For-Hire Carriers Endured a Painful Year, But Certain Niches Thrived, TT 100 Shows
This story appears in the July 21 print edition of Transport Topics.
It has been a year of retrenchment for most, but not all, of the largest for-hire carriers in the United States and Canada, as fleets scramble to cope with record fuel prices and weak freight demand.
While most large fleets put the brakes on expansion, and bankruptcies drove many carriers out of business, a number of flatbed and heavy-haul specialists, intermodal and tank truck carriers managed to post relatively strong revenue growth, according to the 2008 edition of the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers.
Flatbed carriers, in particular, benefited from an upswing in exports of U.S.-made machinery and industrial goods, as well as higher oil and gas drilling activity as prices rose to record levels.
Anderson Trucking Service and LoneStar Transportation each saw revenue climb more than 20% in 2007. Another flatbed carrier, Venture Transport Logistics, was taken over by private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and merged with three others: oil-field haulers Ace Transportation and Dynasty Transportation of Lafayette, La., and Texas Hot Shot Co.
Package/courier, contract/logistics and refrigerated carriers also posted gains, but household goods and vehicle haulers suffered declines.
While the slowdown in freight demand affected the operations of many truckload and less-than-truckload carriers, many top executives and industry analysts said truck capacity could become tight again in the months ahead.
Jim Butts, senior vice president of freight brokerage firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide, said he expects to see carrier rates increase as much as 10% this fall.
Higher fuel costs — and the possibility of diesel shortages — are also forcing shippers to rethink how and when they move freight, and to consider new packaging and product formulations to reduce the volume and weight of shipments.
Details on these and other developments within the freight transportation industry are detailed in the Transport Topics 2008 Top 100 For-Hire Carriers section, which is included in this edition.
