ABF Freight System Inc. on Monday, Sept. 15, announced faster transit times in more than 24,000 station-to-station lanes, including about 1,300 new next-day lanes and 21,000 new second-day lanes. As a result, ABF says it has reduced transit by at least one day in more than 445 million ZIP-to-ZIP combinations.
Called the Regional Performance Model, or RPM, the network first offered regional service along the eastern seaboard in 2006 and later added regional service for the eastern two-thirds of the United States in early 2007. ABF says the latest enhancement reduces the transit times in more than 25 percent of the lanes in the carrier’s North American network. By the end of 2008, ABF plans to expand RPM to the western United States to provide next-day and second-day service throughout the country.
“ABF’s most recent expansion of its regional service is now in place, resulting in additional transit-time improvements in tens of thousands of new regional lanes,” says Wes Kemp, president and chief operating officer of Fort Smith, Ark.-based ABF. “In fact, we’ve been successfully executing the latest enhancements for almost a month now, refining the new service before introducing it to the market. Customers are embracing ABF, traditionally a long-haul carrier, as a most reliable regional service provider. They appreciate a carrier that can master next-day and second-day transit and still provide the loss- and damage-free service for which ABF is renowned.”
ABF says RPM runs in parallel with the carrier’s best-in-class long-haul network, enabling customers the convenience of one carrier to handle their regional, interregional and long-haul freight while boosting the reliability of both networks. While the separate over-the-road networks are indiscernible, according to the company, customers benefit from common pickup, delivery, sales and customer service capabilities.
