Trucking companies in Alabama: how many there are, the biggest fleets and how to check one

This report is for shippers and plant logistics managers looking for an Alabama carrier, drivers comparing employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are trucking companies: tarp and trailer suppliers, insurers, fuel and tire dealers, software vendors and repair shops.

Alabama trucking in Census data

County Business Patterns 2023 counts establishments in NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation) for the state of Alabama.

Ranking the same state file ourselves, Alabama is 22nd by trucking employment and 7th by average establishment size. The national average is about 9.9 employees per establishment, so an Alabama trucking site is on average about a third larger than the US norm.

What Alabama carriers do

Average pay is our calculation (payroll divided by employees). Long-distance truckload is the backbone, with half the state's trucking jobs. Less-than-truckload (LTL) terminals are fewer but the biggest and best paid, at 28 employees and almost $74,000 a head. Specialized local freight (dump, log and tank trucks and other equipment-specific hauling) is the second-largest group by count.

FMCSA's carrier register shows the same tilt toward open-deck freight. Of the 7,650 current for-hire registrations described below, 2,574 (34%) list logs, poles, beams or lumber and 1,754 (23%) list metal sheets, coils or rolls. Nationally, only 15% of current for-hire registrations list logs and lumber. Cargo types are self-reported by carriers, and FMCSA's open-data file doesn't always match a carrier's own SAFER record, so treat these shares as indicative. Another 1,033 Alabama carriers (13.5%) report hauling hazardous materials.

Where Alabama trucking companies are

The two biggest counties hold a fifth of the establishments. Morgan and Houston counties punch above their size because a few large carriers are based there.

Three freight anchors explain the map. The Alabama State Port Authority says APM Terminals' container terminal at the Port of Mobile handles more than 500,000 TEUs a year, with room to grow to 2.5 million. The port authority is also building a Montgomery Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, served by CSX and slated to open in 2027, with capacity for 60,000 TEUs. And the Alabama Department of Commerce says the state's four automakers (Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai and Mazda Toyota) have capacity to build 1.3 million vehicles a year, and assembly plants draw their parts by truck.

Two ways to count fleet size

Census size classes count employees per establishment. FMCSA's register counts power units (trucks and tractors) per USDOT number, which picks up owner-operators the Census leaves out.

The Census counts establishments with paid employees, not companies: a carrier with yards in Mobile and Montgomery counts twice, and the self-employed and private fleets are left out. FMCSA's file lists 17,833 active for-hire registrations with an Alabama address and at least one truck, but only 7,650 updated their MCS-150 filing in the 24 months to 30 October 2026. We use those, minus 9 large fleets reporting fewer drivers than a tenth of their power units (usually typing errors). Every register figure is self-reported.

The largest fleets in FMCSA's register

For-hire carriers only (no private fleets), current filings, ranked by power units as reported in the Company Census File of 29 October 2026.

AAA Cooper is not independent: Knight-Swift's 10-K says it bought AAA Cooper in July 2021, and that AAA Cooper's headquarters covers about 20 acres in Dothan. No SEC-listed trucking company has its headquarters in Alabama, so for every other name here the register is the main public record of size.

How to check an Alabama carrier

1. Look up the USDOT number in FMCSA's SAFER Company Snapshot: power units, drivers, cargo classes, inspections, crashes and any safety rating.
2. For interstate for-hire loads, confirm active operating authority and insurance in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance system.
3. For loads that stay in Alabama, confirm intrastate authority with the Alabama PSC Motor Carrier Services Section. The Commission requires it for anyone moving property or household goods for pay inside the state, and every regulated carrier must keep liability insurance on file, plus cargo insurance for property and household goods carriers.
4. Match the trailer to the load. A log hauler, a steel flatbed and a tanker are different businesses, so ask for the equipment list.
5. Get a certificate of insurance naming you, and two shipper references on similar lanes.

Selling to Alabama trucking companies

Timing follows the freight: automotive volume shifts with plant schedules, and port growth at Mobile and the new Montgomery rail yard will pull drayage capacity toward those two cities. For finding the right person at each fleet, see how to find decision makers.

Illustrative example. The seller, its rates and the share estimate are invented; the counts are FMCSA register data.

Tombigbee Tarp & Strap (tombigbee.example) sells tarps, straps, edge protectors and a two-hour load-securement class for flatbed drivers. Its list is Alabama's 813 current for-hire carriers with 6 to 100 power units. If the statewide share applies, about 34% of them (276) list lumber or logs. Two contacts each (owner and safety manager) gives 552 people; at a 6% reply rate, 33 conversations; if one in three books a class, 11 fleets, and the class leads to the gear order. Bebop can find carriers that match a description like that and research each one before the first email.

Subject: Securement at [company] before the next roadside check

Hi [first name],

[Company] runs [number] power units out of [city] and lists logs and lumber on its FMCSA filing, so your drivers tie down a lot of open loads.

We run a two-hour securement class at your yard and leave each driver with a checklist and a kit. Most fleets your size book it when they add drivers or a new customer.

Would a class on [date] be worth a 15-minute call this week?

[Your name]

Alabama sources

Next step: compare Alabama's flatbed-heavy market with the state that has the largest trucking sites in the country, in the report on trucking companies in Tennessee.