Walmart Approved C.H. Robinson In May. Its Healthcare Freight Business Had Already Passed $1 Billion.

C.H. Robinson, among the third-party logistics providers Walmart approved in May for its Prepaid Consolidation program, has surpassed $1 billion in healthcare logistics revenue over the past year, largely on the growth of GLP-1 medications, the company said in CNBC reporting published July 25. C.H. Robinson first announced the milestone on March 17, two months before Walmart named it to the program. It has been investing in temperature-controlled facilities to support that volume. Ronnie Davis, the company’s vice president for North American healthcare, told CNBC that innovation has concentrated on getting drugs to market and that the resulting volume is straining cold chain capability, creating “a competitive nature for the same refrigerated supply resources” against a supply he characterized as constrained rather than unlimited.

Separately, in its July North America Freight Market Update, C.H. Robinson raised its 2026 refrigerated van spot cost-per-mile forecast to 35 percent above 2025, with dry van revised to 34 percent. The firm expects only slight seasonal tempering after the Fourth of July, enough for some rate relief through the month but not enough to offset strong year-over-year increases, and projects a steeper climb through the holiday period. It attributes that revision to reduced carrier supply and a higher cost baseline rather than to pharmaceutical demand, and suppliers should hold the two claims apart. Davis is describing where he sees competition developing next. The published forecast rests on how many trucks exist.

The wider reallocation toward healthcare freight is visible across the sector. UPS reported more than $11 billion from its global healthcare portfolio in 2025 in its annual filing, while disclosing planned volume declines from Amazon of more than 50 percent by June 2026 against 2024 levels. FedEx completed the spin-off of its North American less-than-truckload carrier on June 1 and launched a dedicated life sciences organization on July 9.

Contracted Suppliers Should Not Read Past A Spot Forecast

ACT Research’s June freight forecast reported contract rates beginning to follow spot rates upward rather than absorbing them, which is the mechanism by which a spot condition reaches a cost base at bid time. The supply side behind it is not seasonal either. FreightWaves has reported that English language proficiency requirements, restrictions on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, an electronic logging device crackdown, and forced closures of driver training schools are tightening a capacity pool that had been loose for over three years. Transport Topics reported this month that truckload capacity has tightened since the start of 2026 on federal enforcement around driver licensing, with carriers describing the capacity that left as unlikely to return quickly.

Walmart’s Consolidation Program Never Mentions Cold Chain

That cost environment is what makes a gap in Walmart’s May announcement worth revisiting. Under Prepaid Consolidation, announced May 26, prepaid suppliers ship under a single national purchase order to one automated consolidation center, pay a published price-per-case rate covering handling and outbound transportation, and keep their existing prepaid freight terms while Walmart merges the inventory and distributes it across its 42 regional distribution centers. Mike Gray, senior vice president of supply chain at Walmart U.S., described the aim as making the supply chain “simpler, faster and more efficient for suppliers.” Walmart named C.H. Robinson, Hub Group, and RJW Logistics among its approved providers, and FreightWaves reported that automated consolidation centers have been part of the first-mile network since 2018 but were previously open only to collect suppliers.

The announcement describes movement into the RDC network. It does not mention temperature-controlled freight, perishable distribution centers, or refrigerated equipment anywhere in its description of scope. Walmart has said the program will scale in phases with participation prioritized by volume alignment and capacity expansion, so silence is not exclusion. It does mean a supplier with chilled or frozen volume cannot read eligibility into the release and should not build one into a freight budget.

There Is No Marketplace Route Around Any Of This

Walmart Marketplace prohibits the category outright. Its Prohibited Products Policy on food products, updated in December 2025, lists perishable produce and food and beverage items requiring time and temperature control for safety in the prohibited column, naming meats and proteins including plant-based products, dairy and non-dairy alternatives, seafood, prepared foods, meal kits, and juices. Walmart Fulfillment Services separately lists temperature-controlled items among the products it does not accept, per Walmart’s WFS Prohibited Products Policy. Chilled and frozen assortment reaches Walmart shelves through the first-party supply chain, and a 3P seller cannot take the category on as a hedge.

Within first-party exposure, freight terms decide who carries what. Walmart’s private fleet moves freight from distribution centers out to stores, and most inbound freight arrives on third-party carriers, as FreightWaves noted in its coverage of the May announcement. A prepaid supplier owns the rate and the arrival window. A collect supplier hands transportation cost to Walmart while keeping the obligation to have product staged and ready when the carrier arrives, which becomes harder to hold when carrier timing turns unpredictable. OTIF exposure follows from timing either way.

C.H. Robinson’s forecast runs through December with its steepest increases expected in the holiday period, which places the freight side of this inside the planning cycle most suppliers are working right now. Walmart’s release directs suppliers interested in Prepaid Consolidation to contact its consolidation team or one of the participating providers to explore eligibility, and for anyone moving chilled or frozen volume, that eligibility question is worth putting in writing before rates reset.

Winning With Walmart

Winning With Walmart is an independent platform for suppliers, sellers, solution providers, and industry experts.

Articles are developed by staff editors, contributing experts, and trusted partners.

Some are researched and drafted with the assistance of AI tools and are reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by Winning With Walmart editors before publication.

Editorial judgment, sourcing decisions, and final approval rest with the publication's human editors in every case.

We are committed to accuracy and fairness. If you believe this article contains an error, we welcome your feedback.