Good Night From II

This year is different ... working off the spot market, load volumes are way down and rates are also down.

The other is a lot of people jumped into the industry the last 2 years, paying a premium for thier equipment. Then fuel prices jumped and freight fell off. Those people are in a tight spot now, with many being forced out.

 

Those are many of the reasons I have stayed a company driver.
The company absorbs most of the costs. Even if I get a few less miles for a few months, it doesn't break me.

I had a bad week last week because I went on home time and got there a day early.
But this week I will have around 2300 miles, which is just where I like it any time of the year.

I have had a few slower weeks in the past couple months, which I always expect for this time of the year.
But they keep me running as well as they can.
Maybe having 12 years at the same company helps?

 

Swift took over Central, then Knight took over and it became Knight Swift.
Now US Xpress is being taken into the fold.

Is this the beginning of a Demolition Man type scenario where Taco Bell is the only restaurant choice left?

 

Moosetek13 can you explain US Express is being taken into the fold???

 

Knight-Swift announces plans to acquire U.S. Xpress
Mar 21, 2023
Fellow Swift Team Members:



We have some very exciting news to share. Today, we entered into an agreement to add another brand to the Knight-Swift family of companies, U.S. Xpress, a full truckload carrier headquartered in Chattanooga, TN.

U.S. Xpress maintains 14 terminal locations, operating a fleet of approximately 7,200 tractors and 14,400 trailers primarily across the eastern and central United States. The company’s workforce is made up of 7,900 drivers, 300 maintenance technicians and 2,200 driver support personnel who manage over-the-road, dedicated and brokerage lines of business. In 2022, U.S. Xpress reported $2.2B in revenue. Upon close of this transaction, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will approach $10B in consolidated revenue.

U.S. Xpress will continue to operate as an independent brand. Drivers and non-driving employees will continue to serve their existing customers, operating in their terminal locations just as they do today. As with each prior acquisition, our objective is to support the U.S. Xpress brand and team members to become the best-performing version of U.S. Xpress. Knight-Swift has a track record of consistent high performance and success with mergers and acquisitions. Through cross-functional teams, consisting of both U.S. Xpress and Knight-Swift team members, we expect U.S. Xpress will benefit from significant synergy opportunities identified and the sharing of best practices, that we believe will lead to meaningfully improved results.

The announcement today is the first step in the process, and we hope to accomplish this by the end of the second quarter. This announcement should not impact the day-to-day activities of either company. In the meantime, a transition team consisting of Knight-Swift and U.S. Xpress members will begin to work together to develop our strategy in anticipation of the close.

Max Fuller, Executive Chairman, Eric Fuller, CEO, and Eric Peterson, CFO, will stay on in their capacities through the close of the transaction but will pursue new opportunities following the close. Tim Harrington, current EVP of Sales at Swift will join as President of U.S. Xpress, and Josh Smith, currently SVP of Finance at Swift, will join the team as CFO.

We are extremely excited about this announcement and what it means for both organizations. Please join me in offering a warm welcome to U.S. Xpress, our newest addition to the array of amazing companies and brands that make up the Knight-Swift family of companies, and congratulating Tim and Josh on their new roles.

Attached to this email, please find the announcement FAQs.

You can read more via our press release here: Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc - Knight-Swift Transportation Agrees to Acquire U.S. Xpress Enterprises for $6.15 Per Share




David Jackson

President & CEO

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings

 

It's in the Portal News.

 

Baxter, MN at a rest area.
This is my usual place when I deliver late in the day.

It was late in the day because there was a big storm last night. It dumped about 7 inches of snow in about 4 hours.
My load was supposed to deliver at 1100, but I could not start driving until around 1130. I don't think MN DOT did anything at all to clear the roads around Minneapolis. Accidents all over the place when I woke up this morning and there were very few plows out there.

 

They mustve busted the winter budget already?

 

That puts us at #3 ranking for the most yearly snow.
6.5 to 13 inches around the metro area last night. And that was basically from around 9 pm to 4 am.

The broadcast I just watched lauded the snow clearing efforts and showed a picture of the bridge to WI being all clear.
But it wasn't that way at all.
I was in Northfield this morning, headed north on I-35 to I-495 to I-95 going west.
I didn't leave until around 1130 but the roads were still snow covered and the traffic was going maybe 40 or so at best.
One lane was mostly or sometimes clear, but it changed all the time.
On the DOT website I saw maybe a dozen plows out there (for that entire area), but not on the interstates.
It really didn't appear that they even tried to mitigate what was on the roads, even though there was plenty of warning of how severe this storm was going to be.

 

At home in new hampshire when its a heavy storm they dont bother clearing the whole thing. 4 lanes but they say F it and do 2 if you are lucky. They post the advisory the day before so its travel at your own risk. The little bit they do is just for the emergency vehicles. They send the echelons out after it stops.

Compared to Massachusetts it works better, there they try to keep it 100% lanes open but fall short when its heavy. Atleast the 1 or 2 lanes in NH are passable, Mass there will be 6 inch slush mounds over 4 lanes.