U.S. Xpress takes step to expand national reefer team service

Truckload and full-service freight transportation provider U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. recently announced that it has expanded its temperature-controlled expedited team service.

Company officials said that with this expansion U.S. Xpress now has 110 reefer trucks in service—since entering this market around March 2011— and they expect to expand its fleet to 250 by the middle of 2012. The decision for U.S. Xpress to enter this market was largely based on customer requests and market demand for expedited coast-to-coast service, they explained.

In an interview with LM at last week’s TransComp Exhibition in Atlanta, Bob Poulos, U.S. Xpress vice president, sales & marketing, told LM that these team units are primarily domiciled in the western half of the United States and are running long-haul, trans-continental routes back and forth to the eastern half of the United States.

“When we grow this fleet to 250, we will then entertain more regional opportunities,” said Poulos. “When we rolled this out, we saw a hole in the market that needed to be filled. When the recession kicked in back in 2008, it reduced the number of providers doing this.”

Shippers being served for this new offering, said Poulos, come from former customers of Arnold Transportation Services, the sister transportation of U.S. Xpress, as well as new customers.

This new service is comprised of lanes from California to the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast and back to California, according to U.S. Express.

It said it is also expanding volumes in a lane of service from California to the upper Midwest region, adding that it can provide transcontinental delivery of perishable goods for the produce, pharmaceutical, chemical, chilled, and frozen food industries in 3 days—or about 60-to-70 hours—depending on origin and destination. And also of note is that fact that U.S. Xpress said it has been successful in securing stable, year-round business for this relatively new service, while it can also scale back capacity based on peak seasons or individual needs, based on its size and infrastructure.

“At U.S. Xpress, we pride ourselves on understanding our customers’ supply chain needs and challenges,” said John White, president U.S. Xpress Inc., in a statement.  “Through our reefer service, we are bringing to market and expanding a unique and distinct offering designed to meet those specific needs. Shippers are looking for financially-stable, technology-driven reefer carriers who can meet stringent CSA standards and are positioned for growth. U.S. Xpress has established early-mover advantage in coast-to-coast team reefer service and is well-positioned to address increasing market demand.”