LTL and Express Road Haulage Group Revitalises Itself As Long Haul US Freight Company

US – Like a big 16 wheel rig, less than truckload (LTL) road haulage outfit YRC continues to roll on despite all manner of financial setbacks stretching back some years. Today saw YRC Incorporated morph into YRC Freight a brand only introduced to company staff in the past few days. The rebranding means a new logo, uniforms, equipment and signage to go with the new name. The group, in the form of holding company YRC Worldwide, has struggled with financial pressures over the past few years but survives thanks to agreements with investors and unions, asset disposals and share selling and exchange sprees.

YRC Worldwide has undergone many significant, and indeed drastic, changes with civil actions brought by other carriers which considered deals on working arrangements and remunerations with the Teamsters to be unconstitutional giving YRC an unfair advantage, and internal streamlining resulting in Jeff Rogers being appointed president and the elimination of the positions of Chief Operations Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Customer Officer.

It seems that the new management team, in place for just a few months, has decided a new start is required and is continuing the past policies with the disposal of the Roadway HQ in Akron, Ohio, an historic link for the group established in 1930, with the resultant disbursement of jobs, plus more negotiations with unions as the avowed intent for YRC Freight to withdraw at least in part from the next day express field back to its role as a premier LTL haulier will mean job cuts at many of the company’s depot’s countrywide.

YRC say no depots will close as a result of the changes but effectively admitted the streamlining would mean redundancies. The YRC name evolved from the conjoining of Yellow Transit with Roadway Express in 2003 to become YRC six years later. The group still owns various regional carriers; New Penn, Reddaway and Holland, which the current management feel are better dedicated to the local sector work whilst flagship YRC Freight handles the long haul contracts.

In the past few months YRC Worldwide have also shed a significant portion of the assets of its Glen Moore truckload operating subsidiary to Celadon Trucking Services and Rogers is sure that his avowed policy of concentrating on core business which in this case means being ‘a really good long-haul carrier’ is the only way to survive in an increasingly tough environment. Rick Mathews, senior vice president of sales and marketing at YRC Freight is suitably bullish about the new identity saying:

"In the four months that new leadership has been in place, we have experienced month-over-month increases in our on-time service performance, our customer satisfaction scores, and in our market share position. As shipment counts trend upward for 2012, we will continue to emphasize picking up and delivering shipments on time and delivering them damage-free.

"Our new name reflects our passion, our purpose and our commitment to regain our role as leaders in the industry. Freight is our business and now it is our name. We're freight professionals and it's critically important that we focus like never before on exceeding expectations of our customers every day with every shipment. We will work to keep our brand promise - Confidence Delivered."

Photo: Jeff Rogers, president, YRC Freight (left) and James Welch, CEO YRC Worldwide (right) unveil the new logo.