A major autonomous trucking business is driving off the road. Self-driving startup TuSimple is winding down its U.S. business and looking for a buyer for its assets that remain in the country. The WSJ’s Heather Somerville reports the demise of TuSimple’s U.S. operations marks a precipitous fall for the one-time leader in autonomous long-haul trucking. San Diego-based TuSimple is now moving its business to China, the culmination of a regulatory and legal storm at the business over a large stake held by a Chinese investor who held two board seats. TuSimple says it has stopped hauling freight in its trucks and closed most of its testing and development efforts. The remaining 30 employees will wind down what’s left of the company, including selling its assets. Several other companies are developing autonomous driving technology in the U.S., and the departure of TuSimple may leave them with more open road for growth.

• New Class 8 truck orders in North America rose in November to the highest level since October 2022. (The Trucker)

The crisis at the Panama Canal is starting to reach global energy markets. The price of liquefied petroleum gas, a significant U.S. export, has rocketed higher recently in Asia, a remarkable development given that crude oil prices have been falling. The WSJ’s Megha Mandavia writes in Heard on the Street that the main culprit is the worsening impact of drought at the Panama Canal, a key artery for U.S. LPG to reach Asian markets. Transits have been slashed sharply this fall, and restrictions are poised to get tougher: Administrators will cut daily transits to 20 in January and 18 in February. Canal authorities have also designated LPG carriers as the lowest priority among vessels. That is forcing some ships to take longer routes, helping drive up rates. Day rates for very large gas carriers on one Houston-Japan lane are up 35% since the beginning of August.

• A tanker carrying ultra-low sulfur diesel from Louisiana to Chile recently sailed around the Strait of Magellan to avoid the Panama Canal. (Bloomberg)

Alibaba is no longer the online shopping champion in China. PDD, the company behind discount-retailing app Temu, has overtaken Alibaba as the country’s most valuable e-commerce company, in part by shaking up conventional online retail business models. The WSJ’s Jacky Wong writes in Heard on the Street that the company has burnished its reputation as a low-price merchant by cultivating a network of low-cost manufacturers targeting budget buyers, particularly in clothing. That’s a key difference with Alibaba’s Taobao, which has long operated primarily as a pure market—and focused less on directly building up suppliers itself. PDD’s revenue last quarter was still less than a third of Alibaba’s, but it’s growing much faster: Sales nearly doubled last quarter while Alibaba’s revenue grew 9%. The Temu international business now has 52 million monthly active users in the U.S., suggesting its supplier-focused model will draw closer attention from other merchants.

• WishPost Smart Parcel will allow shippers who don’t sell on the e-commerce platform to use its logistics capabilities. (Retail Dive)

The number of jobs available in the U.S. at the end of October reached the lowest level since March 2021. (WSJ)

A measure of U.S. service-sector activity showed growth accelerated in November. (MarketWatch)

Procter & Gamble will book a $1.3 billion charge on the Gillette business that it acquired nearly two decades ago. (WSJ)

U.S. antitrust enforcers are investigating Exxon Mobil’s plan to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources. (WSJ)

Price increases helped packaged-foods supplier J.M. Smucker boost quarterly sales 7%. (WSJ)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says U.S. chipmakers are at least a decade away from achieving supply chain independence from China. (Tech HQ)

Denmark’s largest trade union joined a six-week-old strike action by Tesla workers in Sweden. (The Guardian)

Japanese companies are bracing for the impact of strict limits on truck driver overtime set to take effect next April. (Nikkei Asia)

International Maritime Organization members voted Russia out of the U.N. regulatory body’s executive board. (Maritime Executive)

Containership owner Seaspan is moving into the burgeoning car carrier segment with orders for six new vessels. (Splash 247)

Mediterranean Shipping is in talks to acquire French logistics group Clasquin. (ShippingWatch)

Landstar System named former CSX executive Frank Lonegro to succeed retiring CEO James Gattoni. (Jacksonville Daily Record)

Embraer is set to deliver its first converted E190F regional jet freighter in the second quarter of 2024. (FlightGlobal)

Extreme weather has helped trigger a grouper shortage in Malaysia. (Straits Times)

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.