The express freight market is becoming more attractive to owner-operators – and vice versa – as industries continue to try and find ways to reduce shipment times and thus logistics costs.
"Over the past decade the express freight market has seen a tremendous amount of growth. And although the rates are considerably higher to expedite a shipment more and more companies find it advantageous to reduce their inventories and shift to ‘just-in-time’ delivery," Linda Yates, president of Akron, OH-based consulting firm USF Insight Inc, told Fleet Owner.
“Because of the higher rates, many owner-operators are attracted to expediting where basically they are dedicating themselves to hauling express freight,” she said.
Yates cautioned that although rates are higher the challenges are greater too.
“Expediting offers a very unique career opportunity – however, it is very challenging and requires proper training and education in order to achieve success,” she noted. “Providing an emergency delivery service can be rewarding in many ways, however the demands of this profession make it a very challenging career."
