The 15 biggest LTL carriers by revenue are listed below.

The biggest LTL carriers are striving to increase revenues and profits to pre-recession levels.  Most analysts believe LTL rates will increase 2-4% in 2013.

During the downturn, carriers invested less in new trucks and terminals because shipping tonnage decreased.  As the economy improved sluggishly, carriers were very conservative with their investments.  Now, shipping tonnage has increased and trucking capacity is much tighter.  Good old supply and demand means a price increase for most shippers.

LTL Carrier Directory

The LTL industry is a relatively small segment of the trucking market, representing only about 5% of all trucking activity.

The 15 biggest LTL carriers had $27.5 billion in revenue (78% of the LTL industry revenue).  The LTL industry is very concentrated compared to the truckload market.

15 Biggest LTL Carriers – 2012 Sales (Est.) % of Market

1.  Fedex Freight  $5.2B   14.9%

2.  Con-way Freight  $3.3B   9.4%

3.  YRC Freight  $3.2B   9.2%

4.  UPS Freight  $2.4B   6.9%

5.  Old Dominion  $2.1B   6.0%

6.  ABF Freight Line  $2.1B   5.1%

7.  Estes Express  $1.8B   5.1%

8.  YRC Regional  $1.6B   4.7%

9.  R+L Carriers  $1.3B   3.7%

10. SAIA Motor Freight $1.1B   3.1%

11. Southeastern  $900M   2.6%

12. Vitran Express  $720M   2.1%

13. Averitt Express  $685M   2.0%

14. AAA Cooper  $550M   1.6% 

15. Roadrunner  $504M   1.4%

Total Across Top 15  $27.5B  78.3%

 

Important Trends – Biggest LTL Carriers

  • National and Regional carriers are beginning to improve their ability to price new business  in long haul and regional business, maximizing yield on business to shippers and 3PLs
  • Capacity is expected to tighten, pushing up prices as the economy grows and LTL carriers  benefit from the decision to invest less in new assets during the years following 2008-2009
  • Carriers are beginning to rationalize the number of third-party logistics companies that they  do business with in an effort to limit exposure in the market to the 3PL sales vertical

The information above was provided courtesy of Carrier Direct.  Carrier Direct created a very insightful industry report.  Click here for a summary of the report or download the entire report.