Forward Air Corporation (FWRD)

Expedited freight network and forwarding, freight handlers counted. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed March 11, 2026. Ranked 10 of the 198 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

Forward Air’s 6,356 full-time and part-time employees, about 2,200 of them freight handlers, run an expedited freight terminal network, intermodal drayage and forwarding, split by description.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 27% now, 34% at the end of 2027, 37% at the end of 2028, 37% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 37% desk work, 17% people work and 46% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 62% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 28% becomes checking a model's work and 8% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

6,356 employees as of December 31, 2025 (sum of stated parts). The filing counts no employees by country; 87% of revenue is in the United States.

The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, we had 6,062 full-time employees, which includes 1,994 freight handlers and an additional 294 part-time employees, the majority of which were freight handlers.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: 6,062 full-time employees including 1,994 freight handlers, and 294 part-time employees, most of them freight handlers; no collective bargaining agreements; the series rose from 4,014 to 6,319 in 2024 with an acquisition.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Truck Transportation, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

• FedEx Freight Holding Company, Inc. (FDXF, 40,000 employees)19% now, 23% by 2028
• Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (KNX, 37,100 employees)19% now, 23% by 2028
• XPO Logistics, Inc. (XPO, 37,000 employees)19% now, 23% by 2028
• J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT, 31,750 employees)19% now, 23% by 2028
• Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (ODFL, 20,591 employees)19% now, 23% by 2028
• Schneider National, Inc. (SNDR, 19,000 employees)20% now, 27% by 2028
• Saia, Inc. (SAIA, 14,500 employees)19% now, 23% by 2028
• ArcBest Corp (ARCB, 14,000 employees)19% now, 23% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

4 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI four times: AI applications implemented in its operations, and AI among competitive and cyber risks.

• “In addition, competitors may pursue other strategies to gain a competitive advantage such as developing superior information technology systems, including artificial intelligence applications, or establishing cooperative relationships to increase their ability to address customer needs.”
• “For instance, we have implemented artificial intelligence applications to enhance our operations, but we may be unable to accurately determine the needs of our customers and the trends in the transportation services industry or to design and implement the appropriate features and functionality of our information technology systems in a timely and cost-effective manner, which could put us at a c...”
• “Threats to information technology systems, including as a result of cyber-attacks and the increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies continue to grow.”
• “Additionally, the rapid ongoing evolution and increased adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning may make it more difficult to anticipate and implement protective measures to recognize, detect, and prevent the occurrence of any of these events.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20230median 1
• Fiscal 20242median 4
• Fiscal 20254median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• The collector’s 6,062 was the full-time count; the filing also states 294 part-time employees, summed (rule 2).
• Owner-operators and contracted linehaul carriers are outside the count (rule 8).
• No count by segment beyond the freight handlers; the split is by description.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-016793, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.