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FedEx Freight | Freight and National to merge effective January 30, 2011.

ugh, this thread is like removing an old bandaid and seeing that gangreen has set in and then I'm forced to taste it. Yuck!


FEDEX
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Redracer3136 said:
This is where our discrepancy comes into play. As @Canadian Flyer has stated, there was a 5 year window where the company's hands were tied concerning consolidation, so making the best of that situation was kept to a minimum. There was no real effort made on the company's part to keep FXNL viable other than to integrate the rail service and to spend time training them to our systems/operations so they would be up to speed once the merger took place...5 years wouldn't be consider a "long term goal" IMO but the small efforts made showed they weren't left to "rot on the vine" either.


I can easily see where some with FXNL would think failures were made but those are the ones who "thought" FXNL was going to be kept separate...and they would be correct if that were the case but it wasn't.
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Every press release (and annual report) on the topic spoke of the goal of bringing the lower cost long haul option,as well as the Canadian component.

We must look back at the market and the chain of events. AF grew on speed and predictable reliability. There came a time when the market was willing to sacrifice some of that for a better price. More cost effective long haul/heavy weight options. Lower cost options in general, actually. Enter Watkins. AF had done so well for FedEx. I can see why the powers that be placed Watkins/National under the oversight of the AF team. They had done well (in Corp. eye) integrating the East/West situation.

Problem is, Watkins ended up being the step child in the room. AF methods were forced onto an operation that was incompatible, system wise.. Not always better or worse, just incompatible. Watkins' data system, for example was far superior, inside sources say. Still, it was scrapped. Additionally, on the street, customers did not really like yet another FedEx truck (and the associated confusion) to deal with, and the previously mentioned quest for numbers on the Freight side, pushed Watkins financials still lower.

Either way, I still think the one truck solution was born of necessity, not by original design.

Beyond my disagreement with the theory that Watkins was only bought for Canada, there is a lot of room in this discussion for all sides to be correct, to varying degrees. Has anyone considered that possibility?

None of it really matters today. Just interesting history...
 
SwampRatt said:
Every press release (and annual report) on the topic spoke of the goal of bringing the lower cost long haul option,as well as the Canadian component.

We must look back at the market and the chain of events. AF grew on speed and predictable reliability. There came a time when the market was willing to sacrifice some of that for a better price. More cost effective long haul/heavy weight options. Lower cost options in general, actually. Enter Watkins. AF had done so well for FedEx. I can see why the powers that be placed Watkins/National under the oversight of the AF team. They had done well (in Corp. eye) integrating the East/West situation.

Problem is, Watkins ended up being the step child in the room. AF methods were forced onto an operation that was incompatible, system wise.. Not always better or worse, just incompatible. Watkins' data system, for example was far superior, inside sources say. Still, it was scrapped. Additionally, on the street, customers did not really like yet another FedEx truck (and the associated confusion) to deal with, and the previously mentioned quest for numbers on the Freight side, pushed Watkins financials still lower.

Either way, I still think the one truck solution was born of necessity, not by original design.

Beyond my disagreement with the theory that Watkins was only bought for Canada, there is a lot of room in this discussion for all sides to be correct, to varying degrees. Has anyone considered that possibility?

None of it really matters today. Just interesting history...
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Usually, when a company buys a competitor it's to aquire their customers, market share. We were more interested in their Canadian customers and the opportunity to service Canada as a whole than we were their customers in the U.S. since Watkins primarily dealt with the cheaper, long haul freight here...and like @Canadian Flyer indicated, that usually involves some type of team operation which Watkins already employed but FXFE obviously wasn't interested in...hence the intergration of rail instead of teams. Not saying we weren't interested in their U.S. customers at all since they also moved some regional freight, I'm saying some freight just doesn't produce a ROI.

With this premise alone meant that Watkins had no choice but to be the "step child in the room". Agreed, our systems were incompatible due to the difference in operations, our regional 1 & 2 day freight vs their long haul 3 & 4 day freight...and regardless of who thought what way was superior, they had to learn our way for the (un)forceable merger. Agreed again, our customers weren't fond of the multiple trucks showing up...I.E. Yellow/Roadway/YRC...but again, this was only for a specific period of time as forementioned, not necessity.

Agreed, there are many "varying degrees" on the topic and perhaps my choice of the word "only" may have been incorrect, but (you knew it was coming) I still stand by my premises that it was their Canadian Operating Authority that lead to the purchase of Watkins....it was the "main" reason for their acquisition.

Agreed, it's all water under the bridge now but still interesting none the less.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
They absolutely paid a lot of money for Watkins. But, as with Kinko's, it was an aspect of it's time. Yellow paid an astronomical amount for Roadway, and we all know how that's still going. It wasn't unusual for a company to throw money at an idea back then. The Recession changed a lot of that.

National, as I mentioned, developed the intermodal service that is still in use today. FXNL remains the internal code for economy freight service, as well.

But the merger, as with a great many mergers, was botched badly. As with the YRC merger, it disrupted things extensively.

But yes, getting into Canada, particularly on the national scale, is difficult. As I mentioned previously, Consolidated Freightways had to make two purchases to accomplish just getting to Montreal, and that's as far as they got. And no one carrier offers truly nationwide service in Canada, with Day & Ross operating coast to coast but not to the far north and Manitoulin & TransForce not operating on the east coast.
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Sounds like a regulated industry up there I like how's it working out up there?
 
troubleman84 said:
Sounds like a regulated industry up there I like how's it working out up there?
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It's mostly customs and immigration regulation. We deregulated at the same time as the US, with the line drawn at the border.

The concern is that an American carrier should not be allowed to take work opportunities from a Canadian carrier. This encourages partnerships, like what Holland does with Speedy, and often results in a buy out.

It's easier for a Canadian carrier to establish a presence in the US because the DOT only requires a US mailing address to register a company. American workers must still be hired for domestic work, though. C.A.T. Inc, Rosedale Transport, Verspeeten Cartage and TransX are all Canadian carriers with US operations, though Verspeeten operates Moe's Transport USA, Verspeeten Cartage USA and Cordell Transportation.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
It's mostly customs and immigration regulation. We deregulated at the same time as the US, with the line drawn at the border.

The concern is that an American carrier should not be allowed to take work opportunities from a Canadian carrier. This encourages partnerships, like what Holland does with Speedy, and often results in a buy out.

It's easier for a Canadian carrier to establish a presence in the US because the DOT only requires a US mailing address to register a company. American workers must still be hired for domestic work, though. C.A.T. Inc, Rosedale Transport, Verspeeten Cartage and TransX are all Canadian carriers with US operations, though Verspeeten operates Moe's Transport USA, Verspeeten Cartage USA and Cordell Transportation.
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So if someone from Canada owns a trucking company domiciled in the US the can't use a Canadian to run that freight?
 
johndeere4020 said:
So if someone from Canada owns a trucking company domiciled in the US the can't use a Canadian to run that freight?
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Canadian drivers can only move transborder freight within the US. If a Canadian driver is caught with domestic US freight, they are fined, deported and barred from re-entering the US under interstating laws, the sole exception being if the Canadian driver holds a dual citizenship or a green card.

Likewise, an American driver can't move domestic Canadian freight under what's called cabotage.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
Canadian drivers can only move transborder freight within the US. If a Canadian driver is caught with domestic US freight, they are fined, deported and barred from re-entering the US under interstating laws, the sole exception being if the Canadian driver holds a dual citizenship or a green card.

Likewise, an American driver can't move domestic Canadian freight under what's called cabotage.
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Interesting, I wasn't aware of this.
 
Frootloop said:
Interesting, I wasn't aware of this.
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There's a very good reason Canadians do most of the border crossing. It's a pain, requires knowledge like this, and most Americans I've ever talked to about it aren't interested in injecting headaches into their day.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
Canadian drivers can only move transborder freight within the US. If a Canadian driver is caught with domestic US freight, they are fined, deported and barred from re-entering the US under interstating laws, the sole exception being if the Canadian driver holds a dual citizenship or a green card.

Likewise, an American driver can't move domestic Canadian freight under what's called cabotage.
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Interesting, I knew a Canadian company/driver could only run freight in and out of the country I didn't realize they couldn't move freight if their company had authority here.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
Canadian drivers can only move transborder freight within the US. If a Canadian driver is caught with domestic US freight, they are fined, deported and barred from re-entering the US under interstating laws, the sole exception being if the Canadian driver holds a dual citizenship or a green card.

Likewise, an American driver can't move domestic Canadian freight under what's called cabotage.
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Yep. Mexican carriers were supposed to have the same privileges under NAFTA but they've been held to within a ten mile radius of the border.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
There's a very good reason Canadians do most of the border crossing. It's a pain, requires knowledge like this, and most Americans I've ever talked to about it aren't interested in injecting headaches into their day.
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I enjoyed when we started using PARS. It made it a breeze for me to go in and out. Before that it was a pain in the ass!
 
I was crossing at the Ambassador one night years ago and I didn't have my stuff together, and this American guard was giving me serious lip. Well, I finally started giving him an attitude back. He looks at me and says "hey ******* can you read?" I said "yeah ******** I can read!" He points below his little window and tells me to read the warning.

When it got to the part about a $10,000 dollar fine for improper paperwork I looked up to his ::shit:: eating grin and said in my best Southern accent I could muster that I couldn't read words with than many zeros, as the one room schoolhouse down south lacked funding. He let me go with a warning and let find my broker after laughing at me.
 
johndeere4020 said:
Interesting, I knew a Canadian company/driver could only run freight in and out of the country I didn't realize they couldn't move freight if their company had authority here.
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The same rules apply whether the carrier has an American office or not. Rosedale has a fleet of dedicated domestic US tractors and trailers, plated out of Georgia I think. American drivers operate them, while Canadians operate the transborder stuff with Canadian plated equipment. Seeing that for the first time was weird for me, since I'm used to seeing Ontario plates on their equipment.
 
Dick Dastardly said:
I was crossing at the Ambassador one night years ago and I didn't have my stuff together, and this American guard was giving me serious lip. Well, I finally started giving him an attitude back. He looks at me and says "hey :censored: can you read?" I said "yeah Richard Cranium I can read!" He points below his little window and tells me to read the warning.

When it got to the part about a $10,000 dollar fine for improper paperwork I looked up to his :::shit::: eating grin and said in my best Southern accent I could muster that I couldn't read words with than many zeros, as the one room schoolhouse down south lacked funding. He let me go with a warning and let find my broker after laughing at me.
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Yeah, you don't mess with those guys. They have the power to refuse you entry. They have the power to take a saw to your truck. And they have the power to take a rubber gloved hand to your most uncomfortable places. And they don't care if you're a US citizen. Get cute with them and they'll bring you a world of pain.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
Yeah, you don't mess with those guys. They have the power to refuse you entry. They have the power to take a saw to your truck. And they have the power to take a rubber gloved hand to your most uncomfortable places. And they don't care if you're a US citizen. Get cute with them and they'll bring you a world of pain.
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He was an American customs officer on the Detroit side.


I remember after 9/11 it got real serious. Are they still putting the x-ray machines over both tractor and trailer?

I remember it being super difficult with food grade stuff.
 
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