William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | May 02, 2012 10:38AM EDT
Trucking company Pitt Ohio expanded its expedited less-than-truckload service for national and global shippers. The Pittsburgh-based Mid-Atlantic carrier is offering same-day to second-day service nationwide and to select international destinations.
The regional transport operator also is speeding LTL service from its Eastern base to the West Coast with TRNet Express. The new service offers two- to three-business day transit times from the East to points in California, Arizona and Nevada.
A member of the Reliance Network of LTL carriers, privately owned Pitt Ohio increased revenue 10.9 percent in 2011 to approximately $305 million, according to SJ Consulting Group, Pittsburgh. The LTL carrier also offers truckload and ground package service.
Fast Track is aimed at urgent LTL shipments, according to Pitt Ohio. Each delivery is customized door-to-door, unlike standard LTL shipments shipped through the company's 21 terminal regional network or through its Reliance Network carrier partners.
TRNet Express, introduced in April, offers faster transit times for shippers willing to move freight over the weekends, starting on Thursdays and Fridays. Pitt Ohio coordinates delivery with Reliance Network carrier partner Mountain Valley Express.
LTL trucking companies in general are working to move freight faster, speeding transit times coast-to-coast and between the U.S. and Canada as shippers chastened by the recession take lean inventory and rapid replenishment strategies to extremes.
Inventory-to-sales ratios reached a new low in the first quarter, RBC Capital Markets analyst John Barnes told shippers at the NASSTRAC 2012 conference May 1.
"It continues to kind of baffle us that we talk about this volume in the system and yet we have not seen material inventory replenishment thus far," Barnes said.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc
