Compared to 2018, a year that provided many for-hire carriers with once-in-a-generation market conditions, 2019 may have felt like a ho-hum year to many fleet executives. Although the North American trucking industry saw little growth in 2019, many carriers were able to eke out modest gains.
After posting a whopping 9.9% revenue gain in 2018, fleets in this year’s CCJ Top 250 still managed to turn in an increase of 3.7% last year. (Note: these figures include revenue data from carriers that self-reported or publicly provided information for consecutive years.) Take out the combined revenues and $6.7 billion gain posted by package giants UPS and FedEx, however, and the overall CCJ Top 250 revenue growth in 2019 comes in at just 1.3%.
Only two of the nine industry segment groups tracked in the CCJ Top 250 posted revenue declines from 2018 to 2019: Motor vehicles (-0.3%) and Intermodal (-8.1%). The General freight industry segment – a group that makes up nearly half the carriers in the 2020 CCJ Top 250 – managed only a 0.1% revenue gain.
The Tank/bulk commodities segment led all groups with a 10.8% revenue increase thanks to increased demands for chemical, food and dry bulk goods. Other top performers include Dedicated contract carriage (+8.6%) and Packages/small shipments (+7.5%).
Standouts include Heniff Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 67), whose revenue rose 88% after a string of recent acquisitions in the tank/bulk segment; Wilson Logistics (No. 98), which posted a 29% increase after last year’s acquisition of Market Transport; and PS Logistics (No. 36), a Birmingham, Ala.-based carrier that turned in a 21% increase after a consolidation run in the flatbed segment. Other carriers with notable revenue gains include Cardinal Logistics (No. 37, 21% increase), Hirschbach Motor Lines (No. 64, 21% increase) and Cliff Viessman (No. 156, 20% increase).
Fleets not looking to grow
While revenue numbers for the CCJ Top 250 reflect a carrier’s performance in the previous fiscal year, other data points – including straight truck, tractor, trailer and driver counts – are reported annually in June and early July. Power unit counts at the 237 fleets that appeared in both the 2019 and 2020 CCJ Top 250 rankings rose 2.1% in the last year, from 691,422 to 706,009. Excluding equipment counts from UPS and FedEx, however, the remaining 235 fleets only accounted for growth of 0.2%.
