Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Long-Distance — U.S. Industry Primer

NAICS 2022 code 484230

1. Overview

This is the part of trucking that hauls things a plain dry van can't: liquids in tank trailers (fuel, chemicals, milk), refrigerated food and pharmaceuticals, finished automobiles on car-carrier rigs, steel and lumber and machinery on flatbeds, and oversized or hazardous loads — all moved long-distance, between metropolitan areas and across the Canadian and Mexican borders [4]. The common thread is specialized equipment, driver certifications, and regulatory handling that general freight doesn't require. NAICS is the North American Industry Classification System, the standard the U.S. government uses to group businesses.

The reason specialization matters is that it creates pricing power and stickier customers than commodity dry-van trucking. Hauling a tanker of chlorine or a temperature-controlled load of frozen food takes equipment, safety records, and endorsements that a new entrant can't assemble overnight, so rates and relationships hold up somewhat better than in the wide-open general-freight market. The catch is that it is still trucking: fiercely cyclical, capital-heavy, and thin-margined at the bottom of the cycle.

The industry generated about $52.6 billion in receipts (2022) across roughly 10,700 firms [2] — and it is extraordinarily fragmented, dominated by small and mid-size regional carriers with a long tail of independent owner-operators. There are only a handful of ways to own it in the public market and a much larger private-market opportunity set.

• Public routes: a small group of listed truckload carriers with meaningful specialized operations (temperature-controlled, flatbed, tank, dedicated), plus diversified trucking companies that hold specialized units inside them. No major listed company is a pure NAICS 484230 investment.
• Private routes: private-equity-backed roll-up platforms, family- and employee-owned regional carriers, equipment leasing and asset-backed lending, and direct small-business ownership (a single flatbed or tank operation is a classic acquisition target).

Investor read: a fragmented, capital-intensive, safety-sensitive business with cyclical demand, where well-run operators earn better pricing and retention precisely because their equipment and compliance capabilities are hard to replace.

2. What it is, and how it's structured

Scope. NAICS 484230 covers long-distance trucking of freight that needs special equipment or handling, including routes that cross U.S. borders. Census's own illustrative examples: long-distance auto-carrier trucking, refrigerated ("reefer") product trucking, bulk-liquid (tank) trucking, agricultural-products hauling, waste hauling, and hazardous-materials trucking [4]. In practice the industry breaks into recognizable sub-segments:

What it excludes (important for sizing the industry correctly) [4]:

• General freight, long-distance — standard dry-van and less-than-truckload (LTL) freight — is NAICS 48412 (subdivided into 484121 truckload and 484122 LTL), not here. This is the biggest and most-cited part of trucking, and it is a different code.
• Local specialized freight (same-metro tank, dump, or flatbed hauling) is NAICS 484220.
• Household and office movers (used goods) are NAICS 484210 — the "except Used Goods" in the title points at this exclusion.
• Local waste collection is NAICS 56211; independent driving/other transportation support is 488490; contract hot-shot oil-field hauling is 213112.

Operating models are mixed. Asset-based carriers own or lease tractors, trailers, terminals, and specialized equipment. Dedicated contract carriage assigns equipment and drivers to one shipper under a longer-term contract. Owner-operator and third-party (brokered) capacity models shrink a carrier's owned fleet but increase its dependence on outside capacity. Brokers and third-party logistics (3PL) firms arrange freight but are often classified outside NAICS 484230.

Ownership mix. The federal statistics do not split public versus private ownership, but the industry is overwhelmingly privately held: family businesses, employee-owned carriers, owner-operators, and private-equity platforms. A few carriers are or were publicly listed, and the multi-decade trend has been public specialized truckers getting absorbed into larger owners (Section 8). Government operators are negligible; this is a private, for-hire industry.

3. How big it is

Our federal figures for NAICS 484230:

That works out to roughly $4.9 million in average revenue per firm and about 15 employees per establishment — a small-business industry, not a big-company one. Average pay is around $67,500 per employee (payroll ÷ employees) [1], reflecting a driver-heavy, skilled-labor workforce. The concentration figures (CR4 = the share of revenue held by the four largest firms) and the very low HHI confirm extreme fragmentation; the $34 million SBA size standard is a contracting/eligibility benchmark, not a measure of average company size [3].

The undercount caveat — real and large here. County Business Patterns counts only businesses with paid employees; Census publishes separate Nonemployer Statistics for businesses with no payroll [5]. That excludes the enormous population of single-truck owner-operators who file as sole proprietors. Across all of U.S. trucking these number in the hundreds of thousands, and specialized long-haul has a heavy owner-operator tail. Many lease onto larger carriers and show up in that carrier's revenue, but genuinely independent operators do not appear in the 11,462 establishments or 171,976 employees above. Read the federal figures as the employer core of a larger operator base. Government exclusion is not the issue here; small-operator coverage is.

The supplied federal file does not report vehicle counts, loads, capacity utilization, average rates, profit, capital spending, or industry-wide operating margins. Those should not be inferred from the figures above; where this primer cites rates or margins, they come from trade and company sources, not from Census.

4. The investable universe

Public companies are exposure vehicles, not exact NAICS matches. There are few clean public plays on U.S. long-distance specialized trucking — a defining feature of the industry for an equity investor. The purest listed exposure is a single temperature-controlled carrier; most other specialized operations sit inside diversified truckload companies or in private hands. The table is for orientation, not a recommendation.

There is no pure-play specialized-trucking ETF. Marten is the closest thing to a listed pure-play; TFI, Knight-Swift, Werner, Schneider, and J.B. Hunt are diversified, and Landstar is asset-light.

Major private and other owners (this is where most of the industry actually lives):

• Kenan Advantage Group (KAG) — North America's largest tank-truck carrier (~5,800 tractors, ~300 terminals), owned by Canadian pension investor OMERS Private Equity since 2015, reporting >$2.4 billion revenue in 2025 and reportedly exploring an IPO [10][11].
• Trimac Transportation — Calgary-based bulk/tank carrier, a serial acquirer building U.S. chemical-hauling scale.
• Quality Carriers — the largest bulk-liquid-chemical hauler in North America, acquired by railroad CSX in 2021 for $544 million [8].
• United Road and, until its 2025 shutdown, Jack Cooper — the two largest finished-vehicle (car-hauler) carriers [12][13].
• Large family- and employee-owned OTR/specialized carriers: Prime Inc. (refrigerated, flatbed, tanker, intermodal), C.R. England (over-the-road refrigerated), Ruan (dedicated contract carriage), Penske Logistics (dedicated, part of closely held Penske Corp.), Anderson Trucking Service / ATS (flatbed and heavy-haul), Hirschbach (temperature-controlled), TMC Transportation (employee-owned flatbed), plus flatbed/heavy-haul operators Bennett Family of Companies and PS Logistics [36].
• Formerly public, now private: Daseke (flatbed/specialized, bought by TFI in 2024) and Patriot Transportation (petroleum tank, bought by United Petroleum Transports in 2023) [6][9].

Private routes also include private equity, private credit, equipment leasing, and asset-backed lending to carriers and owner-operators.

5. How the money works

Owners make money on the spread between what shippers pay per load and what it costs to move it — and the whole business is judged on one number.

• Operating ratio (OR) is the master metric: operating expenses ÷ operating revenue. Lower is better; an OR of 95% means five cents of operating profit per revenue dollar. Even good years run in the low-to-mid 90s. Marten, a well-run reefer carrier, posted a 97.4% OR in 2025 [14] — a reminder that trucking margins are thin even for quality operators, and that a swing of two or three points is the difference between a strong year and a poor one.

• Rate per mile and the specialization premium. Specialized freight prices above dry van because shippers pay for equipment, securement, tarping, temperature control, and hazmat handling. Flatbed loads have recently run roughly $2.50–$3.25 per mile versus $2.00–$2.75 for dry van, with dedicated or highly specialized loads higher still [26]. Revenue is typically a rate per mile or per shipment plus fuel surcharges and accessorial charges (detention, loading/unloading, special handling). That premium is the industry's reason to exist.

• Cost structure. Driver wages are the single biggest cost, followed by fuel (roughly 25–35% of revenue for an owner-operator), equipment depreciation or lease, insurance and claims, maintenance and tires, and permits/terminals/technology. Industry benchmarks (from the American Transportation Research Institute, ATRI) put all-in operating cost around $2.26 per mile in recent data [25]. Fuel is largely passed through via fuel surcharges, so carriers are exposed mostly to the timing gap, not the full swing.

• Asset utilization. Because a tank or reefer trailer is dedicated to one kind of freight, deadhead (empty) miles — repositioning to the next load — are a bigger drag than in general freight. Revenue per tractor per week and loaded-mile percentage are the operational levers.

• Dedicated vs. spot. Dedicated contracts provide more predictable volume and pricing; J.B. Hunt notes its dedicated contracts generally run three to ten years and commonly use cost-plus structures [33]. Spot exposure is more volatile and cycle-sensitive.

• The owner-operator model. A large share of capacity is single-truck operators who gross $180,000–$250,000 a year but net closer to $50,000–$90,000 after fuel, equipment, and insurance [26]. This is a capital-light way for the carrier to add trucks, but margins at the bottom of the market are razor-thin.

• Segment matters. Profitability varies sharply by sub-segment. In the weak 2025 market, flatbed carriers averaged a small operating loss (about −0.5%) while tank carriers averaged roughly +4% operating margin [25] — tank's regulatory barriers and steadier industrial demand make it structurally more defensible than open-deck.

Useful investor metrics: operating ratio; revenue per tractor / loaded mile; utilization and deadhead miles; contract-vs-spot mix; fuel-surcharge recovery; claims frequency and severity; fleet age and capital spending; driver turnover and pay; and customer concentration / contract renewal.

6. What drives demand

Specialized trucking is a derived-demand, industrial-economy business — freight moves when factories, farms, refineries, and car plants are busy, not when passengers travel.

• Industrial production and construction drive flatbed (steel, pipe, lumber, machinery, building materials, and increasingly data-center and energy-project components). Housing starts and infrastructure spending are direct swing factors.
• Chemicals and energy output drive tank/bulk. Refinery runs, fuel consumption, and chemical-plant utilization set the tonnage.
• Food, agriculture, beverages, and pharmaceuticals drive refrigerated freight — the most consumer-linked and least cyclical sub-segment.
• Auto production and vehicle distribution drive car-haulers, which are tightly bound to a few automaker (OEM) contracts and to where plants and ports sit — including the shift toward electric vehicles.
• Retail replenishment, e-commerce, and shipper outsourcing into dedicated carriage. U.S. e-commerce was 16.6% of total retail sales in Q4 2025 and 16.9% in Q1 2026 [35], but much of that flows through parcel, local delivery, or LTL rather than long-distance specialized trucking.
• Cross-border trade with Mexico and Canada. Trucking carried 55.5% of U.S.–Canada and 72.5% of U.S.–Mexico freight by value in 2024 [34] (all freight, not specifically 484230); tariff policy around this trade was a notable source of 2025 uncertainty.
• Fuel prices cut both ways: an input cost and, via surcharges, a revenue pass-through.

Forward-looking: reshoring, infrastructure and energy investment, and supply-chain redundancy could support specialized freight over time, but the effect varies widely by niche — heavy-haul and temperature-controlled cycles differ from agricultural bulk or auto hauling.

7. Regulation

Specialized trucking is among the more heavily regulated corners of freight, and compliance is itself a barrier to entry that protects incumbents. For investors, the question is not merely whether a carrier is licensed, but whether it has strong safety management, accurate driver records, reliable maintenance, adequate insurance reserves, and the systems to document compliance.

• FMCSA safety framework. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulates interstate carriers, driver qualifications, and operating authority. Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules generally allow property-carrying drivers up to 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off duty, within a 14-hour window, with a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative driving hours [17]. Most drivers must run electronic logging devices (ELDs) [18]. The Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse bars drivers in "prohibited" status until they complete return-to-duty [19]. FMCSA requires insurance/financial-responsibility filings before granting authority [20], and new entrants face a safety audit during initial monitoring [21].
• Driver licensing and endorsements. Beyond a commercial driver's license (CDL), specialized work requires added endorsements: H (hazardous materials), N (tank vehicle), and the combined X. First-time hazmat applicants must complete federally registered Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT), pass a written test, and clear a TSA (Transportation Security Administration) background check renewed every five years [16]. These requirements shrink the qualified-driver pool for tank and hazmat carriers.
• Cargo securement and hazardous materials. FMCSA securement rules are critical for machinery, steel, and heavy vehicles [22]; DOT/PHMSA hazmat rules govern packaging, placarding, routing, and spill liability for chemical and fuel haulers.
• Food safety. The FDA's Sanitary Transportation rule (under the Food Safety Modernization Act) governs temperature-controlled food carriers.
• Oversize/overweight permitting for heavy-haul is issued state-by-state, setting route, escort, bridge, and load requirements [23].
• Emissions and equipment. The EPA's Phase 3 greenhouse-gas standards apply to new heavy-duty vehicles beginning with model year 2027, raising equipment and technology-transition costs [24]. State clean-truck rules — most notably California's Advanced Clean Trucks program — add a further layer, though the future of state zero-emission mandates has been contested through legal and federal challenges. Either way, tighter emissions rules are a forward-looking source of fleet-replacement capital spending.

8. Competitive dynamics and consolidation

The industry is exceptionally fragmented but steadily consolidating.

Federal concentration data make the fragmentation vivid: the top 4 firms hold just 14.3% of revenue, the top 8 hold 19.2%, the top 50 hold 38.1%, and the HHI is a remarkably low 74 [2] — far below the 1,500 threshold antitrust authorities treat as even mildly concentrated. Thousands of small carriers compete, and no one dominates. But specialized submarkets can be locally or technically concentrated, and competition turns on price and fuel-surcharge terms, equipment availability, driver quality and safety record, on-time and claims performance, geographic/backhaul density, permitting and hazmat expertise, and shipment-visibility technology.

Against that backdrop, a roll-up dynamic is playing out at the top:

• Private-equity and pension capital is building national platforms — most visibly OMERS-owned Kenan Advantage Group, which has grown by serial acquisition to over $2.4 billion in revenue [10][11].
• Serial acquirers like Trimac (tank) and TFI International (which absorbed Daseke's flatbed fleet in 2024) are compounding scale [6]. Werner acquired privately owned FirstFleet in 2026 to expand dedicated transportation [31], and Knight-Swift's earlier purchase of U.S. Xpress shows the same truckload pattern [28].
• Adjacent industries are vertically integrating — railroad CSX bought bulk-chemical hauler Quality Carriers in 2021 [8]; petroleum distributors and larger tank fleets have taken out public names like Patriot [9].

The strategic logic, articulated by TFI in the Daseke deal, is that specialized freight is "less-commoditized" than general truckload — higher barriers, stickier customers, better through-cycle economics — so scale in it is worth paying for [6][7]. The result is a barbell: a consolidating top tier and a still-vast small-carrier base, with the middle getting squeezed. The low HHI argues against broad industry pricing power; specialized equipment, permits, and safety infrastructure create defensible pockets of profitability rather than industry-wide dominance.

9. Risks

• Deep cyclicality. The 2022–2025 freight downturn was one of the longest on record; spot rates finished 2025 well below seasonal norms and an estimated 5,000–8,000 carriers exited in 2025 alone [27]. Excess trucks push rates down while wages, leases, insurance, and maintenance stay fixed.
• Thin margins. Even good operators run high-90s operating ratios [14]; a few points of rate erosion or cost inflation erases profit.
• Driver scarcity and turnover, worsened for tank/hazmat by the extra endorsement and background-check hurdles [16].
• Safety and liability. A serious accident, cargo loss, contamination, or hazmat incident can create large uninsured costs; "nuclear verdicts" from accident litigation compound the risk, especially with hazardous cargo.
• Customer concentration, acute in car-hauling. Jack Cooper, a nearly-100-year-old auto hauler, shut down in 2025 within months of losing its Ford and GM contracts, stranding 1,400+ Teamster jobs [12] — a stark warning about OEM-dependent specialized models.
• Capital and equipment risk. Tractors, trailers, reefer units, and heavy-haul rigs need continual investment and have uncertain resale values.
• Fuel-price volatility and surcharge-timing gaps.
• Regulatory and emissions cost — clean-truck mandates force expensive fleet turnover [24].
• Capacity-provider and fraud risk for asset-light models — double-brokering, cargo theft, and weak counterparties can damage service and working capital.
• Consolidation pressure on sub-scale carriers, and long-run automation risk.
• Private-market risk — better strategic access but less disclosure, lower liquidity, and greater valuation uncertainty than public equities.

Public-company filings consistently flag driver availability, fuel, insurance, equipment, customer concentration, regulation, and freight-market conditions as material risks [28][29][30][32][33].

10. How to invest, and the outlook

Public-market routes. Treat this as an exposure theme, not a single-company industry. There is no pure-play specialized-trucking ETF and only one reasonably clean listed pure-play (Marten Transport, temperature-controlled) [14]. Broader exposure comes through diversified truckload carriers that hold specialized units — TFI (flatbed via Daseke), Knight-Swift (refrigerated), Werner and Schneider (flatbed/temperature-controlled), Landstar (asset-light heavy-haul), and J.B. Hunt (dedicated). Diligence should look at revenue excluding fuel surcharges, operating ratio, revenue per tractor/mile/load, utilization and empty miles, contract duration and renewal, driver turnover and pay, claims reserves, fleet age and capital spending, and acquisition prices and integration results — not the growth-stock metrics used elsewhere. Dividends and buybacks feature at the larger, more mature carriers. A watch item: KAG's potential IPO would, if it happens, create a genuine listed tank-truck pure-play for the first time in years [11].

Private-market routes. This is where most of the industry is actually owned and where fragmentation creates opportunity: private-equity roll-up platforms (the KAG/OMERS model), direct acquisition of regional flatbed, tank, or reefer carriers (nearly all fall under the SBA's $34 million small-business ceiling [3], making them classic search-fund and family-succession targets), equipment leasing, asset-backed lending, and receivables/private credit to carriers and owner-operators, and direct owner-operator ownership for the smallest scale. The key diligence questions: does the carrier own scarce equipment, hold durable shipper relationships, maintain a defensible safety record, control insurance exposure, and earn acceptable returns through a weak freight market? Barriers — endorsements, safety records, customer relationships — reward operators who execute, and consolidation gives well-run regionals a credible exit to a larger acquirer.

Near-term outlook (forward-looking). After a brutal multi-year downturn, most analysts see the freight cycle turning up through 2026 as excess capacity exits and pricing firms — national dry-van spot rates had recovered to roughly $2.15–$2.45 per mile (ex-fuel) by early 2026, with carrier exits still running well above prior-year rates [27]. A tighter market historically flows through to specialized rates with a lag. But the recovery is widely described as U-shaped rather than a sharp rebound, and it hinges on industrial demand, tariff policy, and fuel — none certain. The through-cycle thesis is unchanged: specialization buys modestly better margins and stickier customers than commodity trucking, in exchange for capital intensity and exposure to the industrial economy.

One caution: do not apply a single valuation multiple to the industry's $52.6 billion of employer receipts [2]. The investable universe is a mix of diversified companies with very different business mixes, leverage, asset ownership, and earnings quality.

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Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 484230 (employment, establishments, annual & Q1 payroll). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
2. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census — Comparative Statistics (EC2200COMP) and Concentration of Largest Firms (EC2200SIZECONCEN), NAICS 484230 (receipts, firm count, CR4/CR8/CR20/CR50, HHI). https://data.census.gov/
3. U.S. Small Business Administration, Table of Small Business Size Standards (NAICS 484230 = $34 million receipts), 2023. https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards
4. U.S. Census Bureau, NAICS 2022: 484230 — Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Long-Distance (definition, illustrative examples, exclusions). https://www.census.gov/naics/?details=484230&input=484230&year=2022
5. U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics (coverage of businesses with no paid employees). https://www.census.gov/econ/overview/mu0500.html
6. TFI International / CDLLife, "TFI completes acquisition of Daseke for ~$1.1 billion," 2024. https://cdllife.com/2024/tfi-completes-acquisition-of-daseke-for-1-1-billion/
7. FreightWaves, "TFI buying Daseke for $1.1B, contemplating spinoff of truckload unit" ("less-commoditized" rationale), 2023. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/tfi-buying-daseke-for-1-1b-contemplating-spinoff-of-truckload-unit
8. CSX Corporation, Form 10-K, FY2021 (acquisition of Quality Carriers for $544 million), U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/277948/000027794822000009/csx-20211231.htm
9. Heavy Duty Trucking (truckinginfo.com), "United Petroleum Transports to Acquire Patriot Transportation," 2023. https://www.truckinginfo.com/news/united-petroleum-transports-to-acquire-patriot-transportation
10. Transport Topics, 2025 Top Tank Truck/Bulk Carriers (Kenan Advantage >$2.4B revenue, rankings), 2025. https://www.ttnews.com/for-hire/tank/2025
11. Transport Topics / PitchBook, "Kenan Advantage Group Owner OMERS Exploring IPO" and company profile (ownership, ~5,800 tractors, ~300 terminals). https://www.ttnews.com/articles/kenan-advantage-omers-ipo
12. Transport Topics, "Auto Hauler Jack Cooper Shuts Down After Losing Ford, GM," 2025. https://www.ttnews.com/articles/jack-cooper-closing-down
13. Commercial Carrier Journal, "Pandemic effects unkind to auto haulers" (United Road, Jack Cooper rankings). https://www.ccjdigital.com/ccj-top-250/article/15280640/pandemic-effects-unkind-to-auto-haulers
14. Marten Transport, Ltd., Form 10-K FY2025 (2025 revenue ~$883.65M; operating ratio 97.4%; ~59% of Truckload & Dedicated revenue temperature-sensitive; intermodal sold 2025), U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/799167/000143774926005971/mrtn20251231_10k.htm
15. Heartland Express, Inc., Form 10-K FY2025 (revenue, dry-van focus), U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/799233/000079923326000006/htld-20251231.htm
16. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Hazardous Materials regulations; ELDT; CDL endorsements H/N/X; TSA background check. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hazardous-materials
17. FMCSA, Summary of Hours of Service Regulations (11-hour/10-hour/14-hour window; 30-minute break). https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-service/summary-hours-service-regulations
18. FMCSA, General Information About the Electronic Logging Device Rule. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds/general-information-about-eld-rule
19. FMCSA, Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/
20. FMCSA, Insurance Filing Requirements. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/insurance-filing-requirements
21. FMCSA, New Entrant Safety Assurance Program. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/new-entrant-safety-assurance-program
22. FMCSA, Cargo Securement Rules. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/cargo-securement/cargo-securement-rules
23. Federal Highway Administration, Oversize/Overweight Load Permits. https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/sw/permit_report/index.htm
24. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Phase 3 Greenhouse Gas Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles (model year 2027 onward). https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/regulations-greenhouse-gas-emissions-commercial-trucks
25. Overdrive, "2025 trucking costs surge to all-time high" (ATRI ~$2.26/mile operating cost; segment operating margins — flatbed ~−0.5%, tank ~+4%), 2025. https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/15830180/2025-trucking-costs-surge-to-alltime-high-will-rates-keep-up
26. CDLLife, "How much do flatbed owner-operators really make after expenses?" (flatbed $2.50–$3.25/mi vs dry van $2.00–$2.75/mi; owner-operator net income), 2025. https://cdllife.com/2025/how-much-do-flatbed-owner-operators-really-make-after-expenses/
27. ACT Research, Trucking Industry Forecast for 2026 and freight-market outlooks (2025 downturn, carrier exits 5,000–8,000, early-2026 spot rates $2.15–$2.45/mi, U-shaped recovery), 2026. https://www.actresearch.net/resources/blog/trucking-industry-forecast-for-2026
28. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Form 10-K FY2025 (segments; U.S. Xpress acquisition), U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1492691/000149269126000016/knx-20251231.htm
29. Schneider National, Form 10-K FY2025, U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1692063/000169206326000013/sndr-20251231.htm
30. Werner Enterprises, Form 10-K FY2025, U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/793074/000079307426000071/wern-20251231.htm
31. Werner Enterprises, "Werner Acquires FirstFleet, Inc.," 2026, U.S. SEC (8-K). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/793074/000079307426000002/wern-8xk20260127exhibit.htm
32. Landstar System, Form 10-K FY2025, U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/853816/000119312526064756/d66072d10k.htm
33. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Form 10-K FY2025 (dedicated contracts 3–10 years, cost-plus), U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/728535/000143774926005294/jbht20251231_10k.htm
34. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, TransBorder Freight Annual Report 2024 (trucking 55.5% of U.S.–Canada and 72.5% of U.S.–Mexico freight by value). https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/transborder-freight-annual-report-2024-0
35. U.S. Census Bureau, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales (16.6% of retail sales Q4 2025; 16.9% Q1 2026). https://www.census.gov/retail/ecommerce.html
36. Company sources for major private carriers: Prime Inc., C.R. England, Ruan, Penske Logistics (Penske Corp.), Anderson Trucking Service (ATS), Hirschbach, TMC Transportation, Bennett Family of Companies, PS Logistics. (Respective corporate "About" pages, 2026.)