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Daseke Continues North American Expansion with Latest Merger

The Steelman Companies, which specializes in flatbed and heavy-haul freight, has joined the Daseke family of companies. Photo: Daseke

Daseke has announced a merger with The Steelman Companies, the third such deal in the past two months, continuing the company's North American expansion.

The Steelman Companies is a diverse specialized transportation company that operates throughout the Midwest offering flatbed and heavy-haul service as well as specializing in transporting roll-on powersports, industrial warehousing, and 10-wheel drive-away services.

“A key objective of our decision to go public in February was to enhance our ability to build North America's premier flatbed and specialized transportation company,” said Don Daseke, president and CEO of Daseke. “We are the largest owner of equipment with over 3,600 trucks and over 7,500 flatbed and specialized trailers, yet Daseke still accounts for less than one percent of our $133 billion market segment. We have now completed three mergers in just over two months and we're proud to be executing as promised.”

In May, Daseke announced mergers with The Schilli Companies and Big Freight Systems, growing its presence in the open deck equipment market.

“An important aspect of the Daseke philosophy is not just consolidating companies and purchasing equipment but investing in people,” said Daseke. “We're seeking companies that share our values about people and running a top-tier operation. The Steelman Companies have a terrific reputation and will bring their expertise to our family as we build Daseke together.”

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Part of the Problem? Or Part of the Solution?

USA Today says major retailers “benefited from California port trucking companies that forced their drivers into debt, made them work up to 20 hours a day and sometimes paid them pennies per hour.” Photo: U.S. Dept. of Transportation

I didn't mean to – but I ended up ignoring the news over the long, four-day, July 4th weekend. Which was nice. For a lot of reasons. But anyway, this little gem right here was the first story to catch my eye this morning while perusing my IPad and waiting for the Red Bull to kick in. (I don't do coffee.)

Now, there's a lot going on in this piece, which is essentially USA Today's Part II look at alleged unfair labor practices in trucking today. And I'm not going to focus on the labor issue here – although after 30-plus years in the workforce, trust me when I tell you I have very definite, and strong opinions about the relationship between labor and business owners today, “trickle-down” economics, and wealth/income inequality today.

Maybe we'll get into that some other time.

For me, the more immediate takeaway from this story is a new reality that some retailers don't seem to grasp yet. And that leads directly to a lesson that smart fleet managers will take to heart: If you're a retailer – particularly a “retail giant” – it matters more than ever which companies you partner with to serve your customers.

Let's put it this way: If you're a holistic retailer marketing goods to urban customers with a New Age, sustainable vibe, you cannot afford to have even a hint of slave labor anywhere in your business chain – from the Chinese companies making the goods you sell to the trucking fleets hauling your products to your customers' doorsteps. And it doesn't matter how many YouTube ...Read the rest of this story

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Turnover Increases; Still Historically Low

The turnover rate at U.S. truckload fleets increased during the first three months of 2017 while remaining at historically low levels, according to the American Trucking Associations.

In the first quarter of 2017, the annualized turnover rate at large truckload fleets, defined as those with revenues greater than $30 million, rose three percentage points to 74%. Despite the increase, turnover is still at a very low level and is 15 percentage points lower than at the same time last year.

“The slight uptick in turnover, despite weak freight volumes in the first quarter, may be indicative of a tightening in the driver market,” said Bob Costello, ATA chief economist. “The situation bears watching because if the freight economy picks up significantly, turnover will surely accelerate – as will concerns about the driver shortage.”

At small truckload fleets, turnover increased two points to 66%, 22 points lower than it was a year ago. The turnover rate at less-than-truckload carriers is typically very low and has increased two points to 10% in the first quarter.

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