ANDERSON — The economy might have adversely affected the shipping industry with fewer people buying goods, but one Anderson transportation company has found a way to help.
First Class Transport, started in November, works to match empty shipping carriers with freight that needs transported, finding work for truck drivers that might otherwise be jobless and helping those shipping goods to save money by using a carrier already headed in the right direction.
The business, started as a spin-off from Anderson company Private Fleet Backhaul, was the idea of Private Fleet workers Chasity Anderson and Lori Hawhee.
“We got a call from a carrier who said, ‘We have these trucks and we don’t know what to do with them,’” Anderson said. “I just got out there and did it and it worked very well.”
While Private Fleet matches carriers to regularly shipped freight on permanent routes, First Class Transport works with major companies like National Freight, Toys R Us and Bob Evans to use their trucks to ship one-time or sporadic loads.
“It’s much more random in nature and it’s much more fast-paced,” Hawhee said. “These load planners have to find an exact match.”
First Class Transport has found a way to make carriers profitable even in a poor economy.
“So many carriers are struggling with lower freight volumes,” Hawhee said. “This company has been created to help these carriers, and they love it. Pretty much as fast as we can offer our services to these trucking companies, they’re hiring us to find freight for them.
“It’s one of these companies that’s really taking off.”
First Class wasn’t always a sure bet, however. Anderson and Hawhee helped start the business in November 2007, but some glitches in their business plan prevented it from being successful at first. Finally, a year later, but business got off the ground.
“It’s a really unique business model,” Anderson said. “We’re kind of building from the ground up. We’re basing how we operate really on the needs of the carrier. The fact that the service is so widely needed and accepted is a help.”
The company’s general manager, Matt Cox, said his goal has been to implement the strategies used in sister company Private Fleet Backhaul in the new company, including the way employees are treated.
“Both of these companies are really good to work for,” Cox said. “It’s definitely the best employer that I’ve had in my lifetime.
“It’s especially good for Anderson, too. This is helping a lot of young people to buy homes and pay bills.”
The company now has six employees, all transfers from Private Fleet, but two new employees will start in the coming weeks. The company likely will hire again within the next six months.
Anderson said employees are evaluated to determine what job they will do best, including using tools like the Myers-Briggs personality test.
“We don’t make the people suit the job, we make the job suit the people,” she said.
All of First Class Transport’s employees are confident they will still be successful even when the economy turns around and shipping picks up again. The company also helps shipping businesses during their seasonal downtimes, Hawhee said.
Employee Joel Beardsley said marketing the company is not hard and that 90 percent of the contacted shipping companies have an interest in its services.
“All of our hopes is that this is going to explode like we think it’s going to,” he said.
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First Class Transport expects major growth
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