Pittsburgh-based regional less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier Pitt Ohio is taking steps to extend its footprint westward.
As part of The Reliance Network—a consortium of regional less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers, including Pitt Ohio, Mountain Valley Express, Peninsula Truck Lines, Averitt Express, Canadian Freightways/Kingsway Transport, Lakeville Motor Express, and Land Air Express of New England—the company announced the launch of TRNet Express, which Pitt Ohio is offering in conjunction with Mountain Valley Express, a Manteca, Calif.-based regional LTL services provider.
Pitt Ohio said TRNet Express offers 2- and 3-business day deliveries when customers ship at the end of the week, explaining that when customers ship freight on Thursday or Friday to points in California, Arizona, and Nevada.
“Based on growing freight volumes in this lane we identified an opportunity to improve our service by using scheduled team transportation across the continent,” said Pitt Ohio EVP/Chief Marketing Officer Geoff Muessig in an interview with LM.
Muessig added that for shippers will benefit from TRNet Express because of less handling and faster transit service, which is imperative for things like haz mat and high-value shipments. Prior to the launch of TRNet Express, Pitt Ohio and Mountain Valley Express only ran teams on certain days of the week for these lanes.
“Shipments picked up at the end of the week benefit from the fact that they are in transit over the weekend,” said Muessig. “A shipment picked up in NJ on Friday will deliver in CA on Tuesday. We cover 93 percent of the CA population with our TRNET Express lane service.”
Established in 2008, the objective of The Reliance Network is to create a unified cross-continent coalition for all freight services, according to officials. Since its inception, it has generated more than $1 billion in revenues, which is notable considering at the time of its launch most trucking companies were saddled with double-digit tonnage decline.
The Reliance Network basically functions as a provider of seamless, national LTL, truckload and supply chain freight services.
Instead of managing shipments with multiple carriers to service their regional, national and worldwide shipping needs, shippers can work directly with their local Reliance Network member. Through The Reliance Network, shippers have the value of a strong chain of experienced transportation specialists while continuing to work with the provider they’ve already grown to trust.