Private Fleet Sector Rankings Illustrate Market Shifts
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The biggest private motor carriers across a variety of industries experienced ups and downs during the past year as they adapted to changing freight market conditions. The continued easing of supply chain constraints has boosted some private fleets to new heights, while tighter competition has caused others to fall behind.
In addition to maintaining and replacing their trucking equipment, private fleet operators remain focused on driver recruitment and retention even as freight capacity has loosened.
In an ever-changing transportation market flush with mergers, acquisitions and consolidation, carriers operating in virtually every segment of the economy have had to adjust their businesses time and time again.
Food Service
Many of the largest private fleets in the food service industry continued to grow in the past year.
Sysco Corp., once again taking the top spot on the list, expanded its fleet by more than 700 tractors, while US Foods held on to its No. 2 ranking.
See the 2023 Top 100 rankings
►Introducing the Top 100 Private Carriers
►Top 100 Private interactive map
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►Sector Rankings Illustrate Market Shifts
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►Kroger, Albertsons CEOs Detail Proposed Merger
Sector Rankings
Food Service | Grocery
Beverage
Petroleum/Chemical
Industrial Gases | Agriculture/Food Processing
Wholesale/Retail | Manufacturing
Equipment Rental | Building Materials
Waste Management
Paper/Office Products
Construction
Health Care
Uniform Rental
Media & Entertainment
Performance Food Group maintained its spot at No. 3 with a number of its subsidiaries also appearing, including Core-Mark Holding Co. at No. 9, Vistar Transportation at No. 15 and Merchants Foodservice at No. 19. Core-Mark’s fleet expanded as it folded in the operations of Eby-Brown Co.
No. 4 Gordon Food Service and No. 5 Frito-Lay North America round out the top five, with PepsiCo’s snack food division seeing a 29% jump in fleet size to more than 2,000 tractors.
Agriculture and Food Processing
The top five fleets in the agriculture and food processing sector saw some reshuffling this year, but Tyson Foods remained at the front of the pack with 2,594 tractors. CHS Inc. rose to the No. 2 spot with slight growth in its fleet, while Helena Agri-Enterprises dropped to No. 3.
Darling Ingredients moved up two spots to No. 4 after expanding its fleet through its acquisition of Valley Proteins.
Beverage
PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and their independent bottling companies across the United States once again dominated the private fleet list in the beverage industry.
PepsiCo grew its in-house North America Beverages fleet by more than 1,000 tractors and retained its No. 1 placement by a wide margin. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United kept its No. 3 ranking from last year, with 10 other Coca-Cola bottling companies also qualifying.
No. 2-ranked Reyes Beverage Group, formerly known as Reyes Beer Division, grew its fleet by nearly 300 tractors. Reyes’ Coca-Cola bottling division also stayed in the top five at No. 4.
Grocery
United Natural Foods Inc. jumped to the No. 1 spot on this year’s grocery ranking after growing its fleet by nearly 400 tractors to eclipse the 2,000 mark.
Inside a UNFI grocery retail location. (United Natural Foods Inc.)
Despite dropping to No. 2, McLane Retail also grew its fleet and remained close behind UNFI.
Ahold Delhaize climbed to No. 3 on the grocery sector list, followed by No. 4 The Kroger Co. and No. 5 Albertsons Cos.
Waste Management
Clean Harbors Environmental Services, already the leader in the waste management sector, further cemented its top ranking by increasing its fleet size to 2,035 tractors.
No. 2 Ecology Auto Parts also increased its tractor count, while Stericycle Inc., Liquid Environmental Solutions and U.S. Ecology retained their top-five spots from last year.
Paper and Office Products
While Veritiv Corp. kept its No. 1 ranking from last year, the rest of the paper and office list saw some shakeup with two new companies debuting.
No. 2 Boise Paper Holdings includes the fleets of BCT Inc. and Boise White Paper.
No. 5 Central National Gottesman is the parent company of Lindenmeyr Munroe and acquired S.P. Richards Co., two companies that appeared on last year’s list.
Petroleum and Chemical
Halliburton Co. boasts the largest private trucking fleet in the petroleum industry. (Halliburton Co.)
Halliburton Co. easily retained its No. 1 ranking in the petroleum and chemical sector despite a 17% contraction in fleet size.
NexTier Oilfield Solutions held on to the No. 2 position, but Schlumberger’s drop from its No. 3 ranking last year allowed Pilot Co., ProFrac Holding Corp. and Love’s Travel Stops to take spots 3-5.
Wholesale and Retail
Walmart Inc. continued to stretch its lead in the wholesale and retail industry after expanding its fleet by more than 2,000 tractors during the past year.
No. 2-ranked Amazon.com Inc. also saw massive growth with a 137% jump in tractor count from last year.
Rounding out the top five on the sector list are Carvana, Walgreen Co. and Sherwin-Williams Co., which each operate more than 1,000 tractors.
Industrial Gases
Private fleet rankings in the industrial gases sector were unchanged from a year ago as American Air Liquide Holdings stayed ahead of the pack once again. No. 2 Messer Americas had the largest increase in fleet size, expanding by 60 tractors.
Manufacturing
The top companies in the manufacturing sector remained unchanged with Ashley Distribution Services maintaining its spot atop the list.
Shaw Transport retained the No. 2 spot, followed by No. 3 Mohawk Carpet Transportation of Georgia and No. 4 Advanced Drainage Systems.
Building Materials
The Quikrete Cos. retained its No. 1 ranking on the building materials list after growing its fleet by 200 tractors.
An employee of The Quikrete Cos., No. 17 on the Top 100 Private Carriers list, inspects a flatbed. (The Quikrete Cos.)
CRH Americas moved past Cemex USA to reach No. 2 on the list by adding 173 more tractors to its fleet.
Equipment Rental
Top-ranked United Rentals expanded its edge over the competition in the equipment rental sector by adding nearly 900 tractors to its fleet.
No. 2 Sunbelt Rentals and No. 3 WillScot Mobile Mini maintained their rankings from last year, while Herc Rentals and Bragg Cos. both moved into the top five, leapfrogging No. 6 Maxim Crane Works.
Construction
Making its debut at No. 1 on the construction fleet sector list is MasTec Inc., a Florida-based infrastructure engineering company.
No. 2 Williams Bros. Construction and No. 3 Hulcher Services retained their rankings from a year ago, while Michels Corp. fell to No. 4 after holding the top spot last year.
Other Sectors
In the health care sector, Medline Inc. remains the largest player by a wide margin, with more than 1,000 tractors in its fleet.
Aramark Uniform Services kept its spot atop the uniform rental list, with no change to the rankings.
NBC Universal again touts the biggest fleet in the media and entertainment sector, while No. 2 Sony Pictures Studios expanded its own fleet to 150 tractors.
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