During these recessionary times, carriers are looking for new sources of revenue to boost their top and bottom lines. For some trucking companies this means hiring more sales staff and/or entering new markets. Sometimes the most obvious source of revenue is overlooked. Many carriers have assets and resources that can be deployed or redeployed in new ways to drive revenue growth.

Once such source of revenue is daytime cross-docking. Many LTL carriers find their docks quite empty by early to mid-morning after their delivery trucks have been dispatched to perform their deliveries. For shippers that cannot or do not wish to perform these services, this allows the carrier to provide added value and solidifies the relationship.

This service can consist of stuffing or de-stuffing containers or performing specific distribution services for the freight that arrives on their dock. Instead of reloading the freight and sending it to the customer, the carrier sorts the freight on their dock and trans-ships it directly to the customer’s customer or retailer. The benefits to the shipper are less freight handling which can translate into reduced damage and greater speed to market. One carrier recently reported that cross-dock services now generate thirty percent of their revenues.

It should be pointed out that those carriers wishing to build their daytime cross-dock business may have to make an investment in either bar-code scanning technology or some type of warehouse tracking system to ensure that the client can perform an effective track and trace function. For some carriers the benefits clearly outweigh the minimal cost of entry as daytime cross-docking can provide a new revenue stream and offer added value to its customers.

Another low cost method of increasing revenues is through marketing or interline partnerships. The benefit for regional carriers is that it allows them to gain market share without investing in terminals, trucks and personnel in new markets. This permits a carrier to offer more added value. Rather than turning the customer away to a super-regional or national carrier, the regional carrier can provide a “through service” from one region of the country to another.

One such interline partnership that is just being launched is called the “Reliance Network”. Six U.S. and Canadian regional less-than-truckload carriers have formed a marketing and operational alliance to provide service to and from their respective areas. The six companies in the Reliance Network are Averitt Express (that covers the South and Southeast), DATS Trucking (that covers the West), Lakeville Motor Express (that covers the Midwest), Land Air Express (that services New York and New England), Pitt Ohio (that has coverage of the mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes region) and two divisions of TransForce Income Fund, Canadian Freightways and Epic Express. The latter are really two entities that form part of the same company with Canadian Freightways serving Western Canada and Epic Express serving Eastern Canada.

The intent of the partnership is to pursue regional shippers that have the occasional longhaul or interregional shipments as well as shippers that move predominantly longhaul freight. While regional freight was seen as the engine of growth a few years ago, longhaul freight is now growing at a faster pace. The six carriers are expecting to generate $30 million in new revenue, directly as a result of this partnership. They are seeking more freight on their trucks and more freight through their networks at a time when the economy has hit a rough patch.