Missouri Trucking Company Takes Over Rival—No Layoffs Announced

It's not often when you hear of a company taking over a competitor where there is no job loss included, but that appears to be the case for a Missouri trucking company that says it has no plans to let anyone go after they have integrated another company into theirs.

A press release just shared this week by Heartland Express says that will have integrated Contract Freighters, Inc. (“CFI”) into their company by December 31, 2025. Those CFI trucks will be rebranded as Heartland Express. They added this detail for incoming CFI drivers:

"Drivers will remain in their current trucks and have the option to choose any of the pay packages in the legacy Heartland Fleet. Drivers will also have the option to run in the other subsidiaries, Millis Transfer, LLC (Millis) or Smith Transport, LLC (Smith) fleets, within our family of brands."

Heartland Express says that the plan to maintain their headquarters in Joplin, Missouri with other offices in West Memphis, Arkansas and Laredo, Texas. They went on to say "we plan to offer all current CFI employees the opportunity to continue their employment with Heartland Express. Millis and Smith will remain in their current status".

While I have had several family members that either are or have been truck drivers, I am certainly no expert on the industry. All I do know is that I'm thrilled that it doesn't look like there will be any layoffs associated with this takeover once it's complete in a few weeks. I've seen too many layoffs in 2025 so far and I'm glad these drivers will not be among that number.