For The Transit Fans: Company Profile: Swift Transportation

Entry posted by Stalliongrad June 23, 2015

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Swift Transportation is the largest TL (Truckload) carrier in the United States by freight traveled.

Swift Transportation Kenworth T700 at a truck stop in Washington State

Type: Private, Founded in the late '40s and began moving imported steel from Los Angeles to Phoenix in the 50's

Service: Truckload Sized Freight

Fleet Size: 12,400 Tractors, 4,000 Owner-Operator Tractors, 48,600 Trailers

Terminals: 35

Routes: Swift has a large presence across all of North America, operating freely in the U.S. and Canada and fully owns a Mexican subsidiary for operations south of the border.

Swift Transportation Freightliner Columbia in a siding

Manufacturer and Powerplant: Swift procures trucks from Volvo, Freightliner, Kenworth and International IC. Owner-Operators may bring their own truck into the fleet which may be from a different manufacturer or lease a truck from Swift under an Owner-Operatror contract, at the end of which the driver becomes the owner of the truck. Most Swift trucks make use of the Cummins ISX Turbodiesel. Trailers are procured from Great Dane, Wabash and Hyundai.

An Owner-Operator Kenworth T700 in service with Swift Transportation (The truck is owned by the driver and thus not painted in Swift livery, but does carry a Swift Terminal Number)

Fare Collection: Like most TL carriers Swift moves freight after a contract has been negotiated. Swift holds agreements with large big box retailers such as Target and Home Depot for dedicated freight lines.

Swift Transportation Volvo VNL 670 on a Dedicated Freight Run under contract with Target

Livery: Swift trucks are known for their unpainted white livery with the Swift corporate logo. Newer Swift trucks are becoming partial to blue and gray paint schemes. Each truck also carries its own fleet number issued by its home terminal.

Swift Transportation Freightliner Cascadia shunting a trailer at a Swift Terminal

Safety Record and Driving School: Swift operates 4 company owned CDL driving schools to teach
new recruits the basics of Class A driving and to help these rookies gain their CDL in exchange for working for Swift for a predetermined amount of time. Swift is known in the trucking community for having relatively low hiring standards and a very high driver turnover rate. Because of these factors Swift safety records tend to suffer. Accidents are commonplace at Swift because of the high amount of novice drivers it employs.

Swift drivers making rookie mistakes