Swift and there trucks

[sbatson]

I have seen some new International trucks with Swift logos all over it and I have seen in the last 2 days, a bunch T2's all the same color pulling swift trailers,are they changing there fleet out?

[Uturn2001]

Swift is well known for always looking at ways to improve their bottom line and this often means doing real world evaluations of various makes and models of trucks with different spec's to see what gives them the most bang for the buck as far as price, maintenance costs, fuel costs, etc.

[Ronin]

The new internationals are the ProStars that several fleets are rolling out. USA Truck has some as well as Wal-Mart and TF says Heartland will have some soon as well.

The T-2000's (mostly white or blue, though I have seen some in different colors) are those as rev put it "failed the stupid test" and leased on with swift. I have seen a few off color columbias century's and classics in the fleet as well, but these are typically fleet owners or those who passed the lease section of the stupid test and got their own financing.

[Syncrosonix]

saw a few brand new company trucks that were t2000's and t600's. i looked for the "leased to swift" on the skirts and saw none. they had the company logo on both sides, and i even saw a couple of black volvos that were in the same situation. both of those volvos were in the shop, however. prostars have been in the fleet for over a year now. at first they started out as walmart dedicated. that's not so much the case nowadays. i've also been seeing fliers at various terminals mentioning the cascadia. dunno if it'll be a lease-purchase deal or if they'll be company trucks.

[sbatson]

Ya Syncrosonix I saw the T2's too and I didnt see anything either, they where all a deep blue color, heading west on I-10 in Az. and some south on I-20.

[Jumbo]

Ya Syncrosonix I saw the T2's too and I didnt see anything either, they where all a deep blue color, heading west on I-10 in Az. and some south on I-20.

I got passed by a pair of deep blue T2's and they both said "Leased to Swift" on the fuel tank fairing way down low.

[Syncrosonix]

Ya Syncrosonix I saw the T2's too and I didnt see anything either, they where all a deep blue color, heading west on I-10 in Az. and some south on I-20.

the ones you've seen are owner-operators. the ones i've mentioned above were company trucks. the blue, white (without the swift logo), burgundy, black, grey, or other colors are o/o trucks. the same goes for the freightliner columbias, and volvos. the only exception to the black volvos i saw at the albuquerque terminal is that they were company trucks, and didn't have "leased to swift" anywhere on them.

the o/o t2000's numbers usually start with "930" or "940". the new company trucks start with either "303" or "304". the same applies for the other models and makes of tractors. the 2006 company volvos mostly start with "99". mine is one of such that begins with "99".

to this day, i don't know what the deal is with dsw. i know they're some kind of company leased on to swift, and based out of tucson, arizona. i guess they're like roads west is to knight refrigerated.

[matcat]

As a former swift driver I can add some info here. Any black swift company trucks you see are dollar general dedicated. The prostars are mainly walmart dedicated with few exceptions.

I've seen DSW at every terminal in the country, but usually see most of them either in Memphis or phoenix.

There are a few T2000s in the company fleet, but not many, most are lease ops, but there are a handful of blue and burgundy company trucks of various makes and modals. I even saw a pink century once!

[JeffTheTerrible]

I've seen DSW at every terminal in the country, but usually see most of them either in Memphis or phoenix.

DSW also has their own terminal in Tucson.. crappy little place... They're actually an entire company which is leased on with Swift, and not a subsidiary company of Swift.

Is it true that they've closed the Eden terminal?

[Syncrosonix]

I've seen DSW at every terminal in the country, but usually see most of them either in Memphis or phoenix.

DSW also has their own terminal in Tucson.. crappy little place... They're actually an entire company which is leased on with Swift, and not a subsidiary company of Swift.

Is it true that they've closed the Eden terminal?

i've heard too many variations of stories about dsw and how they've come to exist. i don't know what's the truth. i'm wondering if they're in the same boat as "roads west" is to knight refrigerated.

i've never been to the eden terminal, nor have i heard anything about it. as far as other terminals are concerned, the willows, california terminal has been reopened. the fuel pumps are slow as hell, too. i lived through the agony of having to take in 220 gallons of fuel one cold ass night. it took nearly 30mins for the tanks to be filled up.

as for the black company volvo, it makes sense that it's a dedicated fleet type thing. thanks for clearing that one up, matcat.

now i'm off for a week here in troutdale/portland/vancouver, washington.

[geeshock]

Is it true that they've closed the Eden terminal?

last i knew it was still open but it was only for beer runs. they won't let anyone park there nor is the shop open.

[JeffTheTerrible]

i've heard too many variations of stories about dsw and how they've come to exist. i don't know what's the truth. i'm wondering if they're in the same boat as "roads west" is to knight refrigerated.

The story I heard was that DSW stands for 'Digby Southwest', and that the guy was married into the Digby family, but got divorced, and was separated from Digby as a result. The validity of the story, I don't know, but I do remember that DSW drivers were treated more the same as lease ops or drivers for small fleets leased onto Swift, and they did have the "Leased to Swift Transportation" sticker on their trucks. The terminal in Tucson is very real, though. I've had to take on fuel there a couple times before, but I'd usually try to pass it up if I had enough fuel to make it to my destination, because the place had no showers.

[quote][color=blue]i've never been to the eden terminal, nor have i heard anything about it.[/color[/blue]

Eden was the North Carolina terminal. Kinda crappy compared to the other terminals, but the mechanics there did a real good job.

last i knew it was still open but it was only for beer runs. they won't let anyone park there nor is the shop open.

Yeah, they did have some sort of dedicated beer run out of there. They also had a dedicated flatbed fleet to haul chassis from Freightliner in Gaffney to Thomas Built Buses in Hi Point. There was also an OTR flatbed fleet out of Eden, which I ran for. The last time I saw the terminal (I was driving past on my way to VA), they had actually paved it, which must've been a shock to everyone who had anything to do with that terminal (especially for those who've had to be towed out of the infamous 'Lake Hewitt'). The terminal manager's son was in charge of flatbed operations out of Eden, and he was a great guy to work for.. one of the few high points of my time with Swift.

[ajritter04]

I've seen DSW at every terminal in the country, but usually see most of them either in Memphis or phoenix.

DSW also has their own terminal in Tucson.. crappy little place... They're actually an entire company which is leased on with Swift, and not a subsidiary company of Swift.

Is it true that they've closed the Eden terminal?

The DSW yard in Tucson was actually one of my favorite places. Always relatively empty with lots of parking in the dirt lot behind the building.

My only problem with that yard was all the military jets and other aircraft that have a flight path right over the place.

As for having no showers....unless it's changed since the last time I was there..they had 3 showers down the hall from the washing machines.

[JeffTheTerrible]

They actually manage to keep them working now? :shock:
Back in '04, they never seemed to be.

[Syncrosonix]

I've seen DSW at every terminal in the country, but usually see most of them either in Memphis or phoenix.

DSW also has their own terminal in Tucson.. crappy little place... They're actually an entire company which is leased on with Swift, and not a subsidiary company of Swift.

Is it true that they've closed the Eden terminal?

The DSW yard in Tucson was actually one of my favorite places. Always relatively empty with lots of parking in the dirt lot behind the building.

My only problem with that yard was all the military jets and other aircraft that have a flight path right over the place.

As for having no showers....unless it's changed since the last time I was there..they had 3 showers down the hall from the washing machines.

i have/had no idea where their terminal is located. it's located in the flight path of the jets coming and going from davis-monthan afb?

[JeffTheTerrible]

Lemme see.. if you're headed west on I-10, there's that one truck stop in Tucson... for a westbound driver, it would be the exit before the one for the truck stop, and then you'd turn north at the top of the ramp. You wouldn't have very far to go - you can see it as soon as you get to the top of the offramp.