Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/357935
Turn the page for the CCJ Top 250® foldout Coming together Since the beginning of 2013, merger-and-acquisition activity has ramped up for fleets of all sizes, particularly among larger fleets. Swift Transportation's acquisitions of West Valley City, Utah-based Central Refrigerated Ser- vice and Morton, Ill.-based Star Transport – No. 54 and No. 160 in last year's ranking, respectively – helped vault the Phoenix-based carrier from No. 5 to No. 3 in this year's ranking. KLLM Transportation Services completed its acquisition of Dallas-based Frozen Food Express (No. 62 last year), propelling the Richland, Miss.-based refrig- erated hauler from No. 67 to No. 38 this year. Late last year, North Liberty, Iowa-based Heartland Express completed the acquisition of Pacific, Wash.- Gordon Trucking (No. 58 last year), and Jack Cooper Transport purchased Atlanta-based Allied Systems (No. 98 last year), making the Kansas City, Mo.-based carrier the highest-ranked motor vehicle hauler in the ranking, edging out United Road Services and Cassens Transport. Earlier this year, Canadian giant TransForce completed the acquisition of Toronto-based Vitran (No. 37 last year), and XPO Logistics, which owns XPO Express (for- merly Express-1, No. 231 last year), acquired two more carriers from last year's list: 3PD Inc. (No. 71) and Pacer International (No. 74). Another notable departure from the CCJ Top 250 is New Century Transportation, No. 99 in last year's rank- ing, which in June filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and closed its doors, eliminating an estimated 1,000 power units and 1,000 drivers at the time. With so much consolidation in the CCJ Top 250, this year saw 21 fleets debuting or making a return to the list after an absence last year, led by Yuba City, Calif.-based New Legend Inc. (No. 196), a dry van and refrigerated hauler with 519 power units and drivers and 1,045 trailers. In spite of regulations threatening to limit capacity and industry growth, the largest carriers in the industry continue to exhibit strong performance. The resur- gence of near-shoring and the rebound of U.S.-based manufacturing should play a big part in the industry's continued expansion. Barring an unforeseen slowdown in the already anemic economic growth, year-over-year comparisons next year should reflect similar positive results as this year. * Excludes outlying operations that likely would skew a segment's figures for various reasons, such as their unusual scope or operating profile or the inclusion of revenues that are beyond either North America or transportation by truck **Based on companies that self-reported revenue data for both 2012 and 2013 CCJ TOP 250 BREAKDOWN BY SEGMENT Dedicated contract carriage 19 7.6% 26,496 4.4% 4.5% $233,282 $187,777 Flatbed/Specialized/Heavy haul 25 10.0% 28,440 4.7% -5.6% $186,818 $192,580 General freight 117 46.8% 256,175 42.3% 6.5% $295,120 $254,664 Household goods 9 3.6% 18,720 3.1% 7.1% $305,720 $311,952 Intermodal 8 3.2% 10,474 1.7% 9.5% $159,721 $160,842 Motor vehicles 9 3.6% 10,085 1.7% 9.7% $220,998 $197,743 Packages/Small shipments 3 1.2% 194,200 32.0% 2.8% $276,385 $215,244 Refrigerated 24 9.6% 29,279 4.8% 10.9% $269,454 $231,460 Tank/Bulk commodities 36 14.4% 32,405 5.3% 10.1% $237,127 $220,017 Estimated Power revenue change Revenue per Revenue per Segment Carriers % of total units % of total 2012 to 2013** power unit* driver* As we did last year, much of the detailed data you are accustomed to seeing in previous print versions of the CCJ Top 250 package has moved online to www.ccjtop250.com, where you have more options for viewing and sorting the information than you do in a static print publication. In addition to viewing the entire CCJ Top 250 database of information, you can sort by primary segment type to get a closer look at a carrier's performance in relation to its peers. In the pages that follow, you will see where the trucking compa - nies rank and learn a bit more about some of the fleets in the CCJ Top 250 as chosen by our editors. Go to www.ccjtop250.com for more detailed information! COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | AUGUST 2014 61