Making it in a Slow Economy

I teach in my school and write about in this blog finding a niche in this industry is critical. Here’s an article sent to me by Jeff Achcraft of Exel Transportation that tells the story of guys who have not felt the much publicized slow trucking economy:

Cool Capacity, Staying Hot

Nicholas Civello has hardly noticed the trucking economy in the Midwest is decidedly worse than it was a couple of years ago.

It's not that the president of St. Louis-based LTI Trucking Services doesn't understand the sharp downturn in the automotive and housing sectors has struck like an arrow through the heart of the region's dry van carriers.

It's because Civello, whose 300 refrigerated trailers help keep the nation's grocery store shelves stocked with hot dogs, bread and ice cream, is spending too much time tending to customers such as Unilever, Conagra and Sara Lee to worry about descriptions of retrenchment and forecasts of recession.

"You read in all the publications that total freight tonnage is down," Civello said. "We haven't seen a decrease. Part of that is new business, but if I look at our current customer base, we haven't seen a decline there either. Regardless of the economy, everyone's still going to eat and drink."

(to be continued tomorrow)

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach
www.brooketraining.com