Consolidated Fastfrate Begins Cross-Border Service, Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Consolidated Fastfrate celebrated its 50th anniversary Sept. 26, and company CEO Ron Tepper announced his direction for the company in a corporate newsletter and company event.
The Woodbridge, Ontario, fleet announced it will launch new cross-border services between Canada and the United States in late October or November.
“Now we are taking [our] infrastructure and offering it up to selective partners to build 48-state coverage to and from both the LTL and truckload markets. That will be a significant shift in our business,” Tepper said.
He added that the company will boost its logistics and brokerage services in the coming year, too.
“If we are successful in doing this, it changes our pricing power on our regular LTL business,” he said. “It is no secret that this is a tough market. It is defined by too many carriers chasing too little business, and for us to be successful, we need to be able to charge the rates that make sense to us, ... and we can generate better margins for ourselves.”
Consolidated Fastfrate hired Michael Adams as its new vice president of logistics as a first step. He has 22 years of experience with Canadian Pacific and led an oil and gas logistics company in Calgary, Alberta, according to Fastfrate.
“Along with heading up Fastfrate Integrated Logistics, Mike will be a key player in transitioning our perception in the industry as a road and rail LTL provider to an organization that develops end-to-end logistics solutions to better manage our clients’ supply chain,” Tepper said.
Adams said that the move would be a “game changer” for the company to gain new customers with cross-border business.
Tepper and partners bought Consolidated Fastfrate in 1994 from publicly traded Federal Industries, a steel maker, and privatized it.
Fastfrate Group, its parent company, ranks No. 100 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers and employs about 830 people.
