www.dcvelocity.com MAY 2019 DC VELOCITY 27
BY GARY FRANTZ, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
PRIVATE FLEETS
Transportation Report
WHEN SAM WALTON DECIDED TO LAUNCH HIS OWN PRIVATE FLEET BACK
in the 1970s, it was to solve a uniquely specific problem: the inability or lack of desire
on the part of commercial carriers to deliver goods to Walmart’s mostly rural stores,
which tended to be located far from established trucking routes.
Little did he know that some 50 years later, his business decision would be the seed
from which would sprout one of the nation’s largest private fleet operations, with
more than 8,000 drivers, 6,400 tractors, and 60,000 trailers. Today, Walmart is the
third-largest private carrier in North America and if ranked as a commercial for-hire
carrier, would be among the nation’s top 10 operators.
The issue Sam Walton was trying to solve five decades ago—access to and control
of guaranteed truck capacity—still exists today.
It’s exacerbated by the modern realities of today’s e-commerce-driven and Amazon-influenced supply chains, which require much more short-haul, rapid-response
fulfillment. Layer on top of that a robust economy driving record freight levels; an
ongoing, worsening driver shortage; increasingly challenging city congestion and
highway driving conditions; and rising operating and equipment costs, and you have
a perfect storm impacting available capacity—and generating more and more interest
in private and dedicated fleets.
What’s the primary incentive for establishing a private fleet, or contracting for a
dedication operation?
“It’s really about [access to] steady capacity to support the [shipper’s] business
The desire for
committed capacity,
reliable service, and
predictable cost has
created a surge of
interest in dedicated
and private fleets.
That will change the
complexion of
trucking over the
next five years.
The rise of
private fleets
(and dedicated operations)
