2008 Quest for Quality Awards: 25th Annual Quest for Quality Awards: Delivering on the promise THIRD-PARTY LOGISTICS: Shifting in the polls FREIGHT FORWARDERS: Foreign policy titans AIR CARRIERS: Delivering under pressure OCEAN CARRIERS: Steadfast incumbents RAIL/INTERMODAL: Popularity rising in the polls TRUCKLOAD: Influential long-haulers REGIONAL LTL: Perennial local front runners NATIONAL LTL: Canvassing the nation Order Online

According to several industry analysts, long-haul LTL is considered a mature sector since many are reporting pretty flat revenues across the board. Some of its largest players are unionized, which doesn’t excite shippers. And, like the truckload side of the business, profits have been scant the past couple of years as fuel and other related operating costs have skyrocketed, forcing some to shut their doors altogether.

However, it pays to examine some of the positive elements that will most certainly keep this a vital segment of the transportation industry despite the hurdles it’s currently overcoming. The winners you see in the charts to the right are now offering innovative, responsive, and technologically sound services with operations that are staying one step ahead of shippers’ wishes in many cases.

And it appears that a majority of our shipper respondents in this category are seeing that these new offerings are actually improving service across the segment. As a matter of fact, we’re happy to report that the overall weighted average scores for all three categories improved over 2007.

In the National LTL category we see that the overall average jumped an impressive 2.72 points over last year, signaling that shippers are fairly pleased with overall service in this category. However, since it’s such a small pool of players, only FedEx National LTL scored above the average in 2008, with improvements in its On-time Performance (10.93), Value (8.64), and Equipment & Operations (4.47) scores this year.

In the Multiregional LTL category we saw a 1.54 point improvement in the overall weighted average and four repeat winners from last year’s survey: FedEx Fright, R&L Carriers, UPS Freight, and Old Dominion. It’s important to note that Estes Express and Roadway Express made it back on the list this year after falling just short in 2007. FedEx Freight took a majority of the popular vote, scoring an inspiring 35.89, a 1.14 point improvement over last year. FedEx won the On-Time Performance race handily (11.58), and also took first in Information Technology (4.90), Customer Service (6.05), and Equipment & Operations (4.50). R&L Carriers, however, led the pack in Value with an enviable 9.14.

The Surface Package race has been a two-candidate showdown for what feels like ages. This year UPS just eked by FedEx Ground by mere tenths of a point, making this race almost too close to call.