Which trucking companies have been bought out by Swift Transportation?

Answer 1

Swift is Swift.. when Swift buys out another company, that company gets integrated into Swift Transportation. Some of the carriers Swift bought out includes:

• Cooper Motor Lines (acquired by Swift in 1988)
• Arthur H. Fulton (acquired by Swift in 1991)
• West's Best Freight System (acquired by Swift in 1993)
• Missouri-Nebraska Express (acquired by Swift in 1994)
• East-West Transportation (acquired by Swift in 1994)
• the dry van division of Navajo Shippers (acquired by Swift in 1996)
• Direct Transit Inc. (acquired by Swift in 1996/1997)
• Trans-Mex, Inc. (49% acquired by Swift in 2000, the remainder acquired in 2004)
• the dry van division of Cardinal Freight Carriers, Inc. (acquired by Swift in 2000)
• M.S. Carriers (merged with Swift in 2000)
• Central Refrigerated (bought out by Swift in 2013 from Swift founder and former CEO Jerry Moyes)

Central Freight is a separate company from Swift, and is privately owned by Jerry Moyes, the founder and former CEO of Swift Transportation. He acquired it in 1997. Central Refrigerated was the company formerly known as Dick Simon trucking, and that was acquired primarily by Moyes circa 2001 (this is the company best known for its driver who drove his truck up the steps of the California state capitol). It was bought out and integrated into Swift in 2013.

Blue Thunder was related to either Moyes or Swift, although I'm not entirely certain. The company was formed in 2005 for the sole purpose of buying out Swift's autohaul division. They filed for bankruptcy in 2007.

Update:

In August of 2013, Swift formally bought out Central Refrigerated.