Mercedes-Benz' Cassandra Morgan on the impact of tariffs, fuel price spikes and new carrier contracts on finished vehicle logistics
At the Finish Vehicle Logistics North America 2026 conference, Cassandra Morgan, manager of finished vehicle logistics at Mercedes-Benz USA, shares how the industry has responded to US tariffs and the recent sharp rise in fuel prices, as well as how the automaker works with its carriers to boost productivity across its network.
At FVL North America 2026 in California, Automotive Logistics sat down with Cassandra Morgan, manager of finished vehicle logistics at Mercedes-Benz USA, to discuss the biggest pain points in finished vehicle logistics today and how the automaker is managing its carrier network.
Tariffs and fuel price spikes top concerns for vehicle logistics
Morgan immediately identified that one of the biggest factors to have impacted finished vehicle logistics over the past 12 months has been changes to tariffs.
"It's been a volatile road to get here and the cost that was associated with making those changes as they were happening was obviously unforeseeable," she said.
She also acknowledged how, more recently, rising fuel costs as a result of conflict in the Middle East have put additional pressure on the industry.
"What we can do as an OEM to support the carriers is meeting more frequently with them and appropriately updating our fuel surcharge so that we can help the carriers and their sub-hauler network because obviously that affected them tremendously," Morgan noted.
Transparent communication with carriers key to unlocking productivity
Morgan highlighted how, when it comes to boosting productivity across Mercedes-Benz' finished vehicle logistics network, transparency with carriers is key.
"We try to be as transparent as possible and have open lines of communication with our carriers," she stated.
She explained that letting carriers know of any disruption – whether that be scheduled or sudden – as soon as the Mercedes-Benz team knows about it themselves, gives carriers the opportunity to express any concerns and open a two-way dialogue to resolve any issues proactively.
"The same way that the carriers want to know anything that's going to affect productivity or any kind of delays, spikes, lulls and that kind of thing, I'm expecting them to also communicate back to me," Morgan added. "So if we do a big push and there's issues in meeting the deadlines, I want them to tell me that ahead of time and not wait until it's ageing or dwelling."
"It's trust, it's a partnership and so I'm relying on them to tell me what they need and what we both will need to help succeed in 2026," she concluded.
