Trucking companies in Massachusetts: local haulers, movers and the fleets behind New England's stores

This report is for Massachusetts shippers, retailers and property managers choosing a carrier or mover, drivers comparing employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are trucking companies: insurers, truck and trailer dealers, fuel suppliers, staffing firms and software vendors.

Massachusetts trucking in Census data

US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation), state of Massachusetts:

Local, specialized and moving

Local general freight is the largest segment by count (34.6% of establishments), and movers are unusually prominent: 251 establishments with 3,097 employees, paid $57,768 on average, the fourth highest moving pay among the states and DC with a published figure. Specialized long-distance carriers pay $81,985, the highest of any segment here.

Norfolk County, south of Boston, has the largest establishments (21.5 employees each) and nearly as many trucking jobs as Middlesex from about half as many sites. Essex County, on the North Shore, is the opposite: 295 establishments averaging 5.5.

The two largest classes aren't published. The 100-or-more band (30) is the published total less the smaller bands, which leaves two establishments with 500 or more employees. In broader bands: 1,871 have 1 to 19 employees and 188 have 20 to 99. CBP counts establishments with paid employees, not companies; it leaves out owner-operators with no payroll, and a retailer's or distributor's own trucks are counted in retail or wholesale.

The register: more private fleets than carriers

FMCSA's Company Census File (29 October 2026) lists 39,907 active USDOT registrations with a Massachusetts physical address, 19.1 per Census establishment. Without bus operators, 23,944 run private fleets only and 14,589 are for-hire: contractors, landscapers, distributors and service companies outnumber trucking companies in the federal file.

Another 33 for-hire records claim more than 50 power units with almost no drivers, which are typing errors, so read the top of any self-reported list with care. Federal rules require an MCS-150 update every 24 months (49 CFR 390.19). New for-hire registrations still active: 1,344 in 2025 and 1,330 in 2026 through 29 October.

The largest for-hire fleets registered in Massachusetts

Active for-hire records, updated since October 2024, with drivers at least half the power units. We left out environmental, industrial-cleaning, construction and waste fleets.

Seven of the eleven carry the names of retailers, distributors and service companies with for-hire authority (Iron Mountain, Staples, Sysco, Stop & Shop and BJ's among them): in Massachusetts, many of the largest fleets belong to shippers. RoadOne (Randolph), Lily (Needham) and Noonan (West Bridgewater) put three of the largest freight carriers in Norfolk and Plymouth counties, matching Norfolk's large establishments in the Census data. The biggest private fleets are UniFirst in Wilmington (3,143 power units), W B Mason in Brockton (834) and F W Webb in Bedford (473). No SEC-listed company in the trucking SIC codes has a Massachusetts business address.

Port and city factors

Massport describes its Conley Container Terminal as the only full-service container terminal in New England, with 50-foot berths for ships of 12,000 to 16,000 TEU and 30-minute truck turn times. For drayage carriers, that's one terminal to know well.

In Boston itself, moving work has its own rules. The city says most leases turn over at the beginning of September, recommends a moving-truck street permit in some neighborhoods (typically $69 to $109, applied for online at least 15 days ahead), and bans moving trucks on Storrow Drive, where the height limit is 10 feet.

How to vet a Massachusetts carrier or mover

1. Pull the SAFER record in FMCSA's Company Snapshot for operation type, fleet, inspections and crashes, and check the MCS-150 date.
2. Confirm authority and insurance for interstate for-hire work in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance search: at least $750,000 for general freight (49 CFR 387.9).
3. Check the operation type. 7,644 Massachusetts for-hire carriers are registered for in-state work only; they can't take a load to New Hampshire or Rhode Island.
4. For a Boston move, ask whether the mover pulls the street permit, which truck it will send (Storrow Drive is off limits) and how it handles the September rush. For a move out of state, FMCSA's Protect Your Move search lists interstate movers by state; FMCSA says every for-hire mover in interstate commerce must be licensed and insured.
5. For port loads, ask about the carrier's Conley Terminal experience and its typical turn times.

Prospecting Massachusetts trucking companies

For a way to turn the movers and fleets above into a working list, see how to build a prospect list.

Illustrative example. The agency, rates and booking rate are invented; the establishment counts are from CBP 2023.

Fenway Crew (fenwaycrew.example) supplies trained moving helpers by the day. Its market is the state's 251 moving establishments, and its season is the late-summer peak when Boston leases turn over. If 15% of them (38 movers) book an average of six helpers for 15 working days at $280 a helper-day, that's about $958,000 of bookings in one season. Fenway starts calling in June, before movers have filled their September calendars. Bebop can find movers like these from a description and research each one before the call.

Subject: September crews for [company]

Hi [first name],

Most Boston leases turn over at the start of September, and I'd guess your calendar for the week of the 1st is already filling up.

We supply trained moving helpers by the day, vetted and insured, so you can say yes to jobs instead of turning them away.

Can I hold a crew of [number] for you for [dates] while you confirm bookings?

[Your name]

Massachusetts sources

Next step: compare a market led by big truckload carriers in the report on trucking companies in Wisconsin.