Port freight, Upstate plants, open road

Owner-Operator CDL-A OTR Jobs in South Carolina

Charleston is the reason trucks never stop rolling on I-26. Containers come off the ships, head up to Columbia and the Upstate, and feed the auto and tire plants around Greenville and Spartanburg. Add the inland ports at Greer and Dillon and you have a state where an OTR driver can leave home loaded and head north up I-95 or west on I-85 toward Atlanta.

See if you qualify Start full application

Questions? Talk to a recruiter: 1-888-283-6958

At a glance

Position

Owner-operator, independent contractor

Equipment

Rental. No lease-purchase

Runs

OTR. 2 to 3 weeks out, then a few days at home

Requirements

Class A CDL, 2+ years OTR, no DUI, no SAP

Endorsements

None needed

Potential take-home

$2,500+ per week after all expenses. Many drivers earn more.

If you have searched for owner operator jobs in South Carolina, this is a year-round opening with no season. MB Global Logistics signs on independent contractors who live in the state, hold a Class A CDL and have at least 2 years of OTR driving. Six quick questions start the conversation, and a recruiter picks it up from there.

Potential take-home pay

For South Carolina drivers we advertise $2,500+ per week in take-home after all expenses. Experience, loads, fuel, maintenance and weeks away all shape the year, and many drivers finish above it.

Who qualifies for owner-operator jobs in South Carolina

Hold a valid Class A CDL, no endorsements

2 years of OTR driving or more

South Carolina is where you live

No DUI or DWI conviction

No SAP history on your record

Current DOT medical card

How our owner-operator program works

You run the business

At MB Global you are an independent contractor. Nobody hands you a paycheck. You run the loads, cover your costs and keep what is left. That is the whole model, and it suits drivers who want to run their own operation.

Rental trucks, nothing to buy

The tractor is rental equipment. There is no lease-purchase at MB Global and no path to owning the truck through us, so you are not working toward a title or a buyout. Ask the recruiter how the rental is structured before you commit.

CDL A OTR, weeks at a time

Every run is CDL A OTR. We suggest 2 to 3 weeks out and then a few days at home, whether home is the coast or the Upstate. Miles and home time are never promised, so plan your life around that rhythm.

Freight corridors OTR drivers run from South Carolina

Start at the Port of Charleston. From there I-26 climbs through Columbia to the Upstate, where Inland Port Greer sits in the middle of a large manufacturing base around Greenville and Spartanburg, including the auto and tire plants. Inland Port Dillon does the same job on I-95 in the Pee Dee. That port and plant combination is why the state projects about 8.9 percent job growth for heavy truck drivers from 2024 to 2034, more than double the national rate.

I-26 is the main line, Charleston through Columbia to Spartanburg and on into Asheville. I-85 crosses the Upstate through Greenville and Spartanburg and links Charlotte with Atlanta. I-95 runs the length of the state north and south through Florence and Dillon. I-20 connects Columbia and Florence, and I-77 heads north from Columbia to Charlotte. From Columbia, you can pick any direction.

South Carolina road notes

511SC is the state source for current conditions, and it earns a look before any coastal run. During a hurricane evacuation, lanes on I-26 can be reversed to carry traffic away from Charleston, which changes your route and your timing in a hurry. If a storm is near the coast, check before you commit to a load into the Lowcountry.

South Carolina trucking job market

34,170

Truck drivers employed

$51,130

Median annual wage

3,880

Openings a year

BLS data for May 2025 counts about 34,170 heavy and tractor-trailer drivers in South Carolina. Their median wage was $51,130 a year, under the $58,640 national median. On the demand side, the state projects an 8.9 percent change in driver jobs from 2024 to 2034 and about 3,880 openings each year. These figures cover wage and salary drivers, not owner-operator earnings, so read them as a measure of how busy the state's freight economy is rather than as a forecast of what you will clear as a contractor.

Orientation, travel and lodging

Orientation

Part remote from home, part in person at our terminal.

Lodging

In-person orientation lodging is paid in full by MB Global.

Travel

MB Global books and pays for the trip up front, then charges it back at $50 per week on settlements.

Orientation has two halves. The remote half you do from home in South Carolina. The in-person half happens at our terminal, with lodging fully covered. For travel, MB Global arranges and pays the trip up front, flying out of Charleston, Columbia or Greenville or however it is set up, and then deducts $50 per week. Ask your recruiter how many weeks that runs and how it shows up.

See if you pre-qualify

Six questions, about a minute, and it is not the full application. The form is a quick way for the recruiting team to see whether you clear the basics.

Read by recruiters, not marketing

Never sent to analytics or ad tools

Qualify, and a recruiter calls you

Your answers go only to our recruiting team. We never share them with advertising or analytics tools.

What happens next

Three steps from here to the road

Send the six answers from your phone, truck stop or kitchen table.

A recruiter calls back to walk through the program and your questions.

Fill out the federal driver application, then schedule orientation at our terminal.

Prefer to talk first?

1-888-283-6958

Mon to Sun, 7 AM to 5 PM

What you'll need for the full application

Federal rule 49 CFR 391.21 sets what the full application must ask, so gather these before you start:

Class A CDL: state of issue, license number, expiration date, and any other CDL or permit you carry

Every place you have lived in the past 3 years

Employment for the past 3 years, plus any employer you drove a commercial vehicle for in the 7 years before that (names, addresses, dates, why you left)

How much experience you have on each kind of equipment

Accidents and traffic convictions over the past 3 years, plus any license suspension, revocation or denial

Your DOT medical card, current and unexpired

Consent for the MVR check, for contacting former employers about safety and drug and alcohol testing records, and for the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse query under 49 CFR 391.23

South Carolina owner-operator FAQs

What happens to I-26 during a hurricane evacuation?

Lanes on I-26 can be reversed so all traffic flows away from Charleston toward Columbia. For a truck, that means your route into the coast may be closed and your timing blown. Check 511SC before any Lowcountry run when a storm is near, and let MB Global know early if your load is headed toward the coast during an evacuation.

Why do the inland ports at Greer and Dillon matter to me?

Inland Port Greer, off I-85 in the Upstate, and Inland Port Dillon, on I-95, bring container freight inland by rail from Charleston. Trucks then move it to and from the plants and warehouses nearby. For a South Carolina owner-operator that means loads near Greenville and Spartanburg and in the Pee Dee, not only at the coast.

Is driver demand in South Carolina growing?

The state projects about 8.9 percent growth for heavy truck drivers from 2024 to 2034, more than double the national rate, with about 3,880 openings each year. Those are wage and salary driver numbers, not owner-operator earnings, but they reflect how much freight is moving through the ports and the Upstate.

I live just across the line in North Carolina. Does that work?

It does not. MB Global is not taking drivers who live in North Carolina, and the same goes for Illinois, California, Oregon and Washington. You need a South Carolina home address. If you are in Fort Mill, Rock Hill or anywhere else on the South Carolina side of Charlotte, you qualify on residence.

What counts as SAP history?

SAP stands for substance abuse program. If you were ever referred to a substance abuse professional after a failed or refused DOT drug or alcohol test, that is SAP history, and it disqualifies you here. It shows in the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which we query with your consent during the full application.

Does the DOT medical card need to be current when I apply?

Yes. A current DOT medical card is one of the six requirements, and the full application asks for it. If yours is close to expiring, get the exam done before you send the pre-qualifying form so the recruiter is not waiting on paperwork to move you forward.

Apply now

From Charleston to the Upstate, we are signing owner-operators now. Send the pre-qualifying form, or call 1-888-283-6958 any day between 7 AM and 5 PM.