Logistics news: RDFS re-launches as Roadrunner Transportation Services Inc.

Company execs say name change reflects increased service offerings, aggressive growth plan

Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 6/16/2008

CUDAHY, Wis.—In an effort to better reflect its various service offerings for shippers across various industries, including third-party transportation logistics and supply chain management, Roadrunner Dawes Freight Systems (RDFS) announced today it is officially changing its name to Roadrunner Transportation Services Inc.

Prior to the establishment of RDFS, Roadrunner Freight Systems and Dawes Transport were separately-owned trucking companies in Milwaukee, and in 2005 they were both acquired by Washington, D.C.-based private investor Thayer/Hidden Creek. In 2006, the companies embarked on a more aggressive growth direction that what the previous companies had in terms of management philosophy, according to Mark DiBlasi, CEO of Roadrunner Transportation Services Inc. This strategy, explained DiBlasi, resulted in several organizational and executive and management personnel changes, which eventually culminated in today’s news regarding its re-branding.

“We are much more than a freight systems company or a traditional truckload and non asset-based LTL carrier we were two and a half years ago,” said DiBlasi. “There are a lot more services that we provide now than we did then. We have moved from a freight systems or LTL carrier to a transportation services provider that does offers truckload, LTL, 3PL, truckload brokerage, and specialized services. There is a lot more to us today than there was, and that has prompted this change for us. We think there are more dimensions to our company than there have ever been in the past.”

As a non asset-based carrier, Roadrunner Transportation Services Inc. works with more than 300 carrier partners on the delivery side and runs approximately 1,400 LTL loads per week, said DiBlasi. It has 18 service centers throughout the U.S., which are outbound facilities that disseminate freight throughout the country.

“Our [terminals] provide direct service for every point in the state they are located in and all point direct that in states outside of where these terminals are located as well,” said Scott L. Dobak, Roadrunner Transportation Services Inc. vice president of sales and marketing. He added that the company has 10,000 regular shipper customers for various industries, with manufacturers, retailers, and construction companies comprising a fair amount of the customer base.

DiBlasi said that in regards to the company’s business model, it tends to focus on small-to-medium-sized accounts, and does not have any one account that represents more than 1.5 percent of the company’s total revenue.

Prior to today’s news, Roadrunner Transportation Services Inc. (when it was still known as RDFS) announced in December it established a strategic alliance with Charlotte, N.C.-based freight forwarder Multipoint to provide shippers with direct service to all points within Puerto Rico via four weekly sailings from the Ports of Elizabeth, N.J. and Jacksonville, Fla., as well as 19 other Caribbean islands.

And in January it announced that it has expanded service from its Cleveland-based terminal to eight Northeastern-based states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Dobak noted that since this expanded service started, the company now plans to expand this service to Cincinnati and Nashville in the second week of July. This expansion, he said, is a result of customer demand in these areas.