Trucking companies in Omaha: Werner's hometown, both sides of the river, and how to vet a carrier

This report is for Omaha and Council Bluffs shippers choosing a carrier, drivers weighing local employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are trucking companies, from shops and parts suppliers to insurers, recruiters and software vendors.

The public company headquartered here

The only SEC-listed company in the trucking SIC codes (4210 to 4231) with an Omaha business address is Werner Enterprises. From its 10-K for 2025:

The 10-K says Werner's Truckload Transportation Services segment produced 69% of revenue and Werner Logistics 29%, that Dollar General accounted for 11% of revenue, and that Werner acquired FirstFleet, a dedicated carrier in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on 27 January 2026. The company describes Omaha as near the geographic center of its truckload service area.

One detail for anyone using the federal register: Werner's own USDOT record (9,863 power units, 9,107 drivers) was last updated in July 2024, more than 24 months ago, so filters that keep only current records drop it. Always cross-check the biggest names against their filings.

Omaha trucking in Census data

US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation), Omaha, NE-IA Metro Area (CBSA 36540):

The Census Bureau published employee counts for Cass and Mills counties but flagged them as high-noise (its confidentiality noise moved them by 5% or more), so we leave them out. Douglas County averages 14.7 employees per establishment and Sarpy 12.9; Pottawattamie, on the Iowa side, averages 8.2.

Long-distance truckload is 42.1% of the metro's trucking jobs and pays $70,711 on average. Don't read the truckload line as Werner's headcount: a head office can be counted outside NAICS 484, and Werner's 8,677 drivers are spread across its network.

The three largest classes aren't published. The 100-or-more band (11) is the published total less the smaller bands, so two establishments have 250 or more employees. In broader bands: 558 have 1 to 19 employees and 71 have 20 to 99. CBP counts establishments with paid employees, not companies; owner-operators and drivers who are contractors aren't counted.

The register: Nebraska and Iowa together

FMCSA's Company Census File (29 October 2026) lists 8,512 active USDOT registrations with a physical address in the eight metro counties. Without bus operators, 4,738 run private fleets only and 3,447 are for-hire.

Ranked by power units, the largest active for-hire records updated since October 2024, with drivers at least half the power units, leaving out waste haulers:

The largest private fleet in the metro file is Union Pacific Railroad Company's, at an Omaha address, with 2,815 power units and 6,303 drivers. For national rankings, see the largest trucking companies.

Nebraska's rules in brief

Nebraska's Department of Motor Vehicles runs Motor Carrier Services for interstate carriers: IRP apportioned registration, the IFTA fuel tax license and Unified Carrier Registration. The Nebraska Public Service Commission licenses household goods movers and regulates intrastate for-hire passenger carriers. For general freight, the federal record is the one to check, and Iowa-based carriers in Council Bluffs answer to Iowa's agencies for state matters.

How to vet an Omaha carrier

1. Pull the SAFER record in FMCSA's Company Snapshot for operation type, fleet, inspections and crashes.
2. Check the update date, especially for big names. Half the metro's for-hire records are past the 24-month MCS-150 deadline in 49 CFR 390.19, including Werner's.
3. Confirm interstate authority and insurance in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance search; general freight needs at least $750,000 of liability cover (49 CFR 387.9).
4. For a household move, confirm the mover's license with the Nebraska Public Service Commission.
5. Know which side of the river the carrier is on. 1,726 metro for-hire carriers are registered for intrastate work only, and an Iowa-based carrier registered that way can't take a load across the river into Nebraska.

Prospecting Omaha trucking companies

For finding the person behind each fleet, see how to find decision makers.

Illustrative example. The shop, prices and win rate are invented; the carrier count is from FMCSA's October 2026 file.

Platte Valley Fleet Service (plattevalley.example) sells preventive maintenance programs for tractors and trailers. It targets for-hire carriers in Douglas, Sarpy and Pottawattamie counties with 3 to 30 power units and a current MCS-150: 332 carriers with 2,492 power units. If 8% sign up (27 fleets, about 200 trucks) at $95 per truck a month, that's $228,000 a year. The opener is downtime: a shop that schedules service around the carrier's dispatch. Bebop can build that list and research each carrier before the first call.

Subject: Service for [company]'s trucks, on your schedule

Hi [first name],

Your [number] trucks run out of [city], and I'd guess the hardest part of maintenance is fitting it around loads.

We run preventive maintenance programs for Omaha and Council Bluffs fleets: we book every truck's service against your dispatch board, and night bays mean no truck misses a morning load.

Would a free inspection on two of your units next week be useful?

[Your name]

Omaha sources

Next step: compare Omaha with a larger Midwest market in the report on trucking companies in Minneapolis.