TL (Truckload)

Truckload is basic point-to-point trucking service that does not require any stopoffs and is a "full truck" service for usually one customer. Truckload is the fastest-growing, most dynamic sector of the industry, and has been since deregulation in 1980. There is little barrier to entry in TL: It is nearly exclusively non-union, low-cost providers that do not need money for terminals or crossdocks. Truckload accounted for about $326 billion of the nation's total $713 billion freight bill in 2006. The top five TL providers in 2006 were, in order, Swift Transportation, Schneider National, J.B. Hunt, Landstar, and Werner Enterprises.