Two for-hire carriers were named the Overall Winners of the 2023 Best Fleets to Drive For contest at the Truckload Carriers Association’s (TCA) convention in March. This year marks the awards’ 15th anniversary.
TCA and CarriersEdge presented the Best Overall Fleet in the small carrier category to Chief Carriers, Inc., of Grand Island, Nebraska, and the Best Overall Fleet in the large carrier category went to C.A.T. Inc. of Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, Canada. The award for the small carrier category is sponsored by Eleos Technologies, while the large carrier award is sponsored by TruckRight.
Both of this year’s overall winners represent firsts for the program.
C.A.T is the first fleet in over a decade to win the overall award in its first year as a Best Fleet.
“Most participants need multiple years to progress from Finalist to Top 20 to Overall Winner”, said Jane Jazrawy, CEO of CarriersEdge. “For C.A.T. to make it not just into the Top 20, but to the top of the list, is a remarkable achievement. They’ve put a huge effort into their programs this past year, and that effort was evident throughout the evaluation process.”
Chief Carriers represents a first of a different kind. The company’s general manager, Andrew Winkler, is the first person to win the overall award at two different companies. He previously worked with Best Fleets Hall-of-Famer Grand Island Express.
“Seeing Chief Carriers progress in the past few years, it’s not surprising that they won the overall award”, Jazrawy noted. “They clearly have a plan for developing driver support programs, and their scores across all categories show that the plan is working.”
TCA President Jim Ward noted the importance of driver-centric culture.
“Year after year, the overall winners are truly changing the game,” he said. “It’s imperative that fleets establish driver-centric offerings which attract and retain a skilled workforce while establishing programs that improve the work-life balance for their employees. Chief Carriers, Inc. and C.A.T. Inc. have done just that, and their results show that those efforts pay off.”
The Best Fleets to Drive For survey and contest is open to any for-hire fleet operating 10 or more trucks, regardless of TCA membership status. Nominated fleets are evaluated in areas such as driver compensation, pension and benefits, professional development, driver and community support, and safety record.
The contest accepts nominations from Labor Day to Halloween each year and reveals its Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For winners each January. The highest-scoring fleet in each category is named an Overall Winner during TCA’s Annual Convention. For more information about the competition, visit bestfleetstodrivefor.com.
The Truckload Authority News Staff, comprised of award winning journalists and graphic artists, produces content for Truckload Authority, working in cooperation with the Truckload Carriers Association staff. Truckload Authority aims to keep TCA members abreast on the latest trends in the trucking industry as well as articles that feature TCA member executives and drivers. The Truckload Authority staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
