Roadrunner cuts delivery times
Move made after revenue dips
Facing declining revenue and operating profits, the less-than-truckload wing of Cudahybased Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc. has cut transit time for about a fifth of its freight by an average of 20%, an executive said Thursday.
The speedier deliveries come thanks largely to increased business between certain cities and, secondarily, to a new willingness to dispatch trucks even if the trailer isn’t full, said Grant Crawford, president of the less-than-truckload unit.
Runs from, say, the San Francisco Bay area to Chicago now take four days rather than five. Runs from Atlanta to Milwaukee now take three days rather than four.
The average transit time across 155 city-tocity routes affected by the changes has been reduced from a little over five days to about four, Crawford said.
“Five to four is a pretty significant change for us,” he said. He said the changes affect 20% of the volume for Roadrunner’s less-than-truckload business.
That business overall, however, has seen revenue and income drop, and the moves appear to be a response to the downward trend.
Revenue for Roadrunner’s less-than-truckload segment fell about 10% from 2014 to 2015, and another 11% in the first three quarters of 2016, the company’s financial statements show.
Operating income — 6.6% in 2013 — dropped to 3.9% in 2015. For the first three quarters of 2016, it was just 1%.
“Our results over the last couple of years have made it clear to us that we needed to listen to our customers,” Crawford said. “And the changes that we’ve made with our product, with our increased commitment to reliability, service consistency and quality, has been with our ear close to what the market and our customers are asking us to do.”
In the less-than-truckload segment of trucking, freight from multiple shippers is consolidated in a single trailer for delivery to multiple destinations in the same general area.
Roadrunner’s lessthan-truckload business, named Roadrunner Freight, accounts for about a fourth of total company revenue. The firm’s truckload unit is more than twice as large. Roadrunner also operates a logistics business.