Expert discusses less-than-truckload shipping

(NewsNation) — Less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping is the transportation of an amount of freight sized somewhere between individual parcels and full truckloads.

LTL is one of the primary business units for XPO Logistics headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Mario Harik, CIO and president of XPO Logistics LTL Division, a leading provider of freight transportation services, discussed the process during an appearance on “Morning in America”.

“Less-than-truckload shipping means that whenever as a shipper you don’t have enough freight to fill a full trailer of goods, you move your freight with a less-than-truckload carrier,” he said. “This is where we will pick up certain pallets of freight or smaller shipments and we consolidate them in our locations.”

The company’s global network serves 50,000 shippers with “roughly 290 locations across the country” and approximately 40,000 employees.

“We consolidate your freight with other customers’ freight, get it to a destination and do a local delivery,” he said.

According to Harik, the company employs more than 12,000 drivers.

“It’s all about drivers,” he said. “Drivers move goods for customers.”

Harik took a moment during the interview to thank truck drivers across the country from all carriers.

“Because these folks have kept the economy moving,” he said. “Everything from what we eat to what we wear to the chair we sit on, all came on a truck.”

Last year, trucking companies in the United States suffered a record deficit of drivers, according to the American Trucking Association

Harik touts competitive benefits as a way his company is countering the shortage of drivers in the industry.

“When it comes to benefits and the benefits we offer our drivers,” he said. “Each one of our drivers get to sleep home every single day. So they get to go back and spend time with their family and loved ones as opposed to being on the road for days at a time. And we also offer competitive pay.”

According to Harik, many of XPO’s drivers earn more than six figures in compensation.

“In the Chicago area where you visited many of our drivers are typically on base income alone, north of $83,000 a year in terms of overall compensation,” he said. “And also a lot of great benefits that are very competitive in the industry as a whole.”

XPO Logistics also operates its own driver schools.

“We have more than 130 locations where we run driver schools,” Harik said. “And we recruit folks who want to get into the industry to be able to earn their CDL license with us and be able to move freight for next year.”

Harik says being a truck driver is a pretty tough job.

“You’re on the road, constantly, you’re driving a very big rig down the road,” he said. “If you see a truck driver at the truck stop, thank them for all the work they are doing to keep our economy moving.”

But for people contemplating a career in trucking, Harik says, “It’s a great career to be in.”