U.S. Xpress Enterprises, a provider of transportation services throughout North America, recently expanded its Xpress Direct Demand Critical fleet to include smaller-capacity vehicles, including cargo vans and straight trucks. The company is operating nearly 30 of these vans and trucks and plans to have 150-200 in use by midyear 2012.
The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company says it decided to begin operating cargo vans and straight trucks in response to a recent large customer acquisition and overall market demands for greater flexibility. The primary service areas for the new equipment are the Midwest and Southeast, an area generally defined as east of Interstate 35 and west of Interstate 81.
“With the addition of this new equipment, U.S. Xpress is now able to manage all of our customers’ time-critical shipments from one small box all the way up to a full truckload,” says Bob Poulos, vice president of sales and marketing.
The primary industries U.S. Xpress presently is serving with these vehicles are automotive and heavy truck, but the company sees major opportunities in the consumer and life science sectors moving forward. The cargo vans and straight trucks used are generally 22 to 24 feet long, with cargo vans carrying a maximum payload of 3,500 pounds and straight trucks carrying 13,000 pounds.
“We have enhanced this area of our business to ensure that we can create a solution designed to meet each customer’s specific needs and load sizes, from exclusive-use vehicles and supplemental capacity to just-in-time deliveries and inventory emergencies,” says Poulos.
