Over the past year, commercial fleets have endured unforeseen stressors associated with the COVID-19 global health crisis, prompting a roller coaster ride for business and safety operations.
Since the onset of the pandemic a year ago, the trucking industry has been crucial throughout all phases of the national response effort and is continuing those efforts every day by mobilizing the largest vaccine distribution in our nation’s history.
“Whether the economy is in good times or a rough patch, trucking remains a critical component of the national economy,” the American Trucking Associations (ATA) noted in its “American Trucking Trends 2020” analysis. “In fact, nearly every good consumed in the U.S. is put on a truck at some point. As a result, the trucking industry hauled 72.5% of all freight transported in the United States in 2019, equating to 11.84 billion tons.”
According to ATA, before the motor carrier industry was initially deregulated by the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, there were fewer than 20,000 interstate motor carriers in the U.S. By April 2020, there were 928,647 for-hire motor carriers on file with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), with an additional 799,343 private fleets. There were also 84,763 “other” interstate motor carriers according to the U.S. DOT. “Other” motor carriers are those that did not specify their segment or checked multiple segments.
“While this is a significant amount of trucking companies, the vast majority of them are small businesses, with 97.4% operating fewer than 20 trucks and 91.3% operating six trucks or less,” ATA noted.
To recognize these fleets, FleetOwner has compiled its annual 500 Top For-Hire list, which is the largest listing of its kind. The list includes fleets based in the U.S. and Canada. Among them, this year’s list of top 500 fleets operate a total of 871,871 vehicles.
The 2021 FleetOwner For-Hire 500 rankings are based on total power units operated by a fleet. A breakdown by tractors and trucks is provided, and while they are not a factor in the rankings, trailer numbers are also offered. Combined, the top 500 fleets operate a total of 267,903 trucks, 603,968 tractors, and 1,590,686 trailers.
The information for the For-Hire 500 is collected by FleetSeek from a database using a number of public and proprietary sources that are constantly being updated. Those sources include parent companies, subsidiaries, and freestanding fleets; data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) System; calling and emailing fleets; news articles; and annual reports.
The listed fleets are also divided into a variety of operating categories, including package, general freight, household goods, tank trucks, heavy hauling, building materials, motor vehicles, petroleum products, bulk, refrigerated solids, and agricultural commodities.