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ArcBest history
ArcBest company history timeline
Since it was founded as a Fort Smith freight hauler in 1923, the company has transformed into a full-scale provider of end-to-end supply chain services designed to help customers solve their logistics challenges, a press release said.
In 1953, an internal breakdown department was established for Carolina Freight Carriers Corporation based in Cherryville, North Carolina.
Hembree had joined the company in 1958, seven years after his boss, Robert A. Young, Jr., had been named the company's chairman.
The company was formed in 1966 as Arkansas Best Corporation by Robert A. Young, owner of LTL carrier Arkansas-Best Freight System (now ABF Freight System), to be that carrier's holding company as a way to facilitate diversification.
In June 1968, ABC purchased a 64 percent stake in a Dallas, Texas-based financial institution, National Bank of Commerce, adding financial services to the company's widening roster of business interests.
Riverside Furniture recorded $9 million in annual sales in 1968, 26 percent more than the previous year's total.
ABF Freight's service territory expanded before the end of the decade, moving into Pennsylvania and New York after ABC acquired Fast Freight, Inc. in November 1969.
Spring was a busy season in 1969 for Oren as he graduated college and married his high school sweetheart, Ann.
The bank, as one company observer noted, had "serious collateral problems in its loan portfolio," but Hembree did not become aware of such problems until 1972, four years after he had invested in the bank.
Arkansas Best Corp. went public on the NYSE as "ABZ" in 1972.
Young remained the company's chairman until his death in 1973.
In 1978, the company acquired Navajo Freight Lines.
The passage of the 1980 Motor Carrier Act also precipitated another change in ABF Freight's business, one that would change the way in which the company operated and opened the doors to a flourishing segment of the carrier market.
Next, the company acquired East Texas Motor Freight, Inc. in 1982, an acquisition that represented another important boost to ABC's stature.
At the time, in addition to Arkansas-Best Freight System, it also owned Riverside Furniture Corporation, the National Bank of Commerce of Dallas, Texas, Data-Tronic Corporation, and Arkansas Bandag Corporation. It went public again, this time on the Nasdaq, in 1992.
By the end of 1993, ABC could rightly call itself a $1 billion company, generating by year's end $1.009 billion in sales and posting more than $50 million in operating income.
In 1993, the breakdown department was incorporated as Carolina Breakdown Service to allow other trucking companies to take advantage of an established nationwide breakdown service.
He continued to grow his career at Carolina Freight in various roles until he became the leader of Carolina Breakdown Service in 1993.
For his work at TMC, Oren earned several awards that included the coveted Silver Spark Plug in 1993.
Annual sales in 1995 reached $1.47 billion, but once WorldWay was fully absorbed by the company sales were expected to near $2 billion.
In 1995, the company was purchased by ArcBest Corporation, formerly Arkansas Best Corporation.
He went on to serve as TMC general chairman in 1995.
ABF acquired financially troubled Worldway Corp. and its subsidiaries Carolina Freight Carriers Corp., G.I. Trucking Co., Red Arrow Freight Lines Inc., Cardinal Freight Carriers Inc., Innovative Logistics Inc., and CaroTrans International Inc. in 1995 for US$72.2 million.
In 1997, our name officially changed to FleetNet America Inc.
Oren led the company until his retirement in June 2011.
In 2013, it created ABF Logistics.
In 2014, Arkansas Best was renamed ArcBest Corporation.
Also in 2016, the company reorganized rebanding many of its services under the name ArcBest.
In 2021, ArcBest acquired MoLo Solutions, a truckload brokerage company based in Chicago.
Demand for United States beef exports remains high, pork exports see ‘momentum’Kim SouzaJuly 11, 2022
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ArcBest competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAA Cooper Transportation | 1955 | $780.0M | 4,500 | 730 |
| Roadrunner Transportation Systems | 1984 | $1.8B | 3,000 | 146 |
| Saia | 1924 | $3.2B | 12,000 | 144 |
| Old Dominion Freight Line | 1934 | $5.8B | 19,779 | 162 |
| Contract Services Limited | 1974 | $580,000 | 10 | 49 |
| Information Network Systems | 1980 | $37.0M | 1,000 | 6 |
| El Paso Corporation | 1928 | - | 525 | 6 |
| Universal Weather and Aviation | 1959 | $252.2M | 700 | 41 |
| Port of Seattle | 1911 | $76.0M | 2,150 | 29 |
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ArcBest may also be known as or be related to ArcBest, ArcBest Corporation and Arcbest Corporation.