ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Representatives of freight shipping firms are joining trucking analysts in their enthusiasm over the merger between Knight Transportation Inc. and Swift Transportation Co. and generally supporting the prospect of big truckload carriers getting bigger.

Will the planned merger of Knight Transportation Inc. and Swift Transportation — one of the trucking industry's largest mergers ever — catch the attention of federal antitrust regulators? Watch as TT Senior Features Writer Daniel Bearth provides his take on that question for colleague Eugene Mulero.

A merger of Knight Transportation Inc. and Swift Transportation Co., two of the nation’s largest trucking companies, is expected to trigger a historic move to consolidate the truckload freight sector, industry analysts said last week.

The merger between Sunteck Transport Group and TTS, agreed upon in late October, is now official, the new company announced in a statement.

After boiling over last year with multibillion-dollar deals involving UPS Inc., FedEx Corp., XPO Logistics and others, the 2016 merger and acquisition pot has slowed to a simmer while hungry buyers and sellers keep searching for appealing deals.

Halliburton Co. was sued by U.S. antitrust officials who say its planned takeover of rival oil-services firm Baker Hughes Inc. threatens competition and should be blocked, a blow to Halliburton’s bid to bulk up to better compete against rival Schlumberger Ltd.

Aim NationaLease, based in Girard, Ohio, has expanded its truck leasing and rental business in the Washington, D.C., area through a merger with Fleming Leasing in Springfield, Virginia.