Visitor here. As an EOL terminal that will build SIX breakers for a break bulk, I have to agree.3 ft of extra space is not cost effective. For every set you run, you add these costs as compared to a 53Ft trailer.
1. A second trailer too register, insure, and pay maintenance.
2. A dolly too register, insure and pay maintenance.
3. A driver to pay to set up and break those sets.
4. You need 2 doors instead of one to load and unload. Adding more man-hours for both the dock and jocky operations.
Back when sets ruled the industry the longest trailer was 45", then 48' with 53' trailers, they are now obsolete.
So your issue is the cost... what about freight volume, and scheduling.3 ft of extra space is not cost effective. For every set you run, you add these costs as compared to a 53Ft trailer.
1. A second trailer too register, insure, and pay maintenance.
2. A dolly too register, insure and pay maintenance.
3. A driver to pay to set up and break those sets.
4. You need 2 doors instead of one to load and unload. Adding more man-hours for both the dock and jocky operations.
Back when sets ruled the industry the longest trailer was 45", then 48' with 53' trailers, they are now obsolete.
Clearly you don't understand the history of Holland Motor Freight. Today, they no longer exist. They have been ra*ed and pillaged by YRC and now merged into one network with Yellow, Reddaway and New Penn. Holland was a profit making powerhouse for the past 40 years, the one shining star out of all the Teamster LTL carriers still around.Holland is one of the few regional carriers that figured out(with help from their brilliant management team) how to lose money in this market. Prior to integration with Yellow, operating well over 100.
There is nothing that Holland does that any carrier should attempt to replicate.
New Penn was too..until they were castratedClearly you don't understand the history of Holland Motor Freight. Today, they no longer exist. They have been ra*ed and pillaged by YRC and now merged into one network with Yellow, Reddaway and New Penn. Holland was a profit making powerhouse for the past 40 years, the one shining star out of all the Teamster LTL carriers still around.
very true, not quite the profit machine Holland was. YRC is in the process of destroying their legacies.New Penn was too..until they were castrated
Thanks for the information. Glad to see our brothers in the great white north are on hereWell, I don't know how much this reflects on anything but it may provide some insight into the thought process of TFI in potentially changing from sets to vans.
Here in Canada, sets were popular until the 1990's when the 53' became the new norm. Linehaul is breakbulk to breakbulk, with shuttles to and from EOLs, so vans make more sense in that context. Distances between breakbulks in Canada can be pretty vast, so sleeper teams are common.
The only Canadian LTLs that have any pups are Manitoulin Transport, who bought them to run mixed traffic with OD/Reddaway pups, and TFI's own TST-CF Express who inherited them from the Canadian Freightways side of that merger. CF used theirs in conjunction with Consolidated pups till that was over, and most of the units are around 20 or more years old now and due for retirement. Most of Canada's LTL runs on vans and has, trouble-free, for decades.
FedEx Freight Canada and XPO Logistics Freight Canada also have pups, to run with their American counterparts. Their operations are comparably small vs TFI's extensive LTL network in Canada though.
If this change is happening, I would expect the above reasons are why. Sets are only necessary when you're splitting head loads and that's not needed if you change things so linehaul bypasses EOLs. It results in more loading and unloading, but it's more practical if you're shipping larger shipments.
Happy to pass along what information I can. You guys at TForce Freight are the biggest branding exercise going on at TFI as far as the US goes. I no longer haul TFI's vanload LTL, but I did do so for TST intermittently between 2018 and about this time last year. I also pulled a couple of loads for QuikX (now TForce Freight Canada) in the same manner.Thanks for the information. Glad to see our brothers in the great white north are on here