Swift Transportation is a

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the o ...

-based American truckload motor shipping carrier, part of

Knight-Swift Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (referred to as Knight-Swift) is a publicly traded, American motor carrier holding company based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is the fifth largest trucking company in the United States. The company's primary ...

. With over 23,000 trucks, it is the largest common carrier in the United States. In 2017, Swift merged with Knight Transportation, also of Phoenix, effective September 8, 2017.

History

Carl Moyes was a

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

hauling produce for

C.R. England CR or Cr may refer to: In business * Conversion rate, in marketing * Credit Record, in accounting * Crown Royal, a brand of Canadian whisky Organizations Religious organizations * Celtic reconstructionism, a form of Polytheism * Congregation o ...

in the 1940s out of northern

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

.Demoss, Jeff. - "Four major trucking firms have roots in Plain City". - ''

Ogden Standard-Examiner The ''Standard-Examiner'' is a daily morning newspaper published in Ogden, Utah, United States. With roughly 30,000 subscribers on Sunday and 25,000 daily, it is the third largest daily newspaper in terms of circulation in Utah, after ''The Sal ...

''. - January 30, 2005. - Retrieved: 2008-07-30 In the late 1950s Betty and Carl Moyes started a small trucking company in

Plain City, Utah Plain City is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. The population was 5,476 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ogden– Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The current mayor is Jon Beesley. History The Salt Lake Va ...

, B & C Truck Leasing. After their son, Jerry, graduated from

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was found ...

in 1966, they moved the small company to

. Carl and his two sons, Ronald and Jerry (vice-president), formed the company Common Market in Arizona, that would become Swift. Operations began in 1966 transporting imported steel from the ports of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

, and returning with

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor p ...

from

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

to be delivered to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

.About Swift: Company History
. - Swift Transportation The name Swift Transportation was purchased from a descendant of the Swift Meat Packing family, when the Moyes family bought the trucking assets of Swift & Company. The three Moyes family members and a fourth partner, Randy Knight, grew the business to $25 million in annual revenues by 1984. Jerry Moyes became president, chairman, and CEO that same year, and when Carl died in 1985, Jerry bought out the other two partners, his brother Ronald and Randy Knight. Ronald would continue to hold shares in Swift while Randy would become a co-founder of Knight Transportation.Harris, Craig. - "Knight's Profits On a Roll - Valley-Based Trucking Firm Again Makes 'Forbes' List". - ''

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $ ...

''. - October 30, 2004. - Retrieved: 2008-07-30 In April 1988 Swift purchased Greenville, South Carolina-based Cooper Motor Lines from

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

-based ARA Services. By 1990, Swift Transportation had grown to a $125 million carrier with over 800 trucks. The company held an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

(IPO) in 1990 and became a publicly traded entity on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

market system under the symbol SWFT. In 1991, with money raised in the IPO, Swift bought

Stephens City, Virginia Stephens City ( ) is an incorporated town in the southern part of Frederick County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 1,829 at the time of the 2010 census. and an estimated population in 2018 of 2,041. Founded by Peter Stephens ...

-based Arthur H. Fulton Inc. for $9 million out of

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...

. In a similar move, in 2001 Moyes purchased the assets of Dick Simon Trucking, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Those assets were rolled into Moyes's small

Central Freight Lines Central Freight Lines Inc. (CFL) is an American regional less-than-truckload (LTL) company headquartered in Waco, Texas and serving the Southeastern and Southwestern United States. For much of its history it was the largest and longest tenured ...

out of Texas, and later spun off as the separate entity Central Refrigerated Service, which remained wholly owned by Moyes until its subsequent sale to and merger with Swift. That sale was announced in summer 2013, and the merger completed on February 1, 2014. Moyes received $180 million in cash for the sale. The company's growth continued since 1988 with the purchase of eleven motor carriers throughout the United States, including M.S. Carriers, of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

in 2000. The shareholders of M.S. Carriers obtained a 22% stake in the combined company. Moyes was soon to retire when he was forced out as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO) at Swift in October 2005 after a

United States Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against marke ...

(SEC) investigation into

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing he paid a $1.26 million settlement. The Moyes family still controlled about 39% of the public stock."Swift Transportation shareholders approve buyout". - ''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...

''. - April 30, 2007. - Retrieved: 2008-07-30"Swift's Shareholders Vote Moyes - Longtime Transportation Firm Will Be Sold Back to Founder". - ''

''. - April 28, 2007. - Retrieved: 2008-07-30 In November 2006 Moyes offered to buy Swift for $29 a share. The offer was raised to $2.4 billion ($31.55 per share) for shares not controlled by the family and assumption of $332 million in outstanding debt. The transaction closed on May 10, 2007."Sale officially concludes for Swift Transportation". - ''

''. - May 11, 2007 To finance the acquisition, Moyes formed Saint Acquisition Corporation, and issued $2.1 billion of a senior secured credit facility and $835 million in second-lien senior secured notes. The company's drivers and eighty-three percent of outstanding shares (approximately half of those controlled by the family) supported the buyout. Swift’s terminal network grew to over forty full service facilities in the continental United States and Mexico before contracting during the

2008 recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

. The total number of employees dropped from 21,900,Swift Transportation Co., Inc.
- Hoover's to approximately 17,700.
- Swift Transportation Company. - December 17, 2010. Swift owns 100% of Trans-Mex, a

Nuevo Laredo Nuevo Laredo () is a city in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Grande, across from Laredo, United States. The 2010 census population of the city was 373,725. Nuevo Lare ...

, Mexico-based carrier. Swift offers border crossing services at all major Mexican border crossings. Swift maintains a presence in every

Canadian Province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nort ...

. The company operated 16,200 units (12,300 tractors by company drivers and 3,900 owner-operator tractors), a fleet of 48,600 trailers, and 4,500 intermodal containers from 35 terminals in the United States and Mexico, generating just over $2.5 billion in revenue for the year ended December 31, 2009. Swift Transportation became public again on December 16, 2010, trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

(NYSE). The company offered 73,300,000 shares at $11.00 per share, raising almost $766 million, with the proceeds used for debt reduction. The offering represented 54.9% of the company, valuing the company at $1.86 billion. Due to the economic downturn, the IPO was below Moyes leveraged-buyout (LBO) price of $17.61. With the offering the name changed from Swift Holdings Corp. to Swift Transportation Company.

Company trucks

Image:Truck_072.jpg , 2006 Volvo VNL670 with a 2002

Wabash National Wabash National is an American diversified industrial manufacturing company and North America's largest producer of semi trailers and liquid transportation systems. The company specializes in the design and production of dry freight vans, refriger ...

53' DuraPlate Dry Van Trailer Image:Truck_181.jpg, 2005 Freightliner Columbia with a 1996

53' Sheet & Post Dry Van Trailer Image:Swift_flatbed_colorado.JPG, Freightliner Columbia with Flatbed Spread Axle trailer Image:Swift_stepdeck_at_inland_steel.JPG, Freightliner Columbia with single drop flatbed (also known as a stepdeck) trailer

References

{{Trucking industry in the United States Trucking companies of the United States Companies based in Phoenix, Arizona American companies established in 1966 Transport companies established in 1966 1966 establishments in Arizona Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2017 mergers and acquisitions