Online Haul of Fame

FreightWaves Classics will present articles about key events, companies,, organizations, etc. from the history of transportation, logistics, supply chain and freight.

This is part of our ongoing weekly feature called the “Online Haul of Fame.”  FreightWaves will feature companies that have had a lasting impact on the trucking industry, past or […]

Burlington Motor Carriers, started as a division of Burlington Northern, the railroad.

Known on northeastern highways for its iconic orange and white trucks, Preston 151 was founded in 1932 in the Chesapeake Bay area of the United States. The company was started […]

Earlier this month, the CEO of XPO (NYSE:XPO), Brad Jacobs, announced that he intended divest operating units of XPO in an effort to maximize shareholder value. One thing was clear, however. Jacobs intended to hold onto the less-than-truckload (LTL) operations of XPO that were formerly known as Con-way. As part of our Online Haul of Fame Series, here is a look back at the history of Con-way.

Jevic Transportation was founded in 1981 in Delano, New Jersey by Karen and Harry Muhlschlegel. The Jevic name was a combination of the names of the three Muhlschlegel children. Founding a trucking company just one year after deregulation was ambitious, but the gamble proved profitable. Jevic enjoyed prosperity throughout the 1980s and the early 1990s.

McLean Trucking is one of the pioneers of the less-than-truckload (LTL) trucking industry. The company’s founder eventually became one of the pioneers of the global logistics and trade industry.

If you had to name one of the most influential companies in trucking history, Consolidated Freightways (CF) would be near the top. While the trucking company, CF is no longer with us, the legacy of CF lives on through the companies it spun off, including Freightliner, CNF (which became part of XPO) and Purolator International.

The 2020 version of the Roaring Twenties will be drastically different for society and freight than the decade that kicked off in 1920. We take a look back at what life and freight were like in those days.

Builder’s Transport was once the second largest truckload carrier in the U.S. In 1998 it filed bankruptcy and was then acquired by Schneider National.

This tour seeks to preserve the history of several of these companies that paved the way for today’s trucking industry. The legacy of these companies has provided the foundation for the industry as we know it.

It was on this date in 1907 that two teenagers named Jim Casey and Claude Ryan, armed with a $100 loan, created the American Messenger Company.  That business, started in a basement in Seattle, has grown into a nearly $50 billion package delivery giant.