Top 25 Truckload Companies

The largest truckload carriers increased revenue 40% from 2020 through 2022, but their rocket ran out of fuel last year amid tumbling spot market prices, lower contract rates and falling fuel surcharges.

The US LTL producer price index rose 2.6% in January from December, while the equivalent truckload measure fell 2.6%, underscoring differences between the sectors.

Many US truckload customers engaged in annual bids and contract talks are still looking for rate cuts, but the potential for a market turnaround is tempering behavior.

The Journal of Commerce Truckload Capacity Index fell to 2018 levels at the end of 2023 as truckload carriers kept cutting into their fleets to lower costs. 

Some of the largest truckload carriers, including Werner, Schneider and J.B. Hunt, are putting more emphasis on dedicated fleets as shippers seek stability and security.

Truckload spot rates are creeping higher, but trucking executives see no catalyst for stronger price increases absent higher freight demand, even as capacity slowly tightens. 

Growing shipper preference for longer-term contracts shows they believe the truckload market has hit bottom and are concerned about late-2024 capacity, analysts say. 

Not all industry analysts believe a surge in demand is necessary for US truckload rates to rise in 2024, but some say capacity levels remain too high for a big move upward.

US truckload shippers are showing more “sensitivity” to supply and service issues, supporting a new spot market pricing floor but not giving rates much lift, according to trucking and logistics executives.

The bidding process needs to be “revolutionized” to save shippers money, with more emphasis on strategic relationships, speakers said at the NITL Engage Conference.

US truckload carrier executives say they don’t see any signs that freight demand will pick back up until the end of 2023.

Schneider's acquisition of M&M Transport underscores the ongoing popularity of dedicated transportation among shippers and carriers, even in an era of excess truckload capacity. 

An index based on truck counts at large truckload carriers dropped nearly 5% in the first quarter from late 2022 as those carriers adjusted to a softer market and lower contract and spot rates.

Knight-Swift, the largest US truckload provider, will substantially expand its reach and scalability for shippers with the purchase of U.S. Xpress, the country’s ninth-largest truckload carrier.

Demand for flatbed tractor-trailers is rising along the Gulf Coast and Southeast, buoyed by project cargo, shifting freight patterns, and a warmer-than-normal winter, DAT Freight & Analytics says.

Lower rates and ample capacity are drawing more freight to the US truckload sector, particularly the dedicated and contract markets, according to the Cass Freight Index report.

Smaller trucking firms are leaving the market at a faster rate, but plenty of truckload capacity remains, especially at larger fleets that are just short of record truck counts.

Truckload and LTL freight volumes have dropped, but a turn will come sometime in mid-2023, industry executives said at the SMC3 Jumpstart conference in Atlanta.

US dry-van spot rates appear to be stabilizing, but contract rates are dropping by double-digit percentages as new pricing and service agreements take effect.

Truck freight demand is falling closer to 2021 levels as 2022 draws toward its close, putting more pressure on truckload and LTL rates.

After rising strongly from the third quarter of 2021 through the second quarter of this year, the JOC Truckload Capacity Index dropped slightly last quarter, but demand for equipment is still high.

The acquisition of ReedTMS Logistics not only expands Werner’s brokerage reach, it also delivers shipper customers in the staple food and beverage industries.

US truckload capacity isn’t so much declining as it is shifting, according to data, and that will pose challenges to shippers and carriers trying to access trucks, trailers, and drivers.

For-hire trucking companies added almost 20,000 jobs last month, erasing September’s payroll cut as capacity shifts between trucking sectors.

Regional stress is running through US truckload markets as demand softens, with price and capacity fluctuations that challenge shippers and carriers.

US shippers will win transportation savings in 2023 bids, but large truckload carriers haven’t lost all pricing muscle.

LTL costs to shippers rose 0.3 percent in September and were up 15 percent year over year while truckload costs declined more slowly, according to the latest US producer price index.

US shippers should expect more international acquisitions of domestic US trucking operations as logistics companies work to provide more end-to-end services and visibility.

Real, unadjusted jobs in trucking dropped by 21,200 in September, an unusually high number, as contract and spot truckload rates declined.

More shippers are returning to the truckload spot market as rates drop, but experts say they’re using that market more strategically than ever before to reduce transportation costs.

US for-hire truck tonnage jumped 2.8 percent in August from July, according to the American Trucking Associations, as consumers and the US economy remained resilient despite inflation.

The decline in outbound per-mile spot rates from US ports dropped more than the US average in August as normal seasonality and abnormal gridlock crimped demand, a JOC analysis shows.

Stung by lower tractor utilization rates and rising costs, truckload carrier US Xpress pares back its technology team and real estate, and focuses on adding truckload contract business.

While trucking makes hiring gains in the US, unadjusted warehousing and storage employment has fallen in four of the past five months, contributing to supply chain bottlenecks.

The American Trucking Associations reports truck tonnage levels were still high in July, running counter to reports that trucking demand is weakening ahead of the fourth quarter.

The largest truckload acquisition to date this year would put Heartland at about 11th on the Top 25 Truckload Carrier rankings prepared for JOC.com.

Large truckload carriers are adding capacity, whether by purchasing trucks or acquiring trucking companies, and that's pushing the JOC Truckload Capacity Index to its highest level ever.

It is “highly probable” US shippers will recover at least some of last year’s truckload rate hikes, as the Cass Freight Index shows a sequential drop in truckload linehaul costs.

Declines in the producer price indexes for various sectors of trucking reflect falling fuel surcharge revenue and lower rates in new contracts, but don’t point to a large-scale pricing rollback.

Strong trucking demand beyond the truckload spot market is to keep pressure on truck pricing, and will do so into 2023, speakers at a JOC webcast said Wednesday.