LTL Southeastern Freight Lines Opens Logistics Solutions Division
By Jonathan S. Reiskin, Associate News Editor
This story appears in the Jan. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Less-than-truckload carrier Southeastern Freight Lines, Lexington, S.C., opened a new logistics division Jan. 4 to provide shippers with services in dry van, refrigerated and flatbed truckload, expedited delivery, intermodal drayage, brokerage, air freight and distribution.
Former FedEx Freight executive Mike Moss has been setting up Southeastern Logistics Solutions since he joined the company in April and will serve as its first president.
“We recognize that a number of our customers have additional needs for a partner with the ability to provide all modes of transportation, and we want to always be positioned to say ‘yes’ to their transportation needs, regardless of the service type,” said Tobin Cassels, president of the parent company.
Southeastern ranks No. 29 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
SLS is the successor to Southeastern’s Compass Truckload Brokerage unit, which the LTL carrier purchased in November 2009.
Since joining Southeastern, Moss said he has been preparing the company internally and securing arrangements with transportation providers.
“It’s very much an 80-20 situation,” he said, indicating that 20% of his carriers will provide 80% of the transportation.
He will use the trucks of Southeastern and its truckload subsidiary, G&P Trucking, when he can, Moss said, but independent partners will provide most of the transportation.
SLS will start with about 11 employees, Moss said, but they do not include his sales force. He has been training the Southeastern LTL sales team to bundle the logistics offerings with LTL services. In the beginning, therefore, most SLS customers will be customers of the LTL parent company.
Moss also said his division will use the LTL’s transportation management system as a base for its operations.
Logistics divisions are a common feature at trucking companies because motor carriers have tried to keep their shipping customers from roaming to independent transportation managers by offering them third-party logistics services to complement their asset-based services.
Southeastern competitors such as Estes Express Lines, Old Dominion Freight Line and Averitt Ex-press offer similar services, as do the industry’s largest players, such as UPS Inc. and FedEx Corp., Con-way Inc. and Schneider National.
Moss joined LTL carrier American Freightways in 1997. FedEx purchased the company in 2000 and turned it into FedEx Freight the following year. He worked in both of the carrier’s major divisions, regional and longhaul.
Moss also has worked for predecessors of Con-way Freight and Ceva Logistics.
