Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) USA Truck. Research Paper

Transport Improvement Plan: USA Truck
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Introduction
USA Truck Inc. is a transportation company that provides truckload carrier services to businesses in the United States of America. According to the Transportation Topics, USA Truck Inc. is the 26th largest truckload carrier in the United States of America. The company was established in 1983 by Arkansas Best Corporation as CPI which was renamed after three years to its present name. This was due to the deregulation of the trucking industry by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) that required organizations to buy rights to specific routes and charged high rates for full “truckload” compared to less-than-load (LTL). The deregulation allowed trucks to move to any route without any fee. With the removal of regulations, trucking companies attained flexibility in route scheduling. In 1988, USA Truck became independent following the purchase its purchase from Arkansas Best subsidiary ABF Freight by its six executives. Its headquarters are located in Van Buren, Arkansas. USA Truck embarked on improving its operations and minimizes costs by saving on interest and depreciation. This was achieved by operating with a low tractor-to-trailer ratio of 1.7:1 against the industry’s 2.3:1. In order to grow the company embarked on retaining its drivers by in an industry with higher turnover rates by creating conducive working environment and paying them with higher rates compared to other companies. USA truck considered this as an important aspect in providing quality services to its customers. USA Truck went public in 1992 with an initial offering of 1.2 million shares.
The company has facilitated the movement of load from one place to another for various organizations. It provides transportation services to a number of Fortune 500 companies. Additionally, it provides services to 25% of the Fortune 100 companies with more than 90 of its top 100 customers utilizing various services that are offered by the company. USA Truck has more than 4,500 employees where 29% of its workforce comprises of veterans.
Services
USA Truck provides transportation and logistics services such as dedicated contract carriage, truckload, and intermodal and brokerage spot market in North America. This helps business owners to move their loads or deliver cargos to their customers. The company provides full-load and less-than-load (LTL) services for medium and long haul distances with specialities in just-in-time deliveries. The company also provides refrigeration services to companies that need them. USA Truck serves the entire USA states; Canada (Quebec and Ontario); and Mexico through Texas. Additionally, USA Truck transports dry van commodities such as glass, paper and paper products, manufacturing materials, automotive parts, retail merchandise and aluminium.
Supply Chain
According to the company, it has two supply chains as part of its service delivery to its customers. They include an intermodal and third party logistics (3PL). According to Portland State University “Intermodal freight transport is a system for transporting goods, particularly over long distances and across international borders, which uses a combination o...