In economics, the words cargo and freight refer in particular to goods or produce being conveyed – generally for commercial gain – by water, air or land. Cargo was originally a shipload. Cargo now covers all types of freight, including that carried by rail, van, truck, or intermodal container. The term cargo is also used in case of goods in the cold-chain, because the perishable inventory is always in transit towards a final end-use, even when it is held in cold storage or other similar climate-controlled facility. The term freight is commonly used to describe the movements of flows of goods being transported by any mode of transportation.
Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P. is a joint venture of Penske Corporation, Penske Automotive Group, and Mitsui & Co. Headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania, the company was founded by Team Penske owner Roger Penske on December 1, 1969. The firm serves customers in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; among its services are full-service commercial truck leasing, truck fleet maintenance, truck rentals, and used truck sales. The company currently employs more than 36,000 workers worldwide and operates and maintains a fleet of more than 300,000 vehicles. Brian Hard is the president and CEO of the company.
Con-way, Inc. was an American multinational freight transportation and logistics company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. With annual revenues of $5.5 billion, Con-way was the second largest less-than-truckload transport provider in North America, with additional operations for global contract logistics, managed transportation, truckload and freight brokerage. The company's services were sold through its primary operating companies of Con-way Freight, Con-way Truckload and Menlo Worldwide. These operating units provided less-than-truckload (LTL), full truckload and multimodal freight transportation, as well as logistics, warehousing and supply chain management services. Con-way, Inc. and its subsidiaries operated from more than 500 locations across North America and in 20 countries.
Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
Crowley Maritime Corporation, is based in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded in 1892, Crowley is primarily a family- and employee-owned marine solutions, energy and logistics services company, providing services globally. As of July 2016, Crowley was ranked as the 13th largest private company in Florida, employing approximately 5,300 people worldwide with revenues of $2.2 billion. It provides its services using a fleet of more than 300 vessels, consisting of RO-RO vessels, LO-LO vessels, tankers, Articulated Tug-Barges (ATBs), tugs and barges. Crowley's land-based facilities and equipment include terminals, warehouses, tank farms, and specialized vehicles.
Freight companies are companies that specialize in the moving of freight, or cargo, from one place to another. These companies are divided into several variant sections. For example, international freight forwarders ship goods internationally from country to country, and domestic freight forwarders, ship goods within a single country.
The trucking industry serves the American economy by transporting large quantities of raw materials, works in process, and finished goods over land—typically from manufacturing plants to retail distribution centers. Trucks are also used in the construction industry, as dump trucks and portable concrete mixers move the large amounts of rocks, dirt, concrete, and other building materials used in construction. Trucks in America are responsible for the majority of freight movement over land and are tools in the manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing industries.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA), founded in 1933, is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States through a federation of other trucking groups, industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking associations. Former Governor of Kansas Bill Graves was replaced by Chris Spear as the ATA's President and CEO in July 2016.
Murphy Warehouse Company is a family-owned, full-service supply chain logistics company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1915, Murphy is one of the Upper Midwest's largest asset-based logistics companies and serves more than 250 companies ranging from Fortune 500 to startup companies. The company provides a wide range of services, including warehousing, distribution, transportation, cross-docking, fulfillment and administrative, as well as international logistics through its Midwest International Logistics Center. Murphy is OSHA MNSHARP Certified and ISO 9001:2000 Certified.
Con-way Freight was a less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carrier headquartered in Ann Arbor utilizing a network of freight service centers to provide regional, inter-regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload freight services throughout North America. The business unit provided day-definite delivery service to manufacturing, industrial and retail customers. Con-way Freight was the largest division of Con-way, Inc. with 16,600 employees, more than 365 operating locations, 16,000 dock doors and 32,750 tractors and trailers. The company was founded by Consolidated Freightways (CF) of Portland, Oregon as a non union spinoff, for less than truckload hauling. In 2009 Con-way Freight reported revenues of over $2.6 billion. On September 9th, 2015 Conway Inc. was acquired by CEO Bradley Jacobs of XPO Logistics, Inc. Roughly a year later, on October 27th 2016, XPO completed the sale of its recently acquired full-truckload division from Con-way Freight to the Canadian based TransForce for $558 million in cash.
Access America Transport was a third-party logistics provider of transportation and logistics services. The company, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, operated nine offices and serviced customers throughout North America. Access America's services included: truckload shipping, less than truckload shipping, intermodal, specialized transportation, and supply chain management. Access America Transport was one of the fastest growing transportation and logistics service provider in North America.
TFI International Inc. is a Canadian transport and logistics company based in Montreal, Quebec. It operates across Canada through 4 business segments, and in the United States. It has Canada's largest LTL business, largest trucking fleet and ranked 14th in terms of revenue in 2005 among North American LTL carriers however more recent lists such as suggest it may be closer to top 5. Its trucking fleet consists of 6700 power units and 12000 trailers. Two thirds of business comes from operations in Eastern Canada while the rest is from Western Canada.
FedEx Supply Chain, formerly known as GENCO is a major third-party logistics (3PL) provider in the United States and Canada. It serves various industries like technology & electronics, retail & e-commerce, consumer & industrial goods, and healthcare industries. The company was founded in the year 1898 by Hyman Shear as H. Shear Trucking Company in Pittsburgh. Currently it is a subsidiary of FedEx.
XPO Logistics is an American transportation and logistics company. It operates in 30 countries, with approximately 100,000 employees and over 50,000 customers, including 69 of the Fortune 100. XPO Logistics, Inc. is the 7th best-performing stock of the last decade on the Fortune 500, with share prices rising more than 1,000% from the time its CEO, Bradley Jacobs, took control. XPO's corporate headquarters are located in Greenwich, Connecticut. Its European headquarters are located in Lyon, France.
Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. is an American less than truckload shipping company. It offers regional, inter-regional and national LTL service. In addition to its core LTL services, the company offers logistics services including ground and air expedited transportation, supply chain consulting, transportation management, truckload brokerage, container delivery and warehousing, as well as household moving services. It contracts with freight forwarding services worldwide.
Roehl Transport is an American trucking company based in Marshfield, Wisconsin. The company provides national transportation and logistics services and is one of the largest trucking companies in America, ranked 66th by Transport Topics. The company has over 2,500 employees, 2,000 tractor trailers and 5,000 trailers and is ranked by CCJ Magazine in the top 60 trucking companies in the United States. The company has major terminal operations in Marshfield and Appleton Wisconsin, the Chicago Illinois area, Atlanta Georgia, Dallas Texas and Phoenix Arizona.
Daseke, Inc. is the largest owner and a leading consolidator of flatbed and specialized transportation in North America, comprising 16 operating companies with over 5,200 trucks and over 11,000 flatbed and specialized trailers.
WTI Transport, Inc. is a For-Hire carrier based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with terminals in Birmingham, Mobile and Whites Creek, TN. A flatbed company of approximately 370 tractors, WTI hauls freight throughout the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and East Coast. WTI’s fleet is a mixture of company drivers and owner-operators. Shipments consist mainly of roofing, building materials, and all types of aluminum, iron and steel products. Currently, WTI is an operating company of Daseke Inc.
A freight broker, in freight transport (cargo), over land in the United States by truck is often used as part of the logistics. This may be part of an overall shipbroking using a cargo broker, a freight forwarder, third party logistics broker (3PL), and even a fourth-party broker, when outsourcing is needed for freight transportation. The brokering can be single mode or by multimodal transportation and can use specialized brokers on a permanent basis or as needed to ensure timely traffic management.
The freight technology sector, also known as FreightTech, refers to software companies and technologies which assist in supply chain management and the movement of freight. In the five years following 2014, investment in FreightTech companies grew from $118 million to $3 billion per year.
