Setting high standards keeps fleet profitable and safe.

New South Express Inc., a Canfor company based in Myrtle Beach, SC, is a highly successful private fleet with a reputation for premium customer service combined with an outstanding safety record. The fleet moves finished southern pine lumber to major retailers and job sites and also ships by-products like wood chips to process centers. Carl Hamilton, vice president and general manager of transportation and logistics, says the private fleet was founded in 1989 and currently has 47 power units, 63 employee drivers, and 146 trailers, including flatbeds and dry vans. The leased tractors are kept in service for five years and run about 600,000 mi. before replacement. About 45% of the company’s transportation spend is on the private fleet operation.

Hamilton, private fleet manager, has moved up through the ranks to his current position. He has been employed with the company since graduating from the University of Tennessee 15 years ago, where he majored in finance and transportation. As a teenager he developed a strong work ethic and passion for safety—underground—while working as a coal miner/helper. His father owned and operated a coal mine in rural southern Virginia. “Coal mines are challenging worksites, to say the least,” says Hamilton.

“Staying intensely focused on safety was drilled into me by my father from the first day I entered a mine—and certainly has shaped my work perspective ‘above ground’ in managing a private fleet. Our management team works hard to instill a safety-first perspective into our drivers as part of their day-in and day-out task.” The management team consists of an efficient, multi-skilled group of six full-time employees with a combined 144 years of service to the company. Drivers at the company average eight years of service and have a low annual turnover of 13%.

“Driving takes up most of the on-duty time of our drivers, so continuing to enhance our driver safety operating standards and CSA scores is a top priority,” says Hamilton. About one-half of New South Express trucks are operated practically around the clock using a slip-seat system. The first shift of drivers begins work at 5 a.m. and ends around 5 p.m. Another shift of drivers begins at 5 p.m. and works until 4:00 a.m. Runs of the private fleet typically cover 85 mi. Stops per day for the finished product trucks are two to three and four to five stops for the by-product trucks. The fleet’s current empty miles are at 36%, up from 29% in 2006 when housing/commercial construction in the U.S. reached peak demand and there were much higher volumes of specialty backhaul freight available for the fleet’s flatbed equipment.

New South Express, which has been a member of NPTC since 2006, takes particular advantage of the council’s safety awards programs and annual benchmarking survey data. “We really find NPTC a tremendous resource of information to help us stay ahead and competitive,” says Hamilton. “As we expand our fleet, the standards of performance keep getting higher each year. Fortunately, we feel well-positioned to meet these challenges,” concludes Hamilton.

Valley Proteins is a successful company specializing in a unique type of freight.  Used restaurant cooking grease, fats, oils, restaurant grease traps, inedible meat, fat, and bone by-products—all of these are part of the ....

Back in 1925, brothers William and Otto Brakebush started hauling calves, cows and pigs with their single truck, envisioning service and reliability as the foundation of their company. They soon began collecting eggs from farmers and taking them to market. William and Otto grew that simple ....

Benjamin Moore & Company is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of paint products in North America with more than 4,000 independently owned retail locations. Performing roughly half of its transportation requirements, the company’s private fleet consists ....

Last year more than 1,000 attendees took advantage of what the NPTC Annual Education Management Conference and Exhibition provided. And this year’s event, to be held April 28-30 at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza in Cincinnati, OH, promises to be bigger and better. ....

The National Private Truck Council (NPTC) will hold its annual Private Fleet Management Institute (PFMI) Jan. 19-23, 2013, at the Omni Jacksonville Hotel in Jacksonville, FL. PFMI is a five-day intensive educational program offering courses on fleet finance, operations, legal, regulatory and safety compliance, human resources, ....

The Private Fleet Management Online® (PFMO) program officially launched last month as a joint enterprise of the National Private Truck Council and Instructional Technologies. This exceptional learning system breaks new ground in the field of in-service training with an interactive, multimedia e-book, how-to guide, and reference manual targeted specifically ....

Since March of 2011, David Adcock has lost 100 lbs.—without surgery, without medication, and all the while working as an over-the-road truck driver for Air Products. When he’s home, he works out in the gym. When he’s on the road for work, he takes walks around his truck, climbs into his bunk to do sit-ups, and has been known to go ....

Frito-Lay’s private commercial fleet is one of the largest and most successful practitioners of lean management principles applied to corporate transportation management. Mari Roberts, CTP, director of network optimization, says that lean management helps improve the private fleet ....

Based in Louisville, KY, Metal Sales Manufacturing Corporation produces steel panels and components for the building industry. Over its 50-year history, the company has grown from a single-location regional operation to an international supplier of metal roof, wall and building components by focusing on one goal: helping its customers grow ....

NPTC’s National Safety Conference, scheduled for Sept. 13- 14, 2012, at the Hyatt Dulles in Herndon, VA, is an intense, concentrated overview of key issues of interest and importance to running private fleet operations at an exceptionally high standard of safety. The program includes an update on federal regulations; private fleet ....

"We will be talking about this conference years from now. Thank you for the fine work in putting together a powerful agenda and attracting a quality group of people. There is no organization quite like this one and probably never will be. NPTC is very much like family in that everyone looks out for each other professionally and ....

Saint Joseph, MO-based Hillyard Inc., founded in 1907, was an early pioneer in maintenance products, most famously for wood gym floor finishes that were field-tested on a company gym floor, the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi. To showcase its high-quality products, founder N.S. Hillyard organized a company ....

Founded in 1886 when U.S. President Grover Cleveland was in office, Mennel Milling Co. began as an independent family owned flour mill. Headquartered in Fostoria, OH, the highly successful company is a boutique, niche market manufacturer of premium, custom-blended soft, spring ....

This year's Class of 2012 for the Certified Transportation Professional program that will be honored on April 29 at the NPTC Annual Conference in Cincinnati, OH, will be the largest class in history going back to the charter class of 1993, which had about two dozen members. The founding class would ....

Today's private fleet professional continues functioning under immense pressure to deliver exceptional performance. Yesterday's solutions will need updating for tomorrow's needs. Managers are expected to deliver outstanding levels of customer service while keeping costs ....

When Maines Paper & Food Service Inc. purchased electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs), achieving a return on its investment was a top priority. It saw the sophisticated software as a way to manage DOT requirements, as well as to manage....

Giant Eagle Inc. is one of the nation's largest food retailers and food distributors with about $9.3 billion in annual sales. The company ranked 29th on Forbes' annual list of the largest private companies and is the recipient of Grocery Headquarters' 2007 Retailer of the Year Award as well as the EPA's Energy Star Retail Partner of the Year Award. ....

In September, NPTC recognized 18 of the nation's top private fleet drivers as the third class of the National Driver All-Stars program sponsored by Navistar Inc. The recognition, which took place during the NPTC National Safety Conference, honors those drivers who demonstrate high performance standards....

In 1948, a hog farmer named Bob Evans found trouble trying to get quality sausage for customers at his 12-stool restaurant named The Sausage Shop, located in the tiny village of Gallipolis, OH. So he began making his own...