LTL and parcel carriers earn NASSTRAC honors

Members of prominent shippers group recognize top LTL and parcel carriers with 1999 Carrier of the Year awards.

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 5/1/1999

For the 10th straight year, members of the shippers group NASSTRAC have selected Roadway Express as one of their Carriers of the Year. Viking Freight System has won the award for the second year in a row. The third winner--parcel carrier RPS--is making a first-time appearance on the list.

NASSTRAC members, who manage their companies' less-than-truckload and small-package shipments, have voted for the carriers they consider the best in the business each year since 1987. The process begins when carriers nominate themselves for the award. A screening committee then distributes a list of finalists to members, who rate the carriers on the following six criteria:

* Support of NASSTRAC and NASSTRAC's legislative goals

* Innovation and industry leadership

* Technology

* Service performance

* Loss-and-damage ratio and speed of claims processing

* Rating and billing, including competitive pricing and billing accuracy.

This year, for the third time since the award program was established, NASSTRAC has shifted the categories to better reflect the way its members view the industry. Specifically, the group introduced a Parcel and Express category. It also replaced the National and Multi-Regional carrier categories with a single National and Super-Regional category. It retained the Regional category.

Addressing the reasons behind the change, John DuBiel, vice president of global transportation for Revlon Consumer Products Corp. and head of NASSTRAC's Carrier of the Year awards committee, says, "The super-regional carriers are now at a level where they're doing almost national business. They're reaching almost 80 percent of the population." In addition, he says, members, who also manage parcel and express shipments, considered it important to establish a parcel category.

The Winners, Please

Roadway, the perennial winner in the National category, has continued its success under the new format. It was one of six carriers nominated in the new National and Super-Regional category. American Freightways, the winner in the Multi-Regional category last year, finished in second place in the new category and in second place overall.

Viking Freight, which provides regional service in the Western states, topped five other carriers in the Regional category. The award marks a comeback for Viking, which returned to its regional roots after abandoning an ill-fated effort to build a national network in 1996.

RPS, the nation's second-largest small-package carrier and the winner in the Parcel and Express category, is, like Viking, a subsidiary of FDX Corp. RPS entered the business-to-business small-package market in 1985.

The awards were presented to executives of the winning carriers by Peter Bradley, chief editor of Logistics, at NASSTRAC's spring conference in Naples, Fla., last month.

Editor's Note: The process of selecting the 1999 Carriers of the Year already is under way. Carriers are encouraged to nominate themselves for consideration. For more information, call NASSTRAC at (202) 393-5505.