A fresh ranking puts a number of major American trucking and logistics companies on a list of the most trusted firms in the country. The list, published by Newsweek, covers 700 companies across 23 industries, with each one scored by customers, employees, and investors.
For our readers who track the freight industry from Israel, the more interesting slice is the 35 firms that landed under a category labeled Transport, Logistics, and Packaging. Familiar names dominate the upper end, and the mix offers a quick read on which carriers US stakeholders are betting on.
What happened
- Newsweek's list covers 700 US companies across 23 industries, with 35 in the transport, logistics, and packaging group.
- Rankings were built from roughly 25,000 survey responses covering customer, employee, and investor trust.
- The pool drew from 3,100 US-based companies (1,800 public, 1,300 private) with revenues above $500 million.
- UPS took the top spot, followed by FedEx and Americold.
- Other carriers inside the top 35 include US Xpress, Ascent, Schneider National, Atlas, Knight-Swift, USA Truck, NFI, Old Dominion, Ryder, and Swift Transportation.
The list and how it was built
According to truckersnews.com, the rankings were drawn from a single independent survey. Respondents were asked whether they agreed with statements about being treated fairly as a customer, finding good career opportunities, and viewing the company as a sound long-term investment. The combination of those three angles is what Newsweek calls "trust."
It is worth noting what the ranking is and what it is not. It is a perception score, not a financial ranking or a safety score. A carrier can sit high on this list and still post a rough earnings quarter, just as a financially strong firm can drop down the trust ladder after a public stumble. Read it as a sentiment check, not a balance sheet.
Who made the cut, and what it signals
The top ten of the trucking-relevant list reads like a roll call of the larger US operators: UPS at 1, FedEx at 2, Americold at 3, US Xpress at 6, Ascent at 7, Schneider National at 10, Atlas at 14, Knight-Swift at 15, USA Truck at 17, NFI at 20, Old Dominion at 25, Ryder at 31, and Swift at 35. Old Dominion in particular is a name to watch, given its focus on LTL operations where on-time performance and damage ratios drive shipper loyalty.
What the order quietly shows is that scale and brand recognition do not guarantee the top slots. Knight-Swift, the largest truckload operator in the US, sits below smaller niche players in the trust index, which is a useful reminder that size and reputation are not the same thing.
Our analysis
Trust rankings tend to move slowly, and they move in the direction of recent headlines. A bad quarter for a major carrier will not knock it out of the top 20 overnight, but two or three quarters in a row of service complaints or workforce disputes will drag it down. The opposite is also true: a quiet, well-run operator can climb faster than its size suggests.
The other lens worth applying is who the survey sample actually represents. The respondents are US-based customers, employees, and investors. That makes the list most useful as a barometer of American sentiment, and less useful as a direct read on how an Israeli shipper should feel about a 3PL partner. For cross-border and Gulf trade lanes into the US, however, the trust order does give a quick sense of which carriers are likely to be more receptive to long-term contract discussions with overseas partners.
A practical example
Say you run a mid-sized Israeli freight forwarder moving apparel and consumer goods from Israeli ports to US East Coast distribution centres, and you are deciding between a large LTL carrier and a smaller specialised one. You pull this list and notice that Old Dominion, a pure-play LTL operator, sits ahead of several larger truckload-focused firms on trust. That is not a reason to ignore price, transit time, or service levels, but it is a prompt to ask sharper questions of the LTL provider who is not on the list at all. Reputation is a soft signal, but soft signals have a habit of showing up in claims ratios.
What to watch next
Keep an eye on the next round of the same ranking, and compare movement. A carrier climbing ten places in a year is making real operational progress; one falling ten places is worth a call to your account manager before tender season.
Frequently asked questions
How many trucking and logistics firms made Newsweek's trust list?
35 companies were ranked under the Transport, Logistics, and Packaging category, drawn from a broader list of 700 US firms across 23 industries.
Who took the top spot among trucking-related firms?
UPS ranked first, followed by FedEx in second and Americold in third.
Was the ranking based on financial performance?
No. It was based on survey responses about customer trust, employee trust, and investor trust, not revenue or profit.
How useful is this list for an Israeli freight buyer?
It is a sentiment snapshot, not a buying guide. It is more relevant if you move cargo into or out of the US, and less so for purely domestic Israeli operations.
Are smaller carriers included?
Only US-based companies with revenues above $500 million qualified, so the list skews toward larger operators.