Noted as its largest expansion in five years, less-than-truckload services provider Roadrunner has rolled out 135 new lanes to its network, including the U.S.'s neighbor to the north.
The Chicago-based trucking company announced on Wednesday that it will offer service to Portland, Oregon, as well as service to Toronto and Montreal, Canada, via Detroit.
Other lanes include Dallas and Houston to Denver; Nashville and Memphis to Denver; the Northeastern U.S. to and from Indianapolis, Nashville, Louisville and Cincinnati; major cities in Florida to Nashville and Memphis; and service to Alaska and Hawaii with newly enhanced quote automation and improved transit times.
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Roadrunner was recognized as a CCJ Innovator in 2022 for overhauling its operations with new leadership, a new network and new technologies to improve transit times and its reputation as a carrier lacking quality service and driver satisfaction. This expansion of lanes is part of its comeback story.
“Roadrunner’s new lanes offer us enhanced connectivity throughout the US,” said Luis Guerrero, facility manager at Uttermost WCDC, one of Roadrunner’s customers in the new lanes. “We’re also glad to know we can count on the Roadrunner team to enter Canada’s vast market.”
Chris Jamroz, executive chairman of the board and CEO of Roadrunner, explained that the company is prioritizing major metropolitan areas, with Portland, Toronto and Montreal offering shippers access to numerous customers.
Rolling out service to Toronto and Montreal is part of Roadrunner’s Canadian expansion plan and was driven by “post-Covid market conditions and the trend of nearshoring as there is more demand for products to go into Canada,” Jamroz said. “The expansion to both Portland, Oregon and Canada has been a priority for Roadrunner since at least early last year as we worked to optimize our network to expand our map."
The network expansion to Canada follows Roadrunner’s strategy of offering direct, long-haul, metro-to-metro service, but he said the company wanted to make sure it had the technology in place and support to make it seamless for shippers.
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“Now shippers have even more large metros connected via our Smart Network instead of a traditional hub and spoke model,” Jamroz said. “Since Roadrunner runs point to point, there is less handling, which means faster transit times and less opportunity for damage.”
This is the first step in the company’s plan to enter Canada and eventually Mexico, he explained. “We will eventually expand our service to Vancouver in a natural progression via cross-border connectivity with Portland and Seattle.”
