Selling a FedEx Ground Linehaul CSA: What Owners Should Know

Selling a linehaul operation is not like selling a house or a stock. You are transferring a running business tied to a contracted carrier relationship, a fleet, drivers, and a set of scheduled runs — all of which have to keep moving on the day of the handoff. Here is how the process actually works, and what a serious buyer looks at before making an offer.

If you run dedicated or spot linehaul under a FedEx Ground / FedEx Home Delivery Transportation Service Provider agreement, at some point the question comes up: what is this worth, and how would I exit? This guide walks through the mechanics from the seller's chair, in plain terms.

What a buyer is actually buying

A linehaul acquisition is rarely just trucks. The value sits in the combination of assets and, more importantly, the cash flow they reliably produce. A buyer is underwriting four things at once:

How linehaul operations get valued

Most linehaul businesses trade on a multiple of normalized annual profit — commonly discussed as SDE (seller's discretionary earnings) or adjusted EBITDA — plus the value of transferring equipment. The multiple is not a fixed number; it moves with how much risk the buyer has to absorb. The cleaner and more transferable the operation, the stronger the multiple.

The part sellers underestimate: contract transfer

Your TSP agreement is between you and the carrier — it does not automatically come with the trucks. A transfer has to be run through the contracting entity's own approval process, and the incoming operator has to qualify in their own right. In practice this means a credible buyer needs to already meet the standards to hold and operate the agreement, or the deal cannot close no matter how good the price is.

This is exactly why who you sell to matters as much as the number. A financial buyer with no operating standing can tie a deal up for months and still fail to qualify. An operator-buyer who already runs to the required standard removes that risk from the table.

What diligence looks like

Once there is interest on both sides, expect a buyer to ask for a defined package. Having it ready shortens the process dramatically and signals you run a tight shop:

• Financials — two to three years of settlement statements and P&Ls, normalized for owner add-backs.
• Run detail — current schedules, mileage, dedicated vs. spot mix, and rate history.
• Fleet list — VINs, year/make/model, ownership or payoff, and maintenance records.
• Safety & compliance — DOT authority, CSA scores, and any open items.
• People — driver roster, tenure, qualification status, and retention outlook.
• Standing — current, good-standing status under the carrier agreement.

A realistic timeline

From first serious conversation to close, a clean linehaul deal typically moves through introduction and NDA, an indicative offer, diligence, definitive terms, and then carrier approval and transition. The carrier-approval step is the one you cannot rush — it runs on the contracting entity's clock, not yours — which is another reason to start with a buyer who can actually qualify.

If you are even a year out from thinking about an exit, the best move is to start tightening the record now: document your dispatch process, keep maintenance current, and keep clean books. Every one of those is a lever on your eventual number — and they make the whole thing easier to run in the meantime.