Truckload companies USA Truck and Celadon Group are not waiting for a recovery in the truckload market to materialize and pull them out of the red, instead working to get into the black with a stronger focus on their asset-light brokerage businesses.

Steve Russell, who founded and led the Celadon Group's transformation from a small dry van carrier in 1985 into one of the trucking industry’s most formidable firms, died on Friday. He was 76 years old.

A successful acquisition strategy, the opening of new driver schools and expanded capacity drove Celadon Group’s revenue to a historic high mark in the 2015 fiscal year ending June 30.

The third quarter was good to practically all the publicly owned U.S. trucking companies: none reported losses, and their combined revenue rose 10.7 percent to more than $10 billion, supported by a second quarter of stronger freight demand and economic growth.

Celadon Trucking acquired A&S Services Group, a regional truckload carrier and port drayage operator with a

A review of publicly owned trucking company earnings in the second quarter shows the strength of freight demand building up as the U.S. economy expanded, supporting growing expectations of a busier than typical peak shipping season in North America this fall.

The first quarter was warmer for trucking than you might think — at least financially.

When it came to expansion, the 25 largest truckload carriers idled their engines last year, increasing their combined revenue by just 0.6 percent to $25.6 billion. The growth they did enjoy came largely from acquisitions, a trend expected to continue in 2014 as truckload demand rises.

CRST International started 2014 by acquiring BESL Transfer, a flatbed trucking company in Cincinnati. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Journal of Commerce Truckload Capacity Index rose unexpectedly in the third quarter to a four-year high, but that doesn’t mean more tractor-trailers rolled onto highways and up to shipper docks. Instead, the leap in the index reflects a gathering concentration of capacity at the top of trucking’s food chain, as larger motor carriers acquire and absorb smaller companies to secure drivers, equipment and freight revenue.

Celadon Group reported its net income decreased 20.0 percent to $7.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, ending June 30, 2013, from $9.0 million in the same quarter last year.

Celadon Group reported net income in the third quarter of fiscal year 2013, ending March 31, 2013, was $4.4 million, dropping 22.8 percent from $5.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2012.

Celadon Group reported profit in the second quarter, ending Dec. 31, 2012, of the company’s fiscal year ending June 30, was $7.4 million, jumping 34.6 percent from $5.5 million in the same quarter in 2011.