Saia freight

Saia began in 1924 with one terminal in Houma, Louisiana, and built terminals throughout Louisiana and Texas over the next fifty years.

In 1980, an application by the carrier to service additional southern states was approved. With that expansion, Saia became one of the premier regional less-than-truckload carriers in the United States.

In 1993 when Yellow Corporation purchased Saia, there were 23 terminals and limited coverage in five states.

In 1995, Smalley Transportation was merged with Saia, expanding the company into a nine-state service area. During that same year, Saia opened terminals in North and South Carolina and West Texas, providing customers with 100% coverage of 11 Southern states.

In 1996, the company moved its headquarters to Duluth, GA, maintaining general offices in hometown Houma.

In January 2001, sister companies, Action Express and WestEx were integrated into Saia under the company’s brand name, expanding direct coverage into 21 states with more than 100 terminals and over 5,000 employees.

Yellow Corporation created a regional holding company, SCS Transportation, based in Kansas City, MO in 2002. SCS Transportation, Inc. (SCST) had two operating subsidiaries – Saia and Jevic Transportation. SCST was spun off and on October 1, 2002 became an independent, publicly traded company on the NASDAQ National Market Exchange.

In 2004, SCST announced the acquisition of Clark Bros. integrating nine states and 16 terminals into the Saia network and providing the carrier with coverage in key Midwestern areas, including Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and Minneapolis.

In 2006, SCST announced the successful sale of Jevic Transportation to a private investment group and the move of all corporate functions from Kansas City to Saia headquarters in Duluth, GA. SCST functions were folded into Saia and the single company re-branded and publicly traded under the Saia brand on the NASDAQ, ticker symbol ‘SAIA’.
In November, Saia announced the acquisition of Midwestern LTL carrier The Connection Company, expanding direct coverage to the four additional Midwest states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio.

Today, Saia is one of the most successful LTL carriers in the United States, ranking in the top ten of carriers in the LTL sector. Saia also provides service to Puerto Rico. Complete North American coverage is offered, including Canada and Mexico. With the acquisition of the The Connection, Saia covers 34 states from a network of 148 terminals and approximately 8,000 employees.

The Saia brand of products include regional and interregional LTL service; Customer Service Indicators; industry-leading Xtreme Guarantee; the Guaranteed Select suite of products, assembly and distribution; and selected truckload services.