newsworthy

A PARENT WITH DEEP POCKETS

BNSF is a privately owned operating unit of Berkshire Hathaway Corp., the Omaha, Neb.-based conglomerate controlled by the legendary multibillionaire investor Warren E. Buffett. Although Greer described his unit as “profitable and self-sufficient,” he noted that it would nonetheless be able to turn to its parent for any capital that it can’t generate out of revenue or cash flow.

However, he said BNSF Logistics will still need to compete for capital with other of the company’s operations. “It’s not like I am out on my own with a free checkbook,” he said.

Greer admitted that BNSF Logistics’ revenue is equivalent to a “rounding error” on its rail parent’s overall balance sheet. However, he disagreed that the division meant little to the railway until Berkshire’s late 2009 acquisition and his own hiring roughly 18 months later.

The increased focus on the unit is not due to any ownership change but is “being driven by BNSF Railway’s desire to have logistics [become] an increasing and relevant part of its overall business over the long term,” he said. ;

—Mark Solomon

accolades

Inmar Inc., along with its clients Kellogg, Harris Teeter, and Rite Aid, received two of the three Reverse Logistics Collaboration Awards presented at the 2011 Joint Industry Unsaleables Management Conference. … Con-way Freight driver Paul Phillips, of Coarsegold, Calif., was crowned the 2011 National Truck Driving Grand Champion. This is the third consecutive year, and the fourth time in five years, that a Con-way Freight driver has been named Grand Champion. … Porsche AG from Stuttgart has recognized Witron Logistik + Informatik GmbH with a Porsche Supplier Award. These awards are given annually to Porsche’s 10 best suppliers and service providers. … Clark Material Handling Co. has announced the recipients of its Top Parts Managers of the Year Awards for 2010. They are Mike Leslie from Norlift of Oregon in Portland, Ore.; Jim Pizzola from Valley Industrial Trucks Inc. in Youngstown, Ohio; Gary Wallace from G&W Equipment Inc. in Charlotte, N.C.; Gary Loflin from Louisiana Lift & Equipment Inc. in New Orleans; Billy Parker from Burke Handling Systems Inc. in Jackson, Miss.; and Cosme Lopez from Cepamosas in Guadalajara, Mexico … RWI Transportation received a Platinum Award from Great West Casualty Co. as part of the 2010 National Safety Awards Program. … Railserve Marketing Director Mark Bradshaw has been recognized with the North American Rail Shippers Association Lifetime Achievement Award. … Regis Corp.’s Salt Lake City, Utah, DC was recently honored with the state of Utah’s Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) Award.

PHILLIPS

New YRC CEO to focus on fixing long-haul operations

The new CEO of less-than-truckload (LTL)
carrier YRC Worldwide Inc. said he is focus-
ing much of his early efforts on fixing the
operating culture at the company’s national
LTL division, saying the network and the atti-
tude supporting it “are not where we want
it to be.”
In an Aug. 5 interview, James L. Welch said
that “we still have work to do” at the divi-
sion, known as YRC National. “We want to
get rock-solid with our network and have a
disciplined process for running the net-
work.” Welch, who started at YRC on July
25, did not provide specifics.

Welch, 55, spent seven years as CEO of the former Yellow Transportation, which was later integrated with Roadway Express to form YRC National. Though Yellow acquired Roadway in 2003, the integration took six years to complete and was fraught with delays and cost overruns due to operational redundancies. The integration also led to customer defections as Yellow and Roadway customers—most of whom were satisfied with service levels of the respective carriers—experienced service problems with the integrated business.

In 2009, the renamed YRC Worldwide shrank the YRC National network by about 25 percent in an effort to streamline the operation, improve service, and cut costs.

Welch said trucking integrations are never easy and not always successful. One problem at YRC National, he said, is there have been so many changes in the operational network since 2003 that customers and employees don’t have any consistent pattern to follow. “We don’t have the culture defined at YRC National,” he said, without going into detail.

By contrast, Welch said he is pleased with the performance of YRC’s three regional carriers: Holland, Reddaway, and New Penn. He singled out Holland, which has posted strong operating and financial results of late, for praise.

“I want Holland to continue to do business the way Holland does business, not the way YRCW does business,” said Welch, invoking the company’s four-letter stock symbol. ;