LTL Carrier Roadrunner Announces Service Expansion
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Less-than truckload carrier Roadrunner Freight on Jan. 31 announced a significant expansion of its network with plans to add new lanes.
The Downers Grove, Ill.-based carrier said that, coupled with its earlier growth, it is the most extensive new market opening in five years.
Roadrunner ranks No. 88 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 20 on the TT list of the largest LTL carriers.
Roadrunner will begin operating service into Portland, Ore., and service to Toronto and Montreal via Detroit. The company also plans to add 135 lanes to its network, building upon its recent new market openings in Las Vegas, Denver, Kansas City, Mo., and Richmond, Va.
“LTL trucking is tough, and watching the experience of the freight recession, we looked at the data and decided we want to offer more things, more services, and service to our shippers, and we have gained more confidence in the ability of our operations,” Executive Chairman and CEO Chris Jamroz told Transport Topics. “We can do these things well, and it makes sense and pays off to open it up to a broader scope of geography with a broader base of services.”
Jamroz
In the past year, Roadrunner has undergone significant restructuring to concentrate on its core LTL competencies, focusing on direct metro-to-metro operations.
Roadrunner said its expansion is a continuation of the changes that were announced in 2023, including the creation of Guaranteed Service in select lanes, offering shippers on-time delivery by the promised date or a full refund of charges, and one-day service between its Southern California and Chicago locations.
“This is yet another piece of our strategic plan to grow our Smart Network,” said Phil Thalheim, director of linehaul analytics. “We constantly analyze our data to find where it makes the most sense to add coverage. Both our algorithms and customers indicated that Canada was the next most sensible place for us to expand.”
Jamroz said that with the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and others continuing to see business return, it was essential to begin moving larger volumes of freight to the Midwest using team drivers.
Expanded Service
Roadrunner's new lanes include:
- Dallas and Houston to Denver.
- Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., to Denver.
- The northeast U.S. to and from Nashville, Indianapolis, Louisville, Ky., and Cincinnati.
- Major cities in Florida to Nashville and Memphis.
- Service to Alaska and Hawaii with newly enhanced quote automation and improved transit times.
“We are offering a very specific type of service, and we have to have found our business without any fear of competition from the railroads or the expedited carriers,” he said. “The typical profile of our shippers is the big points of entry either from the ports of New York and New Jersey, Long Beach or Los Angeles, and it needs that shipment, that pallet into their warehouse or industrial complex rather quickly. These are the power lanes that we tend to run into the industrial part of the country.”
The company also plans to recruit new drivers aggressively, adding 100 teams and another 100 single drivers.
In support of the improvements, GLT Logistics recently recognized Roadrunner’s dedication to fostering innovation and improvement by giving it its Breakthrough Carrier of the Year award.
“GLT Logistics is honored to announce Roadrunner as the 2023 Breakthrough Carrier of the Year for their commitment to innovation, forward-thinking approach and relentless pursuit of improvement,” GLT Executive Vice President Jose De la Roche said.
The company hopes to have the new lanes operating by this summer once the new drivers are trained.
Roadrunner also is considering more routes in Mexico because many of its customers are nearshoring more of their manufacturing there.
The carrier specializes in direct longhaul metro-to-metro shipping involving more than 14 million ZIP code-to-ZIP code combinations. Roadrunner said this was accomplished by continuing to invest in its team service and direct routing. It also leveraged machine-learning algorithms to optimize its network operations.
Roadrunner took a significant step in its plan to streamline the business toward core competencies when it completed the sale of three truckload businesses in August 2020. Since then, the company has focused on investing in service improvements.
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