It used to be that shippers who were relying on expedited carriers weren’t doing their job properly. They were booking late and forced to seek out the expeditors, at higher cost, to meet customer demand.

But in today’s market with capacity tight, experts like Chris Baltz say expedited freight is becoming the norm; just part of a larger package that most major carriers are offering. “With customers maintaining low inventories, it’s a normal part of your supply chain tool kit. They’re more and more looking at expedited as a need for precision and speed and in the larger scheme of managing inventory, it can be more cost effective for the customer,” says Baltz, senior vice president of Yield Management and Strategic Development at ABF Freight System, Inc. in Forth Smith, Arkansas.

There’s also the pressure some major retailers are putting on shippers to meet their delivery times or pay a penalty. “In response, the industry is happy to meet customer needs and ABF is no exception,” says Baltz.

“The majors are really becoming the expedited market, not just competing with them,” agrees George Abernathy, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at the Web portal Transplace, which was founded in 2000 by some of the top logistics units of major carriers nationwide.

And Manny Hontoria, principle of Boston, Massachusetts-based Mercer Consulting in the Transportation and International Logistics sector, says the trucking industry finds itself in a “very unique” seller’s market for the first time in decades, which is allowing the major carriers—particularly LTLs—“to capture value-added services to increase profitability.”

When they talk about going expedited, most truckers are generally talking about surface transit, not air. ABF’s expedited service is all surface. “It’s a little more expensive than LTL and cheaper than air, but we’re still able to deliver within a one-to-two-hour window,” says Baltz.

This article provides a quick glimpse at three key ways trucking carriers are providing expedited services—specialized services, airport-to-airport services and online platforms:

Specialized Services.

Carriers like ABF and Yellow Transportation—now called YRC Worldwide Inc.—offer expedited services through programs that pledge to meet customers’ unique shipping demands under very tight delivery windows. While Yellow has touted its Exact Express service for a number of years, ABF recently launched TimeKeeper.com, an Internet-based logistics management system designed to optimize supply-chain management of time-definite and expedited shipments. Both services are designed to react to shipping problems in the moment and in a customized fashion. So, for example, if a shipment faces potential delays due to weather or other uncertainties, the aim is to get the shipment there on time no matter what. That may even mean adding air freight into the equation. Of course, there’s an added cost. ABF cites the example of customer Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a global supplier of health care products that requires precise shipment timing and intense logistics support. Wyeth urgently needed to get a new product to its network of sales representatives, requiring guaranteed delivery to 3,000 locations within one to two days. Simultaneously, they needed previously-delivered products retrieved from the sales representatives and returned to a third-party vendor. “This project was unusually large and required logistical finesse, particularly given the intricacies of the return phase,” said Gene McKeon, ABF national account representative. “When I contacted other members of the ABF team, they quickly developed a flexible solution. Everyone pulled together, made a plan, rolled up their sleeves, and made it happen.”

Airport-to-Airport by Truck.

Hontoria is increasingly seeing substitution of trucks for air not just for longer shipments, but between airports. “Instead of using air, they’re running shipments from airport to airport via truck. Then they coordinate with local agents to get the goods to the terminal.” Companies like Nation’s Express, Landstar Express, and Kitty Hawk are among the leaders in airport-to-airport services, he says. Unlike Kitty Hawk, which owns most of its own equipment, Landstar Express generally relies on outside truckers, according to Web reports. Some air cargo companies are even extending their expedited trucking services for longer distances, a trend Hontoria says should continue for at least the next five years “as expedited freight continues to grow faster than the overall freight spend.” In late December 2005, Kitty Hawk announced expansion of its airport-to-airport services with creation of a large hub at the Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport, according to The Dallas (Texas) Morning News. Kitty Hawk chief executive Robert W. Zoller Jr. said the service broadened Kitty Hawk’s offerings to include cheaper options for shippers who don’t necessarily need their goods the next morning. With the cost of air freight rising dramatically, Zoller said 15 percent of Kitty Hawk’s business—which has been overnight air—has shifted to other transportation modes. “We hope to recapture that business,” Mr. Zoller said. “When your costs go up overnight another 25 to 30 percent, you start rethinking whether you really have to have it the next day,” he explained. With LTLs and other carriers getting into the expedited business, demand for overnight airfreight has fallen to 36 percent of the market this year, according to Marty Graham, a consultant with Back Aviation. LTL shipments, on the other hand, are expected to grow 3.8 percent from 2005 levels, the paper reported. Kitty Hawk already had a regional trucking service from its heavyweight sorting facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which transports goods to markets throughout the Midwest where Kitty Hawk doesn’t offer air services. Until last fall, its ground service wasn’t marketed separately from Kitty Hawk’s core overnight service. “We’re not trying to become giants in the trucking market,” Mr. Zoller said. “We’re trying to respond to demand. This opens a bigger customer base.” Within the next few months, the company hopes to serve 46 markets, he said, including a new hub in Atlanta, Georgia, that opened for this purpose last February.

Online Platforms.

In 2000, Covenant Transport, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, M.S. Carriers, Swift Transportation, U.S. Xpress Enterprises, and Werner Enterprises created Transplace as a place for many carriers and their customers to streamline their business and collaborate on the Internet. Transplace, which is based in Plano, Texas, aims to “provide comprehensive transportation and logistics management services to major shippers” through a “fully integrated Web-based transportation platform, which allows customers the ability to collaborate on transportation logistics strategy, planning and execution,” according to company officials. Greg Aimi, director of supply chain research at Boston-based, AMR Research, describes Transplace as functioning “like a megacarrier. As an aggregator of all the small carriers they’re operating very much like a 3PL or a brokerage. Selling to manufacturers and retailers, they’ll argue to ‘give us your freight and let us handle it for you and make things more efficient.’” Although not designed to promote expedited services, Transplace—which now has 3,000 carriers participating—will hire expedited carriers when necessary, says Abernathy, which means it has become part of the expedited trend almost by default. “We offer expedited services in a generic fashion,” agrees Roy Cashman, executive vice president and Transplace CTO. “We pan that shipment and then find an expedited carrier that fits with our value proposition. We’re not asset-based like ABF or Yellow. As 3PLs we offer a full line of expedited services, but we remain carrier agnostic, getting the best provider for the lowest cost. And we do offer air service, but once again we’re agnostic.” In time, Abernathy predicts that Web-based platforms, which offer the promise of efficiency and open bids to a wide number of carriers, may minimize the amount of expedited services a shipper would have to utilize. “The entire process would be about establishing your network with as many transportation providers as possible to secure a broader, committed capacity level while minimizing your overall costs. Transplace has the technologies to handle that,” he says.

Beating the Expedited with Best Practices

Lean Logistics, a hosted-services 3PL with a transportation management services division based in Holland, Michigan, is trying a whole new approach to beating the expedited market—applying best practices that promote efficiency and get the goods to market on time.

Peter Stiles, Lean Logistics’ Vice President of Strategy and Marketing, argues that going expedited should still be “your last resort. If you’re doing that, something’s gone wrong. You want to manage your processes so you can avoid extra costs like expedited shipping, particularly in low-margin industries like food and consumer packaged goods. It’s less important in high-margin businesses like electronics,” he says. “I’ve seen those companies use all sorts of priority overnight services fairly consistently to overcome manufacturing issues.”

In an era of strained capacity, he says corporations and their shippers need to “increase their planning horizons.” Lean Logistics, he says, works on capturing a customers order “early on” in the process. Traditionally, he says “orders are taken, then customers go through credit and fulfillment before moving to transportation planning.” By tackling all processes simultaneously, or at least earlier, Stiles says they have the notice they need to meet all customer contingencies. This approach is particularly applicable to repeat customers where credit and fulfillment is repetitive.

“The other key issue is being able to measure and control the process and know your performance to plan, so you eliminate anomalies,” he adds.

RESOURCE GUIDE: Trucking Companies

Swift Transportation Corporation

2200 South 75th Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85043
Phone: 602.269.9700 or Toll Free: 800.800.2200
Email: Info@swifttrans.com

Swift is the holding company for Swift Transportation Co., Inc., a truckload carrier headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Swift operates one of the largest truckload fleets in the United States, combining regional operations, an expedited transcontinental operation, various specialty and dedicated offerings and a comprehensive intermodal package.

Principal commodities transported include retail and discount department store merchandise, manufactured goods, paper products, non-perishable and perishable food products, beverages and beverage containers and building materials. Swift also has a growing cross-border operation into Mexico that ships through every commercial border crossing from Laredo, Texas to Otay Mesa, California. In 2004, Swift Transportation enhanced its cross-border operation by becoming the first U.S. trucking company to purchase a Mexican carrier. Trans-Mex is a leading provider of transportation services in Mexico and has played a major role in Swift’s continued international growth

Swift has developed a strategic network of regional terminals and offices located in areas that have strong and diverse economies and provide access to key population centers. The aim, say company officials, is to establish a local market presence in every region of the U.S. and Mexico and enables them to respond more rapidly to customers’ ever-changing requirements.

ABF Freight System, Inc.

P.O. Box 10048, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72917-0048
Phone: (800) 610-5544
Fax: (800) 599-2810
E-mail: abfinfocenter@abf.com

ABF concentrates on national and regional transportation of general commodities freight, involving primarily LTL shipments. General commodities include all freight except hazardous waste, dangerous explosives, commodities of exceptionally high value, commodities in bulk and those requiring special equipment. ABF’s general commodities shipments differ from shipments of bulk raw materials, which are commonly transported by railroad, pipeline and water carrier.

ABF offers several special delivery services, including on-the-date, by-the-date, and between-dates, to meet customer needs. Requests for these services made me made through a simple bill of lading (BOL) notation on any standard LTL shipment, or via a special delivery service that can apply for shipments. ABF’s TimeKeeper services applies to guaranteed time-definite delivery. The carrier also offers a suite of Internet tools through its ABF eCenter with services that include simple tracking, proactive notification of shipment status, dynamic rerouting of in-transit shipments, advanced reports and more.

Landstar

13410 Sutton Park Drive S., Jacksonville, Florida 32224
Phone: 800-872-9400

Landstar is one of the nation’s largest transportation services companies without owning a single truck. It has a network of approximately 1,000 independent sales agents, thousands of business capacity owners who supply more than 8,000 power units, and over 11,000 contract carriers, enabling the company to call on a large variety of equipment to handle customer requests. From the transport of industrial cranes to life-saving heart valves, Landstar can accommodate most customer requirements, according to company officials.

The Landstar carrier group of companies delivers solutions in motion to a variety of industries, including iron and steel, automotive products, paper, lumber and building products, aluminum, chemicals, foodstuffs, heavy machinery, ammunition and explosives, and military hardware.

The company’s transportation services include a full array of truckload transportation utilizing dry vans, flatbeds, drop decks, light specialty trailers, temperature-controlled vans and containers, including an expedited service called Landstar Ranger.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.

P.O. Box 130;
615 J. B. Hunt Corporate Drive,
Lowell, Ar. 72745
800-643-3622

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., one of the largest transportation logistics companies in North America, focuses on the safe and reliable transport of full-truckload freight to a diverse group of customers throughout the continental United States, Canada and Mexico. Business operations are primarily organized through three distinct, yet complementary, business segments that include dedicated contract services, intermodal and dry van. Utilizing an integrated approach, they provide capacity-oriented solutions centered on delivering customer value and industry-leading service.

Locations in more than 95 cities throughout the United States allow J.B. Hunt to meet a wide variety of transportation needs. The Outsourcing Services Group offers additional capacity for regular moves as well as unexpected seasonal surges and last-minute requests. J.B. Hunt takes pride in providing customers with professional drivers, clean equipment, courteous account representatives, superior on-time service, and leading-edge technology.

Schneider National, Inc.

3101 South Packerland Drive,
P.O. Box 2545,
Green Bay, WI 54306-2545
Phone: (920)592-2000;
Toll free: (800) 558-6767

Schneider National Inc. is a leading provider of transportation, logistics and related services, serving more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500® companies with a broad array of services for 70 years. These include: One-Way, Intermodal, Dedicated, Bulk, Specialized, Transportation Management, Transloading Services, International Services and Schneider Payment Services. Schneider Logistics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Schneider National, provides supply chain management technology, managed services, engineering services and freight payment.

Schneider Specialized Carriers, Inc. is a major transporter of architectural flat glass and other specialized freight for more than 20 years. Schneider has more than 800 specialized trailers that get to their destinations on time throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico, operated by more than 500 highly trained drivers.

Schneider also offers Intermodal Services through its TruckRail® and TruckRail® Express programs that provide the benefits of rail transit. Shipments move on premium rail lines. Schneider National is the only asset-based Intermodal provider offering both trailer and container options, according to company officials.

CSS Truckload Solutions

360 West Butterfield Rd., 4th Floor, Elmhurst, IL 60126,
Phone: 630-833-0890

CSS Truckload Solutions, a division of TranzAct Technologies, specializes in hard-to-move or last- minute loads, in addition to contracted moves. The company provides access to an extensive network of carriers and equipment types designed to meet the needs of customers any market environment. Web tracking and POD scanning are available. CSS offers single-point-of-contact solutions and will source carriers, tender and track shipments from pick-up to delivery and on through to settlement.

TranzAct seeks to be a trusted partner for logistics management needs. For almost 20 years, TranzAct has been committed to understanding and analyzing logistics management problems with an eye to the bottom line. Savings are measured to ensure bottom-line results. Business process improvements are documented and new standards developed. TranzAct’s Inbound Transportation Program addresses the often-ignored area of “hidden inbound expenses.” A client’s inbound prepaid freight expenses are identified and vendor freight allowances are evaluated against direct carrier pricing.

Con-Way Transportation

110 Parkland Plaza, Ann Arbor,
Mich. 48103
Phone: 734-769-0203
Fax: 734-214-5650
http://www.con-way.com

Con-Way Transportation Services, Inc. is a $2.6 billion (full year 2004) transportation and services company, which provides an array of business-to-business freight delivery services and supply chain solutions as an LTL trucking company specializing in overnight freight. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Con-Way companies provide ground expedited, air expedited, less-than-truckload regional, inter-regional and transcontinental service, airfreight forwarding, assembly and distribution logistics, truckload and intermodal shipping.

Con-Way Transportation Services specializes in next-day and second-day less-than-truckload (LTL) freight transportation. (LTL carriers consolidate loads from multiple shippers into a single truckload.) The company covers North America through regional carriers Con-Way Central Express, Con-Way Western Express, and Con-Way Southern Express, along with units that operate in Canada (Con-Way Canada Express) and Mexico; overall, its fleet consists of more than 30,000 trucks, tractors, and trailers. Con-Way also offers airfreight forwarding, deferred delivery, expedited delivery, logistics, and truckload brokerage services. Con-Way is a subsidiary of CNF.

Con-Way reports that it was the first LTL carrier in North America to offer free guaranteed service within the U.S. and guaranteed on-time delivery to, from, and within Canada. An early adopter of advanced transportation technology, Con-way has a single advanced computer system that links every one of its service centers, aiming for seamless movement of freight between regions. And as a third-party logistics company—Pacer Global Logistics—Con-Way has formed strategic relationships with carriers and others in the transportation industry to customers’ worldwide shipping needs.

Yellow Transportation

10990 Roe Ave., Overland Park, Kansas, 66211-1213
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 7270, Shawnee Mission, Kansas, 66207-0270
Phone: 1-913-344-3000
Customer Service Center:
1-800-610-6500
E mail - webyfs@yellowcorp.com

As the largest subsidiary of YRC Worldwide, Yellow Transportation Inc. aims to be the “leading provider of guaranteed, time-definite, defect-free, hassle-free transportation services for business customers worldwide,” according to company officials. Yellow provides both LTL and truckload services to on a regional, national and international level to 400,000 customers.

Reportedly the second-largest carrier in the U.S., Yellow aims to do “much more than ship goods. We deliver products to market. We deliver transportation solutions. We meet specific transportation needs, no matter what they are,” according to company officials, who say that Yellow aims at “real partnership” with its customers who demand quick-turn for rapid replenishment.

Yellow provides a variety of service programs from Standard Ground™ and Regional Advantage to expedited services such as Exact Express®, Definite Delivery® and Specialized Delivery Services. MyYellow.com, the company Website, provides a way array of transportation solutions.

Averitt Express, Inc.

1415 Neal St., P.O. Box 3166, Cookeville, Tenn., 38502-3166
Phone: 1-800-AVERITT (283-7488)
E-mail for information services: is@averittexpress.com
Email of customer service: customerservice@averittexpress.com

A regional LTL carrier with some truckload and expedited freight services, along with logistics, warehousing and international freight forwarding, Averitt Express operates a fleet of about 4,000 tractors and 11,250 trailers from a network of 80 terminals. Averitt Express directly serves the southern U.S. and selected major cities outside the region, providing service elsewhere in North America through partnerships with other carriers. The company also provides portside deconsolidation centers.

Averitt aims to be the single-source supplier for freight transportation and supply chains solutions, combining the strengths of an asset-based carrier and the capabilities of a third-party logistics provider, say company officials. Averitt Express offers several online tools and a resource center to guide customers through the entire shipping process, from the creation of a Bill of Lading to tracking and tracing shipments.

Lynden Transport

18000 International Blvd., Ste. 600, Seattle, WA 98188
Tel: 1-800-426-5702
Fax: 1-206-575-9617
Web Site: www.lynden.com/ltia

Lynden Transport is a complete multi-modal, regional, common and contract carrier primarily serving Alaska. Lynden Transport was the first trucking company to provide scheduled over-the-road freight service via the Alcan Highway to major Alaskan communities. Today, Lynden Transport also provides LTL cargo service on motor-water-motor routes using steamships, barges, and ferries. We have truckload capabilities for vanable, refrigerated, flat-bed and heavy-haul commodities on both water and highway routes.

Lynden Transport’s QuickTrans provides reliable team driver highway freight service between the Seattle/Tacoma area and major points in Central Alaska. Pick-ups should be requested by noon on Tuesday and Fridays or you can deliver to our Tacoma (Fife) freight terminal by 5:00 p.m. those same days.