Trucking giant Swift Transportation Co. has just acquired Central Refrigerated Transportation Inc. for close to $189 million. According to the FMCSA’s website, Central Refrigerated has 2,616 power units and 2,322 drivers while Swift has 15,212 power units and 14,300 drivers. The deal will make Swift the second largest refrigerated carrier in the United States.
Swift and Central Refrigerated have had close ties for a long time. Jerry Moyes, the chief executive at Swift was the principal owner of Central Refrigerated. The two companies used to share terminals, though they had different reputations as employers among the trucking community.
Swift has acquired numerous smaller trucking companies over the years, all of whom have been absorbed into the larger business. The companies, Cooper Motor Lines, Arthur H. Fulton, M.S. Carriers, and 8 others were all private companies while Swift is a publicly traded company.
“We are pleased to be acquiring a growing and profitable business at an attractive valuation, diversifying our suite of services,” said William Post, chairman of Swift’s special committee. “This acquisition will allow Swift to be an immediate player in the over-the-road temperature-controlled market.”
Next Story: Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports Not Needed On Defect-Free Vehicles
Source: fleetowner, landline, wsj
M.S. Carriers was a terrible choice. All the equipment was garbage, even to the point large customers like Coors refused to allow M.S. Carriers trailers on their property.
M.S. mightve had a contract that swift wanted, even if it came at the cost of replacing all of the MS equipment.
M.S. Carriers had good terminals. The old M.S. terminals are still some of the best terminals Swift has. Greer, Memphis, Laredo, Edwardsville …
in 2002 I worked for Central Refrigerated Services and we all knew that at some point in time SWIFT was going to “buy it”, just didn’t think they would take so long to do it.I remember that as a CRSi driver we were allowed to use a nice portion of the Swift terminals including the main terminal in Phoenix and some of the old MS Carriers terminals that they operate
Bad move! Swift company disrespect drivers everyday.
Many lawsuits against swift
Really??? It was Swifts owner who bought Dick Simon Trucking and turned it into Central Refrigerated back into 2000-2001…and had owned it ever since…so I’m not sure how he could have “just bought” the company now… interesting move Jerry…interesting move…
Dick kept the “A” class shares, when they merged, moyes got control but paid dearly. Dick sure was a smart cat after all. Or skunk in this case.lol!
it all looks good on paper
If I wanted to drive for swift I would have signed with swift.. I’m done here!!!
Swift is all in all a great company, but the issues had in my own personal experiance is that the swift SLC terminal is bad news.. I own 4 trucks with Swift, came when the terminal manager there terminated my contract to pull for them because my one of my employees got his first and only ever overspeed (74 mph for less than 5 min)
the slc terminal mngr then contacted the o/o division with corprate and tried ontaining my truck…
sooooo dont wanna be him in about 10 min asx i just faxed corprate a certified copy of my title and the recording of the convorsation he had stating my truck was now owned by swift and his to do as he saw fit.
All in all I love the Swift FAMILY (and yes I feel like family driving for these guys) but just goes to show that its not the company thats bad, its just some of the people working for the co.
In 2004 I attended swift. School, Wow what an experience. And an accomplishment in my life..I have been driving ever since …Congradulations Swift thanks for all the fun and exciting memories:)
I think we were in the same class. Do you remember Michael Jackson? I was the “Old Goy”
First it was Simon refrigerated then they changed their name to Central but not their tactics. Swift and Central should pretty much put a dent in refrigerated and dry van freight. Sad but true that the trucking industry is slowly reverting back to big giant companies that deregulation was supposed to eliminate. But then again , same thing happened with phone, Airlines and so this is no surprise. Funny that its the over competition that is driving the company mergers. The little guy does not stand a chance. The trucking industry is a perfect storm to take out the little companies. Might be a slow process, but it is happening.
I drove for central. This move isn’t because of the lawsuit on behalf of lease operators is it?
good point but I thought that Swift was also being sued for the same reasons
I wonder if swift will keep running the company under Central or will turn it into swift.
a contiuing monopoly that will surely keep wages down and even make them lower in the long term result.GOOD NEWS FOR JERRY MOYER BUT BAD FOR INDURSTY AS A WHOLE
The company was owned by one of the moyes kids for years! Worked for swift for a while but Memphis got me no miles as o/o team. Did not even make my payments.
Central was and has been owned by Jerry Moyes since 2000(I think). I know I worked there(CRS) in 2002 and this “news” comes as no surprise. Now will they keep the Central terminals open, Central’s SLC terminal was really cool and close to the slc racetrack
It’s a lot of drivers out here right now that don’t realize they work for swift.
I used to work for Dick Simon. Back then old liar Jerry said he had no intrest in buying Simon. What a lie. Shortly afterwards he took over Simon. of course there was the problem with swift and MS we all know how that went. According to reports he bought interst in D.S.T for swift Because swift had acquired to many companys in a short time. the FTC was looking into the purchase, he had to put it in his name. After while was put in his daughter name. But it was always known who really owned the company. Jerry Moyers is swift central what ever. He is a liar and I will never work for him. I left the company shortly after his purchase of it. D.S.T owned there terminals and the majority of there equipment. It may not have been perfect but it was a good company to work for. So in the end. Moyer you can kiss my fifth wheel.
I hear they also bought out Star Transport in Morton, Ill.