Estes Express Lines — the largest privately held LTL carrier.
Estes Express Lines is the largest privately held LTL carrier in North America — family-owned since 1931, with a national network and a service reputation to match. For dependable nationwide LTL, it is one of the carriers RS Group shops to get you the best rate.
Track your Estes Express Lines shipment
Freight you move with RS Group tracks through the Priority1 customer portal — one login for every carrier, so you never hunt across separate carrier sites.
See status, location and delivery updates for your Estes Express Lines freight — and every other shipment you move with us — in one place.
Estes Express Lines overview
Estes Express Lines has been family-owned since Webb Estes started the business in 1931, and today it is the largest privately held less-than-truckload carrier in North America, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. It runs a full national LTL network with time-critical, guaranteed and volume LTL options alongside standard service.
Private, family ownership gives Estes the same advantage it gives R+L: freedom from quarterly shareholder pressure, and a long-term, service-first culture that shippers feel in the consistency of their deliveries. Combine that with genuine national scale and you get a carrier that is both big enough to cover the country and steady enough to be counted on.
RS Group brokers across carriers like Estes to give you that reliability at a competitive rate. We price your lane across Estes and our wider network and route your freight to the best-fit carrier for the move.
What Estes Express Lines is good at
Three reasons Estes Express Lines earns a place in the network RS Group shops for your freight.
National scale
A full nationwide LTL network — the largest privately held one in North America — with the lane coverage to move freight anywhere in the country.
Family-owned consistency
Family-owned since 1931, with a long-term, service-first culture that shows up as consistent, dependable deliveries.
Guaranteed & volume options
Time-critical, guaranteed and volume LTL services for the shipments where the delivery window — or the size — needs a defined answer.
Who Estes Express Lines is best for
Estes fits shippers who want national LTL coverage from a carrier with a strong service culture — freight where consistent, careful delivery matters, and where guaranteed or time-critical options may be needed on the shipments that cannot slip.
For a tight regional lane, a regional specialist may still edge it on transit and price. We route each shipment to whichever carrier wins it.
How RS Group routes freight with Estes Express Lines
For national LTL, RS Group prices your freight across Estes and our network and books the carrier that best fits your lane, timeline and budget. Classification, paperwork, pickup and Priority1 tracking are all handled by our team.
Work out your density and class with the calculator below before you request a rate — accurate numbers up front make for an accurate, dependable quote.
Calculate your density right here
Before you request a Estes Express Lines rate, work out your shipment’s density — it drives the freight class and the price. Enter dimensions and weight below; add rows for a multi-piece load.
Enter the dimensions and weight of at least one item to see its cubic feet and the shipment density.
Cubic feet = length × width × height ÷ 1,728 · Density = total weight ÷ total cubic feet (lbs per cubic foot).
Why a broker gets you a better Estes Express rate
A single carrier only sells you its own price. Call Estes Express Lines directly and you get Estes Express Lines’s published rate for your lane — take it or leave it. As a freight brokerage, RS Group moves enough volume across Estes Express Lines and thousands of other carriers to negotiate rates a single shipper rarely sees, then shops your specific shipment across that whole network to find the best one.
The savings come from three places. First, buying power: our combined volume earns discounted and FAK pricing we can pass along. Second, competition: instead of one carrier’s number, you get the best of many for your exact lane, weight and class. Third, expertise: correct classification and clean paperwork keep reclassification and accessorial surprises off your invoice — the hidden costs that quietly inflate a do-it-yourself booking.
You still get Estes Express Lines’s network and service when it is the right fit — you just do not overpay for it. And because we handle the classification, the bill of lading, the pickup and the tracking, moving freight on a major carrier becomes one simple transaction instead of a project.
What our customers say
- Inc. 5000 · #799 America's fastest-growing private companies (2024)
- TSA IAC TSA Indirect Air Carrier status
- 6,200+ Vetted carrier partners
- 18,500+ Shipments moved to date
I have been working with Brent and his team for almost a year and the experience has been nothing but positive.
The best part of working with RS Group is the customer service you can expect to receive.
RS Group, to me, represents the pinnacle in customer service.
Get a competitive Estes Express Lines rate today.
Tell us your lane, weight and freight class and we'll shop it across Estes Express Lines and our 6,200+ carrier network — then come back with a competitive rate, usually the same day.