Stevens Transport was founded by Steven L. Aaron in Dallas, Texas in 1980 in the wake of the deregulation of the trucking industry. Steven had just sold his first business endeavor, Stevens Food, a meatpacking business based in Paris, Texas.
Though he did not have much knowledge about the transportation industry, Steven did know the meat industry and began to search for customers there. In a time when other trucking companies were going under, Stevens Transport flourished. In the company’s...
The early years
Consolidated Freightways, also known as CF, was founded in 1929 by Leland James in Portland, Oregon. James combined four short-haul companies located in Portland into one trucking firm. Once these companies were combined, James focused on expanding their reach. At the time, trucking in the West was a fledgling industry. The lack of industrial expansion to the West at this point made any sort of progress difficult to achieve. Because of this, James focused primarily on...
CX Roberson was the dry van division of Roberson Transportation Companies, which was located in Mahomet, Illinois. CX Roberson was founded in 1984, but the Roberson family of companies began in 1946, when Pre-Fab Transit was established by Roy Roberson and Stanley Albert. The company transported prefabricated houses, then extended the business to hauling building materials, such as ceiling tiles.
Roy Roberson’s son Roger purchased half of the company in 1975, then completed the purchase of the...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-haul-of-fame-cx-roberson-was-sold-to-celadon
Karen and Harry Muhlschlegel founded Jevic Transportation Inc. in 1981 in Delano, New Jersey. The name “Jevic” was a combination of the names of the three Muhlschlegel children. Founding a trucking company just one year after the trucking industry was deregulated was ambitious, but the gamble proved profitable.
Jevic Transportation enjoyed prosperity throughout the 1980s and the early 1990s. Unlike other less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers, Jevic rejected a traditional hub and spoke network and...
Stephen P. Hrobuchak, Sr. and his son, Stephen P. Hrobuchak, Jr., founded Transcontinental Refrigerated Lines, or TRL, in the northeastern Pennsylvania town of Pittston in 1975. They started the company with just two trucks. The company grew rapidly, however. According to statements by the Hrobuchaks at the time, they achieved fast growth by placing strong emphasis on equipment and on service.
Continued growth during the 1980s and 1990s
By 1987, the company had been so successful that it had...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/freightwaves-haul-of-fame:-transcontinental-refrigerated-lines
Michael Starnes founded M.S. Carriers in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1978. Starnes started the company from his own home, with just two trucks and $10,000 in working capital. By 1986, the company had achieved considerable success, and gone public. In 1987, M.S. Carriers announced the construction of a new terminal in Jackson, Tennessee – the company’s fifth terminal. Its other terminals were in Nashville and Memphis, as well as Tupelo, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Starnes conceived an...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-haul-of-fame:-ms-carriers-inc-found-success
Lee Way Motor Freight was founded by Robert “Whitt” Lee in 1934. He had gone into business for himself in 1914 with a horse and buggy but created the trucking company in 1934 when he moved its location to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. By 1938, Lee Way Motor Freight covered lanes from Oklahoma City to the Texas panhandle and into New Mexico.
The U.S. Congress granted the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the authority to regulate the trucking industry in 1935 with the passage of the Motor Carrier...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-haul-of-fame-lee-way-motor-freight
The FreightWaves Haul of Fame showcases companies that have had an impact on the transportation industry, past or present.
Los Angeles Seattle Motor Express, or LASME, began with the partnership of two trucking companies in 1932. The companies were Hendrix Refrigerated Truck Lines, located in Seattle, and Los Angeles Seattle Motor Express. The two companies merged and continued under the name of the latter company. In 1934, Oscar Hendrickson joined the company as accountant to bring the...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-haul-of-fame-los-angeles-seattle-motor-express
The FreightWaves Haul of Fame showcases companies that have had an impact on the transportation industry, past or present.
Rick McGraw founded Vitran Corporation in Toronto in 1983. Expanding across Canada, Vitran started Vitran Express, a U.S. subsidiary. Vitran Express was located in Indianapolis (although Vitran Corporation’s U.S. headquarters was in Philadelphia). Vitran Express was a less-than-truckload (LTL) provider whose service area was primarily the Midwestern and Rocky Mountain...
The FreightWaves Haul of Fame showcases companies that have had an impact on the transportation industry, past or present.
USF Dugan was founded in Wichita, Kansas, as Dugan Truck Line in 1962. The less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier operated under that name until it was purchased by U.S. Freightways in 1988. The company then operated as USF Dugan.
Expansion under the USF banner
Nine years after its acquisition by U.S. Freightways, USF Dugan operated 57 terminals in the Midwest and Southeast in...