Three companies, trucks across Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, and one family name on the door. The family that started it still runs it.
How it started
He wanted to be a rancher.
1978Superior Delivery Service’s first truck
Johnny Walker left home for Texas A&M in the fall of 1972 planning to become a rancher. When he graduated in 1976 with a degree in Animal Science, the job on offer was ranch hand at $600 a month.
If he was ever going to own land and a herd of his own, he would need another route. He took a job driving a truck for Barnett Services out of Houston while he worked out what to do, and found he loved the business. In his first year he saved $10,000.
In 1978 that money rented a small space and paid a first employee: Superior Delivery Service was open. Johnny’s mother answered the phones while he and one other driver delivered small packages around Houston.
One pickup, one other driver, and his mother on the phone.
In 1981 he bought two 18-wheeler tractors at auction and started J.H. Walker Trucking. Intrastate trucking was still regulated, so every new kind of freight meant buying the authority to haul it: building materials for a truss company first, then fertilizer, then a limited oilfield authority in East Texas. The oilfield became the business.
1978 to today
Built one authority at a time.
Scroll the timeline →
1976A truck, not a ranchFresh from Texas A&M, Johnny drives for Barnett Services in Houston and saves $10,000 in a year.
1978Superior Delivery ServiceA small rented space, one employee, and his mother on the phones. Small packages around Houston.
1981J.H. Walker TruckingTwo 18-wheelers bought at auction. First authority: building materials for a truss company, then fertilizer, then oilfield in East Texas.
1989Knox TrucklinesFull authority to haul oilfield equipment and steel statewide, and a second terminal in Grand Prairie.
1994East Jefferson StreetThe Grand Prairie terminal moves to the yard it still runs from on East Jefferson Street.
1996Ten acres on HempsteadOutgrowing Hollister Road, the corporate office moves to its 10-acre home off Hempstead Highway.
1997Patterson TrucklinesLouisiana terminals in Houma, Morgan City and Lafayette, and our start in liquid and dry bulk.
2003Stewart & StevensonBuying their transportation division grows the fleet and takes us into heavy haul.
2016Superior growsSuperior adds its second terminal and a Dallas–Fort Worth office in the Grand Prairie yard.
2023Platinum safetyTexas Mutual names J.H. Walker a Platinum Safety Partner.
TodayThree companiesJ.H. Walker, Superior and Atlas: more than 300,000 loads a year, and still the Walkers.
Our mission
To provide high quality diversified logistical services to our customers, with an emphasis on safety and customer satisfaction.
Culture
We still eat at the same table.
Crawfish boils in the yard. Potlucks under the shop roof. Drivers, mechanics, dispatchers and the family, at the same tables. People stay at a company like that, and the people who stay are the ones who know your freight.
Who you’ll talk to
Real people. Direct lines.
No call center and no phone tree. Each line rings the people who handle it, and dispatch answers around the clock.
J.H. Walker Trucking
Oilfield flatbed, heavy haul, tanker, hazmat and dedicated trucking across Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
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Superior Delivery Service
Where it started in 1978: hot shot, dedicated trucks and overnight delivery, pickup to 18-wheeler.
superiordeliveryservice.com ↗
Atlas Delivery Service
Medical courier for hospitals, labs and specialty pharmacy, with live tracking and proof of delivery.
atlasdelivery.com ↗