Central Freight Lines

The company was founded in 1925 by 20-year-old William W. "Woody" Callan as Central Forwarding Warehouse Company and mostly did local moves of household goods with a single Ford Model-T truck. Callan's experience was working for Sanger Brothers Dry Goods Company and Weathered Transfer and Storage Company which led to contacts he used to start the business.[6] The company incorporated in 1927[1] and by 1928 was running regular routes between Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin.[7]

When the Texas Legislature passed the Motor Carrier Law of 1929 prohibiting common carriers from transporting other classes of goods Central was forced to split its household-goods business as Central Forwarding Inc. from its general freight services, renamed Central Freight Lines (CFL).[6] The two operated independently but shared leadership, facilities, and equipment.[3] CFL continued expansion adding San Antonio[8] and Houston services in 1933. By 1938, it had 200 employees, 85 trucks and 25 trailers.[6] During World War II, Callan continued to run both companies while also running the Warehousing Branch, Headquarters Army Services of Supply from offices in Atlanta and the Pentagon.[9]

By 1951, CFL's growth had far outpaced that of its sibling company and the two more formally split.[3] Central Forwarding eventually changed its name to Central Transportation Systems, and was acquired by Spectrum Relocation Group of El Paso, Texas in 2005 where it operated as a subsidiary of Spectrum's Appleton Moving Company division.[10]

In 1952, Callan stepped down as president of CFL but remained chairman of the board. With his leaving, Callan initiated an Employee Stock Ownership Plan and later the 1959 introduction of a profit-sharing pension plan. Callan remained chairman until his death on March 17, 1987.[3] By 1955, CFL had 1,100 employees and operated 900 trucks.[9]

In 1979, Callan's son, Woody Callan, Jr., became president and led the company through what would prove to be a challenging decade. CFL faced challenges internally from a push toward unionization and externally from the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 deregulation.[3] Despite this, it continued to expand in the late 1980s, particularly into west Texas.[11] In 1991, CFL expanded to interstate services after receiving 48-state operating authority from the Interstate Commerce Commission[12] and began expanding in the south-central states.[13]

Callan, Jr. and his sister, Diana Callan Braswell, both retired from CFL in 1992 selling their stock to the company's profit-sharing and retirement plan. This turned CFL into an employee-owned company.[3] At the time, CFL was responsible for hauling over half of intrastate freight in Texas.[14]

In 1993, CFL's management and shareholders, including its employee-owners, agreed to sell the company to Akron, Ohio-based parcel and freight logistics company, Roadway Services Inc. (RSI).[12] CFL became a subsidiary of RSI's Roadway Regional Group with a focus on the Southwest. This group also included Viking Freight in the western US, Spartan Express (operated as a subsidiary of Viking)[15] in the southeast, and Coles Express in the northeast.[16]

Under RSI, CFL initially continued to grow eventually covering the rest of the south-Central US plus much of the Midwest. Joe Hall was appointed CFL's new president in 1995[12] in the midst of significant competitive pressure on the company from further federal trucking deregulation. As an established, Texas-based carrier, CFL had been the beneficiary of Texas' tight regulation of intrastate trucking. However, deregulation had the effect of stripping the Texas Railway Commission of its power, significantly increasing competition in the state.[14]

On top of this, CFL's parent, RSI, was facing internal conflict. RSI's regional carriers were non-union but employees of Roadway Express, RSI’s national LTL carrier, were unionized under the Teamsters. Over the years, the Teamsters had negotiated salary and benefit packages for Roadway Express workers up to 30% higher than RSI's non-union workers. With slim margins in the LTL industry, this meant Roadway Express, despite representing over 40% of RSI's US$5 billion annual revenue,[17] was less profitable than its sibling carriers.[15] The situation was brought to a head in 1994 when a 24-day Teamsters strike resulted in Roadway Express losing US$68 million for the quarter.[15]

In August 1995, RSI announced it would spin off Roadway Express as a separate, publicly traded company.[17] Eight years later in 2003, Roadway Express would be acquired by Yellow Corporation to form Yellow Roadway Corporation.[18]

After completing the spin-off, Roadway Services changed its name to Caliber System on December 14, 1995 and four days later announced consolidation of its regional carriers (CFL, Coles, Spartan, and Viking), into a nationwide carrier called Viking Freight Inc. The following year, CFL formally became the Southwest Division of Viking. This marked the end of separate operations for Central Freight Lines.[16]

Caliber, however, was unable to realize the expected efficiencies of the move. This meant that by 1997 it was actively seeking a buyer[14] and was rapidly shedding assets including its former Coles and Spartan east-coast operations.[19] The prospect of a total shutdown led former CFL management, including former president Joe Hall, to open negotiations to buy the former carrier.[14] They would succeed in 1997 when Caliber sold them a significant portion of former CFL operations.[12]

Caliber was acquired by FedEx in 1998[20] and Viking continued under FedEx as a West Coast LTL carrier. In 2001, FedEx acquired American Freightways and the following year renamed it FedEx Freight East and renamed Viking FedEx Freight West. After acquiring Watkins Motor Lines in 2006, FedEx integrated all of its LTL services into a single entity, FedEx Freight.[21]

In December 2020, Moyes stepped in as interim CEO and president in an effort to address the company's financial difficulties.[39] Along with Moyes' installation, the company made major changes to the rest of its executive team.[32] In September 2021 the company sold its 37-acre Waco headquarters facility to a group of local investors with a lease-back allowing CFL to continue to use the facility through December 2022.[40]

On December 11, 2021 Bruce Kalem, CFL president from July 2021, confirmed rumors that the company had notified drivers, employees, and customers that it intended to wind down operations beginning December 13th. Kalem also confirmed that the shut down was the result of long-term operating losses resulting in an inability to service debt and outstanding bills. At the time of this announcement, the company had approximately 2,100 employees including 1,325 drivers.[41][42] During wind-down of CFL operations, Richmond, Virginia-based LTL carrier Estes Express Lines expressed interest directly to CFL in hiring many of CFL's drivers and made offers for some CFL equipment.[43]

CFL's failure was the largest trucking industry closure since the shutdown of truckload carrier Celadon Group in 2019. According to Kalem, the issues which led to CFL's closure had begun with the loss of a major customer in 2016 in the midst of a debt-financed four-year fleet replacement which ended in 2017.[44]

Originally a Texas intrastate carrier, CFL expanded its services into the south-central US in the early 1990s[13] and, while owned by Roadway Services in the mid 1990s, the southwest.[15] After reestablishment as an independent company in 1997, CFL extended its services into the southeast through acquisition of several smaller LTL carriers.[35][36][37][38]

As of August 2021, CFL provided state-wide services in 14 southeastern and southwestern states and a portion of 3 additional states.[2]

CFL's operations were supported by 76 terminals across 16 states with 20 of those in Texas.[2]

CFL was a member of the EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership in which shippers, carriers, and related companies volunteer to achieve certain fuel efficiency and emissions benchmarks. In 2012, CFL became one of the first LTL carriers in the US to purchase compressed natural gas (CNG) tractors for daily use. The company cited reduced environmental impact of CNG trucks and reduced dependency on foreign fuels as drivers for the move.[45]

Further investment in CNG followed in 2013 with the purchase of over 100 Freightliner[12] and Peterbilt CNG tractors.[45] The same year, CFL and CNG supplier Questar opened one of Houston's first CNG fueling stations.[12] By 2017, CFL had established CNG stations in Fort Worth and San Antonio where it reported that over 90% of its local operations used CNG tractors.[45]

Central was one of four trucking-related companies to receive the maximum available $10 million in Paycheck Protection Program funding in 2020.[46]