Top 25 LTL Trucking Companies

'Softening' freight demand affects all carriers, slowing growth at Old Dominion Freight Line and pushing down revenue and profit at Saia. Carriers are adapting to the slower paced economy.

Shippers are likely to rely more on smaller shipments and fast-cycle replenishment to reduce overstocked inventories, and that's an opportunity for less-than-truckload operators, YRC Freight says.

Con-way Freight today said it will raise non-contract tariff rates 4.9 percent this month, following rate hikes announced by FedEx Freight in the U.S. and DHL Freight in Europe.

Less-than-truckload shipments rose between 11 and 13 percent at Old Dominion Freight Line, which gained market share as it continued long-term expansion. Lower fuel surcharges diluted yield, however.

A new 110-door terminal in Grand Rapids, Michigan is one step in a plan to speed freight flow system-wide at YRC Worldwide subsidiary Holland. The regional carrier is also developing new cross-dock technology to better blend digital data and physical freight.

ArcBest rode a company-wide wave of freight demand in the second quarter, with less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System and asset-light subsidiaries increasing revenue and profit. The asset-light businesses, however, grew faster than the asset-based LTL division.

The recovery at YRC Worldwide is gaining traction, as the company's regional and national subsidiaries reported stronger profits based on better pricing and freight mix. The company appears poised to emerge from eight years of annual losses, but executives warn its journey isn't over yet.

Old Dominion Freight Line barely downshifted as the economy slowed in early 2015, increasing revenue, profit, shipments and tonnage year-over-year in the last quarter.

U.S. trucking companies continue to make more from less, with Saia, the 10th-largest U.S. less-than-truckload carrier, reporting bigger second-quarter profits on reduced revenue and tonnage.

Swift Transportation last year led the trucking industry in raising driver pay, and that pay raise, however costly, is paying off handsomely for the largest U.S. truckload carrier as driver retention improves and profits rise 27 percent from a year ago.

New England Motor Freight will open a 44-door terminal in Indianapolis July 27 as the multi-regional carrier builds density in lanes connecting the East Coast and Midwest.

The former president of Con-way Freight will lead one of the largest temperature-controlled logistics companies as demand for cold-chain services grows.

The sudden departure of one president and the appointment of another left analysts asking whether Con-way Freight can improve its profitability faster.

Two of the largest publicly owned less-than-truckload carriers, Old Dominion Freight Line and ABF Freight System, reported stronger than expected freight demand in the early second quarter, echoing the mid-quarter report of truckload company Landstar System.

New service centers in Phoenix and Salt Lake City will help Roadrunner deepen its less-than-truckload coverage across the southern tier of U.S. states.

Old Dominion Freight Line promoted veteran executive Greg C. Gantt to president, while David S. Congdon remains CEO and takes on added responsibilities as vice chairman of the company's board.

The Teamsters union lost a representation election at FedEx Freight's Chicago Heights, Illinois, terminal, the latest setback in the union's effort to organize the largest U.S. less-than-truckload carrier. So far, the Teamsters have organized four FedEx Freight terminals.

YRC Worldwide is "transitioning to a state of profitability," cutting freight that won't pay its way and raising prices. The LTL operator is willing to accept fewer shipments and less revenue if its bottom line can eventually come out on top.

Old Dominion Freight Line didn't brake for the general slowdown apparent in first-quarter U.S. GDP. The less-than-truckload carrier reinvested earnings in expansion.

The Teamsters union lost another round in its terminal-by-terminal organizing battle with Con-way Freight, the second-largest U.S. less-than-truckload carrier. To date, the union has three victories and six losses — not counting two terminals where the Teamsters withdrew an election petition.

YRC Worldwide is preparing to shed some old equipment and replace it with new tractor-trailers. The $5.1 billion less-than-truckload operator is trading up both trucks and technology, CEO James Welch said at the Truckload & Logistics Council’s 41st annual conference here Monday.

Truck drivers at the Stockton, California terminal of FedEx Freight, the largest U.S. trucking company, voted to join the Teamsters union, making Stockton the fourth terminal to go union since the start of an organizing campaign last fall. However, six terminals have rejected the union, and the Teamsters have withdrawn six election petitions.

Less-than-truckload carriers took divergent routes as the U.S. economy rebounded last year, with the largest asset-based LTL freight haulers in the U.S. increasing their revenue significantly at the expense of the rest of the LTL carrier base. That points to consolidation and concentration of revenue in 2015 as the biggest U.S. LTL operators get bigger.

YRC Freight is expediting inbound shipments breaking free of the container logjam on the U.S. West Coast, as retailers rush to get spring goods to store shelves before Easter.

Old Dominion Freight Line will keep its long-term expansion rolling this year, spending $463 million on terminals, tractors, technology and people.

Canada's second-largest LTL operator pushed deeper into Western Canada by acquiring a division of Alberta-based Hi-Way 13.

Railroads and trucking companies said shipping delays would be unavoidable Tuesday in the wake of severe winter weather that dropped as much as 2 feet of snow in some corners of the Northeast.

Higher trucking rates drove year-over-year increases in less-than-truckload yield in the third quarter, as the U.S. economy expanded more than 3 percent for the second straight quarter. Lower diesel prices and reduced surcharges, however, curbed yield gains at many carriers.

Banking on economic expansion and its own history, Old Dominion Freight Line plans to repurchase as much as $200 million of its own stock over the next two years.

Saia, the 10th-largest U.S. less-than-truckload carrier, increased tonnage, shipments, revenue and profit in the third quarter, and so far in the fourth quarter sees no signs of a slowdown.

New NEMF President Tom Connery sees expansion ahead for regional LTL trucking company NEMF, not just in terms of service territory but new services, from port drayage to flatbed hauling.

Con-way Freight said it will boost truck driver pay by $60 million in 2015, restructuring pay rates for more than 14,000 line-haul and pickup-and-delivery drivers nationwide.

Central Freight Lines reached out toward the East Coast last month by acquiring the less-than-truckload assets and business of Drug Transport, a Georgia-based company that in August filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in bankruptcy court in Atlanta.

William R. Davidson, a veteran Teamsters labor relations official with decades of hands-on less-than-truckload experience, will join the YRC Worldwide board of directors.

Freight is flowing more quickly through LTL terminals nationwide — a sign, carriers hope, of a steadier economic recovery.

Unable to secure financing needed to keep its trucks rolling, New Century Transportation is preparing to close its doors.

April showered less-than-truckload carriers with freight, as shippers responded to a surge in consumer spending in March and increased industrial demand.

Revenue rose 3.9 percent at the 25 largest U.S. less-than-truckload carriers in 2013, hitting to $29.5 billion in 2013, as the segment continued its long, slow recovery from a disastrous 2009, when the LTL group lost nearly 25 percent of its revenue.