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LTL capacity ‘fragile’ as carriers realign networks: Yellow CEO | Journal of Commerce
Waves of freight are flooding the less-than-truckload market from all sides, and shippers will need to be "creative" to get capacity, according to Yellow CEO Darren Hawkins.
www.joc.com
The reorganization, which began last year, is expected to be completed by mid-2022, as Yellow brings all its trucking subsidiaries onto one technology platform and restructures its network. “We’ve already got New Penn and YRC Freight together on the Yellow technology platform,” Hawkins said. “We’re moving Reddaway over as we speak, and then Holland will be over by the end of the year.”
The process requires a merger of four hub-and-spoke LTL terminal networks, and the creation of a new super-regional network that drives freight through “velocity centers” and uses “connector” terminals to send long-haul freight across the continent. “It’s great to have small carriers in individual markets but when you can bring everything to the customer in one package, they reward you for it.”
Hawkins expects that by the end of 2021, Yellow will operate about 309 terminals across its brands, down from 322 currently and 370 a couple of years ago. “That’s really about as small as we can go to handle the volume and meet customer expectations,” he said. Hawkins insisted, however, that this is not a repeat of the merger of Yellow and Roadway in 2009, which closed hundreds of terminals.
“We need to protect our capacity and make our network more fluid so that shipments can exit the network faster, and we can create our own internal capacity with the doors, the tractors, and the employees that we have now,” Hawkins said.