PRIVATE FLEETS
Transportation Report
RAYS OF SUN ARE OFTEN FOUND IN EVEN THE
cloudiest skies. In today’s trucking industry, the cloud formations are dark and thick, as a super-tight capacity climate
caused by shortages of equipment and drivers, compliance
with new federal regulations, and an uptick in demand has
sent rates soaring, truckers scrambling, and shippers and
intermediaries groaning.
The sunray? This business has a knack for building better
mousetraps.
Take P&S Transportation, a Birmingham, Ala.-based
company ranked by industry journal Transport Topics as the
country’s fourth-largest flatbed carrier, with a fleet of more
CEO Scott Smith wanted to add value to customer relation-
ships. In addition, he wanted to mitigate the impact of the
next capacity-tightening cycle, whenever it struck.
Smith hit on an unconventional strategy. P&S would
offer select shippers a chance to take full or partial ownership in a separate and independent trucking company.
The shipper would pony up a negotiated amount of capital.
P&S, through its relationships with original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) and other sources, would allocate a
specified number of trucks and drivers to the partnership.
P&S would manage the operations and handle the certification, driver recruitment, insurance, fuel, and equipment
maintenance. The shipper could tailor its truck and driver
utilization any way it saw fit.
It’s a land grab for capacity in an ultra-tight market, and all ideas are on the table.
Keeping on truckin’,
no matter what
