Indiana trucking: Indiana's major trucking companies.

• Author: Buchanan, Jolinda
• Position: Directory

Due to Indiana's central location (and no doubt its great business climate), many major trucking firms are headquartered in the state. We have attempted to compile a list of Indiana's 20 largest trucking companies based on information published in the 1989-90 edition of the National Motor Carrier Directory. We included common carriers that transport general commodities. Indiana is also notable for its large household goods carriers. In the November 1987 issue, Indiana Business profiled some of the state's largest household movers, including: North America Van Lines; Mayflower Group, Inc.; Atlas Van Lines; Wheaton Van Lines; and American Red Ball Transit Corp.

Circle Express Inc.Indianapolis

Arthur L. Belford founded Circle Express, Inc., in 1983 when he acquired Rockport-based ECK Miller Transportation Corp. Circle Express is a holding company whose operating subsidiaries are truckload common carriers that transport general commodities throughout the 48 contiguous states under authority granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission. They are irregular-route carriers, which means they have no fixed itinerary as bus and air lines have.

Based in Rockport, ECK Miller Transportation Corp. is primarily an irregular-route truckload carrier. Current shipments range from iron and steel, aluminum, machinery and building materials to freight of all kinds.

Columbus-headquartered Mid-Western Transport, Inc., is a transcontinental produce and temperature-sensitive freight carrier that had been operating for 10 years when Circle Express acquired it in 1986.

Circle's out-of-state carriers include Roadrunner Trucking, Inc., based in Albuquerque, N.M., which has one of the largest flatbed fleets in the western United States. Circle Express acquired Huntington, W.V.-based C.I. Whitten Co. last year. It has grown to be one of the largest explosives carriers in the nation. The other out-of-state firms are Advanced Distribution System, Inc., of Dublin, Ohio, and Rainbow Express of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Stoops Express, Inc.-Daleville

Stoops Express, a Daleville-based trucking firm, is the largest of four subsidiary motor carriers owned by Burlington Motor Carriers of Hurst, Texas.

Burlington's 2,000-truck fleet is designed to run nationwide. Each marketing region is responsible for the daily reloading of all trucks that arrive in its area. Not only do they reload their own trucks but trucks belonging to the other three carriers as well.

Jack Gray Transportation...