The Truckload Backdrop Remains Soft for Knight-Swift, but Signs of Demand Improvement Are Emerging

Before its 2017 merger with Swift Transportation, Knight Transportation was the 12th-largest full-truckload carrier in the United States, with a long history of exceptional execution, including average return on invested capital in the low teens—an unusual accomplishment in trucking. Knight's long-standing laser focus on network efficiency has served it well; its legacy operating ratio, or OR, (expenses/revenue, excluding fuel) averaged in the mid-80% range before the Swift deal, versus an industry average that traditionally exceeds 90%.