LTL

Third quarter revenue was up 11.5% annually to $4.34 billion, and quarterly net income attributable to common shareholders coming in at $100.8 million, which topped $57.5 million for the same period a year ago.

One key difference between BOSS and another fun acronym, BOPS (buy-online/pickup-in-store) cited by CBRE is that with BOPS online orders are picked up in store, whereas with BOSS, retailers ship items to stores that are not regularly stocked in stores.

The spot market is not a replacement for contracted LTL rates, but it can help shippers and 3PLs save money and supplement capacity needs in specific situations.

Frank Hurst, president of LTL provider Roadrunner Freight, a division of Roadrunner Transportation Systems, recently spoke with SMC³ about how the company uses its logistics technology products and how the carrier views innovation.

The volume pricing API is the newest tool in SMC³’s ever-growing collection of Execution and Visibility APIs - tools that are tailored for efficient, fast and powerful direct-to-carrier LTL communications.

SMC3 explained that volume pricing rates are leveraged by shippers and 3PLs when they need a spot quote for shipments that do not fit within traditional LTL or truckload parameters.

While technological innovations can revolutionize how supply chain businesses advance, it’s important for all participants to be a little bit skeptical when supposedly new game-changing technologies are introduced.

Thomasville, N.C.-based Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), the number three less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier by revenue, said today that it has made upgrades to six of its 233 national service centers so far this quarter.

For YRC Freight, its largest operating unit, tonnage per day fell roughly 3.8% in July on an annual basis, and tonnage per day in August, was down 3.1%.

The Thomasville, N.C.-based carrier reported that LTL tons per day increased 9.7% in August on an annual basis, which it said was driven by a 10% increase in LTL shipments per day. The 10% gain, though, was slightly offset by a 0.3% decrease in LTL weight per shipment. And on a quarter-to-date period through September 5, the company said LTL revenue per hundredweight was up 12% annually.

YRC, which controls long-haul YRC Freight and LTL regional carriers New Penn, Reddaway and Holland, reported a slight dip in second quarter net income of $14.4 million on $1.33 billion revenue, compared with net earnings of $19 million on $1.26 billion revenue in the year-ago quarter.

Second quarter revenue was up 16% annually to $4.36 billion, and quarterly net income attributable to common shareholders coming in at $137.5 million, which topped $47.6 million for the same period a year ago.

Learn about the 35th Annual Quest for Quality Award winners for Regional Less-than-truckload (LTL) Carriers.

Total revenue, at $1.033 billion saw a 23% annual gain, with LTL services revenue up 23.2% to $1.018 billion.

There is another challenge in the LTL sector that directly impacts LTL shippers not getting what they need from carriers, with carriers widening embargoes on shipments in certain parts of the United States.