In total, Estes acquired 52 Yellow terminals for $490.2 million. (Estes Express Lines)
January 26, 2026 1:28 PM, EST
Key Takeaways:
- Estes Express Lines bought six additional terminals across six states as part of a network expansion described by President and COO Webb Estes.
- The purchases reflect the carrier’s push to scale its nationwide footprint, including 52 former Yellow terminals acquired for $490.2 million.
- Estes signaled more terminal deals ahead as the company works to surpass 14,000 doors by the end of 2026.
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Estes Express Lines recently closed on the purchase of six additional terminals, a reflection of opportunities that exist despite the challenging freight market, President and COO Webb Estes told Transport Topics in an exclusive interview.
The terminals are in Charleston, W.Va.; Greenville, S.C.; Kansas City, Kan.; Lexington, Ky.; Scranton, Pa.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.
Estes bought the terminals from less-than-truckload competitors, but the executive said he could not name the sellers or the price paid.
“I think the storyline — at least for us — is there’s always opportunities to find growth [or] strengthen your system,” he said. “At Estes, we’ve been fortunate enough that we grew last year with tonnage. And so, we continue to see a need and an opportunity to build out our network.” The Kansas City facility has 165 doors, Lexington has 146, Greenville has 94, Scranton has 60, Charleston has 53 and Sioux Falls has 38 doors.
Estes hinted that more purchases are likely in the pipeline, all part of an ongoing push to expand the carrier’s network now that it has fully incorporated terminals acquired from bankrupt former LTL rival Yellow Corp. Richmond, Va.-based Estes won the second-largest number of terminals in the highly anticipated first auction of Yellow terminals, landing 24 for a combined $248.72 million after previously submitting two stalking horse bids for all of the company’s terminals.
Estes topped the outlay table in the second round of bidding for terminals owned or leased by Yellow, claiming five leased terminals for a combined $35.35 million.
The carrier also picked up seven owned terminals and four leased properties in December 2024 for $142.5 million in the first of a series of private sales negotiated with Yellow’s administrators.
In total, Estes acquired 52 Yellow terminals for $490.2 million.
Most of those terminals are now open following overhauls, Webb Estes told TT.
In 2025, Estes added five new terminals, relocated 12 others and expanded four more terminals to increase its nationwide network capacity by 1,038 doors.
The five new terminals were in Eagan, Minn.; Honolulu; Iron Mountain, Mich.; Olive Branch, Miss.; and Orange, Calif., said the executive.
Cities that saw relocations were Bakersfield, Calif.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Eugene, Ore.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Hagerstown, Md.; Huntsville, Ala.; Louisville, Ky.; Miami; Portland, Ore.; Rockford, Ill.; South Bend, Ind.; and Tracy, Calif.
The four terminals expanded were in St. Louis, Mo.; Fargo, N.D.; Salt Lake City; and Phoenix.
Looking Back at 2025
Several factors contributed to the carrier having a particularly strong year last year, Estes said.
“We kind of had the trifecta [last] year that I would have said was impossible,” he said. “We hit our best on-time service numbers in the last 18 years. And then our claims ratio was our best claims ratio ever. We actually beat that by close to 30% [compared with 2024].”
“The one that I always kind of say is the hardest, if you’re servicing customers efficiently — you can’t hold freight, right? You have to move the freight every day … And our load factor went up over 1,000 pounds year over year, which is incredible,” he added.
Building scale through this terminal approach is a vital piece of the strategy, Estes added.
“[The trifecta] kind of gave me more confidence that what we’re accomplishing — what we’re doing with this terminal strategy — is working. It’s allowing us to be more efficient and allowing us to provide better service. When you can do both of those things, it’s special,” he said.
Estes’ network topped 13,200 doors at the end of 2025, an 8.7% increase.
The carrier expected its door count to top 14,000 by the second quarter of 2026, the executive told TT in June 2025, but he noted subsequently that delays often take place in the closing of deals and refurbishments.
At its current pace, the company is on track to be above 14,000 doors by the end of 2026, it said in a Jan. 15 release.
Previously, the company added 704 doors in 2024, an increase of 6.1%, for a total of 12,162 doors. At the end of 2023, Estes had 11,458 doors.
The privately owned carrier ranks No. 8 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 3 among LTL players. A year earlier, it ranked No. 11 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 4 in the LTL segment.
