ROADWAY EXPRESS, a wholly owned subsidiary of YRC WORLDWIDE, has appointed Clayton Gording as president of REIMER EXPRESS LINES. Reimer Express is a subsidiary of Roadway Express and a leading Canadian provider of industrial, retail and commercial transportation services. The company’s transportation system extends across Canada, the US, Mexico and Puerto Rico. As vice-president of operations since 2001, Gording was responsible for all service centre operations, line haul operations, vehicle purchasing, company-wide vehicle maintenance and labour relations. He began his career with Reimer Express in 1966, serving in a variety of clerical positions at the Regina, Sask. service centre. He had responsibility for a range of sales and management roles that included appointments to vice-president of western operations in 1994 and vice-president of terminal operations in 1997. Outside of his professional duties at Reimer Express, Gording has also served in director and executive roles, including president from 2006- 08 for the Manitoba Trucking Association. He currently serves as past president. In addition, he served on the board of the Canadian Trucking Association from 2006-08.

SCHNEIDER NATIONAL has been selected as the 2007 Intermodal Carrier of the Year by Wal-Mart Stores. Schneider was notified of this year’s honour after Wal-Mart’s annual evaluation of its trucking and logistics services providers. Since the award’s inception in 1997, Schneider National has held this title in three other years: 2002, 2003 and 2004.Wal-Mart considers many factors when determining the winner of the award, including overall dedication to customer service, operational excellence and the ability to offer creative solutions to the corporation’s complex supply chain opportunities. Wal-Mart relies on Schneider for a wide array of transportation and logistics solutions. The carrier provides truckload, dedicated, intermodal, logistics and warehousing/transloading services to Wal-Mart in the US, Canada, Mexico and China.

MACKINNON TRANSPORT has inked a three-year extension with PeopleNet, which provides its mobile communications and fleet management systems. The 250-truck operation said it has realized significant savings since partnering with PeopleNet in 2000, having saved $200,000 in fuel costs by using PeopleNet’s systems to monitor and reduce fleet idling time. The company also tracks driver performance using PeopleNet’s PerformX and then shares the data with drivers to help them reduce their fuel consumption. MacKinnon is now upgrading to the G3 system and it will deploy in-cab driver navigation systems to reduce out-of-route miles. It is also moving towards in-cab scanning, which it hopes will take four days off the traditional billing cycle to help with cash flow.

Growth in expenses continues to outpace growth in revenues for CANADA’S TOP FOR-HIRE CARRIERS, essentially 97 companies earning $25 million or more annually. The nation’s top carriers generated operating revenue of $2.6 billion and operating expenses of $2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2008, according to a report from Statistics Canada. That represented a year-over-year growth in expenses of 2.1% compared to a growth in revenues of 1.8%. The difference was small enough, however, that the operating ratio (operating expenses divided by operating revenue) remained unchanged from the previous year at 0.95. A ratio greater than 1.00 represents an operating loss. The top carriers for the first quarter of 2008 included 64 general freight and 33 specialized freight carriers compared to 66 and 31, respectively, a year ago.

While the trucking sector remains impacted by the soft economy, industry players such as TRANSFORCE and VITRAN see opportunity, according to RBC Capital Markets’ latest monthly report. TransForce reiterated its 2008 guidance and projects further growth in 2009 (albeit under “tough” industry conditions).TransForce, which has now completed its conversion into a corporation, plans to “create value by 1) consolidating the industry 2) using industry leadership to affect pricing discipline 3) growing through acquisition of quality companies and 4) investing diligently in capital programs (fleet and technology) to maximize returns.” The company emphasized its scale and revenue diversification in allowing it to strive for improved margins. Meanwhile, Vitran sees the opportunity to leverage existing relationships into legacy markets while at the same time maximizing the benefits of its new operating system. As a result, the company is targeting significant revenue growth -aiming for 2010 revenue of $1B (from $671M in 2007).