by February 12, 2026 12:35 pm 464 views
It’s been a wild ride for USA Truck. In less than four years the company was bought and sold three times. That’s people and systems in and out. Three times. And the corporate whiplash hit during a tough time for the industry.
The company is now on private footing, separate from corporate parents and requirements and expenses of being publicly held. But it’s alone in the sharp-edged elbows competition of a freight environment with more capacity than demand, and with economic headwinds that, while moderating, will continue in 2026 to blow against the best-laid plans.
That reality doesn’t scare George Henry, Zachary King and James Reed, the new co-owners of Van Buren-based USA Truck. Henry has been the company CEO. King, a former USA Truck chief financial officer, has returned as CFO. Reed, a former USA Truck CEO, will be an adviser.
USA Truck now has around 450 corporate employees, with between 275 and 300 of those in Van Buren. The company has about 1,600 trucks and drivers and about 6,000 trailers. The company also works with about 250 owner-operators through a subsidiary.
THE RETURN
The USA Truck drive back to Van Buren, so to speak, went through Europe. German-based Schenker acquired the company in a $435 million deal in late 2022 just as USA Truck was emerging successfully from a turnaround. The company, when sold to Schenker, had about 1,900 trucks and 2,100 employees.
DSV acquired Schenker in April 2025. In October, DSV said it would sell USA Truck. The opportunity to buy USA Truck had been discussed by Henry and Reed.
“James reached out to me, or I ran into him somewhere,” Henry said. “And he turned around and said, ‘Hey, if Schenker ever gets interested in selling the business let me know.”
King and Reed would track Henry down when DSV decided to sell USA Truck.
“They reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be part of it as well,” Henry said. “We work well together. We went through the divestiture of USA Truck to Schenker together. The three of us love this company. We love the community.”
The three on Jan. 9 closed with DSV on an all-cash deal. Henry said DSV was “looking for a pretty rapid exit,” and their background helped seal the deal.
“We knew the business,” King said. “Like, a lot of the contracts that I would get during (due) diligence, I had signed them, you know, four years ago. … We understood the business, we could look at the metrics, we could look at the operational performance and assess pretty quick.”
THE HEADWINDS
The USA Truck trio will need more than love of company and community.
At least eight trucking and logistics companies filed for bankruptcy in December and January. One of those was STG Logistics, the fourth-largest U.S. intermodal operator. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 carriers either closed operations or filed for bankruptcy protection in 2025.
There are signs of better days for the industry, but the better is still tough. The latest Cass Freight Index shows shipments down 13.5% on a two-year stack. The Cass freight expenditures component is improving. It was down 19% in 2023, down 11% in 2024, and down 0.5% in 2025.
“Soft manufacturing and construction activity are continuing to suppress freight levels, as they did for much of last year,” said Bob Costello, chief economist at American Trucking Associations.
FINDING A ‘GOOD CADENCE’
Henry and King flip the response when asked about industry headwinds. King said the company’s financial metrics are better than when he left in 2022. He said they saw better trends in December and January, including with revenue per truck, cash growth and expense controls.
“We’re seeing double-digit rate increases, which is really good,” Henry said. “I haven’t seen a double-digit rate increase in this industry since COVID.”
The focus now, according to Henry and King, is fourfold. The first is to dial in on running a tight business, including to “grow the hell out of our logistics group,” Henry noted.
“First and foremost, it’s very easy for people to get distracted, so you just continue to run the business to the highest levels, thrill our customers, deliver the experience they want,” Henry said.
They also continue to “de-integrate” from DSV, and “reestablish USA Truck in the community that we deal with,” Henry said. Reestablishment includes talent recruitment. Henry said they have a good message to pitch.
“We’re kind of an established company, but with a startup opportunity feel,” he said. “There are some great opportunities to work here, to come into an established company but really get to chart the future as if we’d just opened the doors.”
Possibly the biggest task, Henry said, is creating “a good cadence of growth trajectory” and “strategic positioning of the company in the industry.” That has to happen this year.
“We can’t take three years to do this,” he said.
King said they are driven by more than just corporate success.
“This community is close,” he said. “George’s wife is from Van Buren. James lives here. My dad lives in Van Buren. My brothers graduated from Van Buren High School. I grew up in Mansfield, Ark. … This company deserves to be in this community and we’re going to keep it that way.”
Henry said his goal is long-term success with USA Truck, with no desire to spin it up and sell.
“I will tell you what I told my employees yesterday,” Henry said. “I’m 41 years old, and I have no intention of working for another company for the rest of my life.”
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