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Knight Transportation history
Knight Transportation company history timeline
On July 19, 1990, Knight Transportation officially became operational, hauling its first three loads from Phoenix, Arizona, to Los Angeles and back.
1990: Knight Transportation hauls its first load of freight in July.
By 1990, Swift had grown to a $125 million carrier with 800 trucks.
In 1991, its first full year in operation, Knight Transportation generated $13.4 million in revenue.
Within the next two years, Knight Transportation's sales volume nearly doubled, reaching $26.4 million in 1993, when the company's fleet consisted of more than 200 trucks.
Worst days include the company's first accident (nobody was seriously hurt) and the day in 1993 Sol Price, founder of Price Club warehouse stores, called to tell him the company was merging with Costco and would be using their trucks.
To facilitate the company's maturation into a national force, the Knights took the company public in 1994, filing with Securities and Exchange Commission for a $22 million initial public offering (IPO) of stock.
In 1996, Forbes magazine placed Knight Transportation on its annual list of the "200 Best Small Companies in the United States." Typically, annual driver turnover in the trucking industry neared 100 percent, but at Knight Transportation the turnover rate averaged 50 percent.
By the end of 1996, when sales totaled $77.5 million, the company relied on 158 trucks that were owned and operated by independent contractors.
Under Kevin Knight's stewardship, the company struck again on the acquisition front in 2000, purchasing the trucking operation of Gulfport, Mississippi-based John Fayard Fast Freight Inc., which operated as Fastway Systems.
For the seventh consecutive year, Forbes magazine selected Knight Transportation as one of the "200 Best Small Companies in the United States" in 2001, a year in which the company's trucks logged more than 240 million miles.
2002: New terminals in Portland, Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee, are opened.
In 2003, the company posted $35.5 million in net income, nearly three times the total recorded five years earlier.
2003: New terminals in Atlanta, Georgia, and Denver, Colorado, are opened.
1, 2015, David Jackson succeeded Kevin Knight as CEO of Knight Transportation.
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Knight Transportation competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arnold Transportation Services | 1932 | $170.0M | 1,700 | - |
| Heartland Express | 1978 | $1.0B | 3,600 | 53 |
| ArcBest | 1923 | $4.2B | 13,000 | 109 |
| Werner Enterprises | 1956 | $3.0B | 12,784 | 85 |
| Schneider National | 1935 | $5.3B | 19,600 | 67 |
| C.R. England | 1920 | $700.0M | 4,500 | 500 |
| J.B. Hunt Transport Services | 1961 | $12.1B | 29,056 | 1,056 |
| Prime | 1970 | $1.7B | 79 | 82 |
| Central Refrigerated Service, Inc. | 2002 | $170.0M | 1,650 | - |
| Centerline Solutions | 2011 | $4.4M | 50 | 201 |
Knight Transportation history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Knight Transportation, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Knight Transportation. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Knight Transportation. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Knight Transportation. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Knight Transportation and its employees or that of Zippia.
Knight Transportation may also be known as or be related to KNIGHT TRANSPORTATION INC, Knight Transportation, Knight Transportation Inc, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc. and swift transportation.