...or are they just sharing equipment? I know the two companies are affiliated somehow, but today at a Swift terminal, I saw a bunch of Central reefers with the Central logo taken off and Swift logos being put on. It's not important, I'm just curious.
I'm pretty sure that is not central refrigerated. It's central freight lines. Swift bought them out years back. Swifts terminal in Memphis, TN was actually Centrals terminal. Swift got it when they bought out Central Freight Lines.
I also know that Jerry CEO of swift has about 5 other companies that are run seperate but are still tired in to him and his big money making enterprize,besides Central freight and Central refridgerated Navajo and Digby are also swift owed and then the one that is out of tucson, AZ just can't recall the name, been to the terminal when I was a swift driver,Sorry to admit that I was, I'm glad that I am not with them any longer. Thats a whole different issue.
Let me help y'all out here; Central Refrigerated WAS Dick Simon, out of Salt Lake City, (they had the little black skunk logo), Jerry took them over thru hostile takeover in public shares when DS couldn't repay the monies Jerry had loaned them over the years. A large court battle lasted around three years, Jerry won. The trucks you see out there now "Kelle's", is the son of Dick Simon (Kelle Simon), trying to restart the business. Central Freight, has been owned by Jerry (Saint Corporation) for over 20 years, they are based out of Irving, TX. Central is an LTL line. The Memphis, TN terminal mentioned here was not Central, but MS Carriers, Jerry absorbed them about 12 years ago. As far as the Digby connection: there were three companies that merged many years back, Navajo/Digby/Blue Eyes. Navajo and Digby are still running, however when the father (original owner of Digby died, he left two sons to run the company, something happened and they split into Digby and Digby South West) DSW didn't have good broker contacts and about 7 years ago contracted there trucks onto Swift. Key word here is contracted onto Swift, not owned by, but contracted to. DSW uses all Swift trailing equipment and works thru the Swift Dispatch, the terminal in Tuscon, was the old (and still is) DSW terminal, open to Swift trucks for layover or general use. Keep in mind that Swift Transportation, got its name from the first contract Jerry started with, Swift Meats, and he also started with all refers. About 14 years ago, long after the refer division was gone, Jerry gained a refer contract with Cosco, he then, with this contract replaced the refer division solely for this contract. Still going today. And there you have the true story of Swift, DSW, Central Refrigerated, and MS Carriers. From a 15 year veteran (who finally wised up) at Swift, and no longer drives the Swift logo.
