TT 100 For-Hire Carriers Changed, Grew in Past Year

Click here to access the 2005 Transport Topics 100 for-hire and private fleet listings.

The largest trucking businesses grew across the board in 2004, as the nation’s top for-hire carriers found new and innovative ways to haul more freight, despite rising costs for fuel and equipment and a tightening market for drivers.

To augment freight-hauling capacity, many on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers expanded their use of brokerage and rail intermodal services. Others stepped up efforts to recruit independent owner-operators.

Truckload carriers, in particular, focused on expanding the number and size of dedicated fleets, and shifted resources from longhaul routes to shorthaul lanes that appeal to more drivers.

However, the shorthaul lanes also presented new management challenges in maintaining equipment utilization, and curtailed profits for several top carriers.

Transport Industries Holdings, a company based in Dallas that is listed for the first time at No. 40, specializes in dedicated contract carriage for the grocery industry. Universal Truckload Services, another newcomer to the list, is a flatbed and dry van truckload carrier that uses owner-operators exclusively.

Mergers and acquisitions also had an effect on the latest edition of the TT 100, with Yellow Roadway acquiring regional less-than-truckload rival USF Corp. in May; UPS Inc. announcing plans to buy Overnite Corp.; and, most recently, Estes Express Lines, Richmond, Va., reaching a deal to buy out western regional LTL carrier G.I. Trucking of La Mirada, Calif.

Express carriers beefed up their ground-based trucking operations last year, which is reflected by the addition of DHL Americas and freight forwarders BAX Global and EGL Inc., the parent of Eagle Global Logistics, to the TT 100 list.

Many carriers in the tank truck, household goods and vehicle hauling sectors, after years of retrenchment and harsh business conditions, reported healthy growth in revenue and operating profits in 2004.

Click here to access the 2005 Transport Topics 100 for-hire and private fleet listings.

The TT 100 for-hire listing ran in the July 25 issue and the TT 100 private fleet listing ran in the Aug. 1 issue of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.