By Al Root

Amazon.com is at it again, roiling an industry's shares with its plans to build new businesses.

The tech giant said it would open up its less-than-truckload, or LTL, shipping business to any customer. Amazon already had been offering LTL services to partners shipping to Amazon warehouses.

LTL shippers serve primarily industrial customers that don't need a full truck to ship goods over relatively short distances. Old Dominion Freight Line, XPO, and the recently spun-out FedEx Freight are three examples of publicly traded LTL shipping players.

"The feedback from Amazon selling partners using our LTL service was clear: The technology, visibility, and reliability were exactly what they needed -- and they wanted to use it more broadly," said Jim Ruiz, director of Amazon Freight, in a news release. "With LTL, shippers get cost-effective freight shipping while still benefiting from the real-time tracking and dependability they expect from Amazon."

The move creates additional, well-capitalized competition for existing players. That has investors nervous. Shares of Old Dominion were down 7% in premarket trading, and shares of FedEx Freight and XPO were down about 6% and 5%, respectively. Both S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off about 0.9%.

Amazon's logistics ambitions have roiled shipping stocks for years. Most recently, Amazon's announcement in May of Amazon Supply Chain Service, a business that will provide distribution, warehousing, and last-mile delivery services, sent many logistics stocks south. UPS shares dropped more than 10% in response.

Wall Street analysts told investors not to overreact to Amazon's supply chain ambitions, noting that the company has been expanding its logistics operations for years. It is just part of the industry, and history has shown that there is enough growth to support multiple players. What's more, the transition from brick-and-mortar retail to online shipping isn't the same as logistics. Amazon is essentially doing exactly what industry players are doing today.

Still, investors, in situations like this, tend to sell first and ask questions later.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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June 10, 2026 07:45 ET (11:45 GMT)

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