CEO of Authentic Brands says buying retailer Forever 21 out of bankruptcy was a "mistake" as e-commerce sites Shein and Temu gain market share. (Retail Dive)

The private managers of Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport are weighing a potential restructuring of the financially struggling facility. (Air Cargo News)

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

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on X at @WSJLogistics.