2014 Best Fleets To Drive For Announced

Drumroll, please!  The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and CarriersEdge have announced the 2014 Best Fleets To Driver For.

This year marks the 6th year for the survey and contest, with helps to identify carriers that provided the “best workplace experience for their drivers.”

 This year’s winners are as follows:

• Bison Transport, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Brian Kurtz Trucking Ltd., Breslau, Ontario
• Central Oregon Trucking Company, Inc., Redmond, Oregon
• DJ Knoll Transport Ltd., Emerald Park, Saskatchewan
• Fremont Contract Carriers, Inc., Fremont, Nebraska
• FTC Transportation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Gordon Trucking, Inc., Pacific, Washington
• Grammer Industries, Inc., Grammer, Indiana
• Grand Island Express, Grand Island, Nebraska
• Halvor Lines, Inc., Superior, Wisconsin
• Kriska Holdings Ltd., Prescott, Ontario
• Landstar System, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida
• Load One, LLC, Taylor, Michigan
• Motor Carrier Service, Inc., Northwood, Ohio
• Paramount Freight Systems, LLC, Ft. Myers, Florida
• Prime Inc., Springfield, Missouri
• Sue Vinje Trucking, Superior, Wisconsin
• TimeLine Logistic International Ltd., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
• Transpro Freight Systems, Ltd., Milton, Ontario
• Trimac Transportation, Calgary, Alberta

In addition, five companies have been identified as “Fleets to Watch” (honorable mentions) for demonstrating innovation in their driver programs:

• Drive Logistics, Windsor, Ontario
• Erb Group of Companies, New Hamburg, Ontario
• Roehl Transport Inc., Marshfield, Wisconsin
• Steelman Transportation, Inc., Springfield, Missouri
• Tennant Truck Lines, Inc., Colona, Illinois

Nominations began last fall when company drivers and O/Os were asked to nominate their carrier.  After going through all the nominations, CarriersEdge interviewed the carrier’s human resource representatives and executives about their corporate direction, policy and program.

In addition, drivers were also surveyed.  They were asked to provided feedback and their feedback was then compared to responses given from management.

  Nominated fleets were evaluated against a scoring matrix covering a variety of categories, such as:

• Total compensation package – including base pay, bonuses, vacation, and sick day allotment
• Health benefits
• Pension plans
• Professional development opportunities (training, coaching programs, etc.)
• Career path/advancement opportunities
• Commitment to employee personal growth, including work/life balance, driver family support, and employee-directed charitable contributions
• Commitment to continuous improvement, including dispute resolution processes and inclusion of driver feedback in policymaking
• Team building and driver community development activities
• Annual driver turnover rate
• Fleet safety record

Mark Murrell, president of CarriersEdge, said: “The biggest trend we saw this year was a shift to mobile technology. Most companies are using smartphones and tablets to deliver information to their drivers, and some are even developing their own custom mobile apps.”

The winners represent a wide range of fleet sizes and business focus areas. The smallest fleet has 25 drivers, while the largest has more than 8,500. Chris Burruss, president of TCA, said, “Each year, I am more and more amazed at the innovative programs these fleets are implementing, regardless of their size. And several of the Best Fleet winners are also in contention for TCA’s National Fleet Safety Awards, so clearly these are not just nice places to work—they’re also safe!”

The next phase of the contest will be to announce the highest scoring fleets from each of two categories: Best Overall Fleet for Owner Operators, sponsored by Marsh, Inc., of New York, New York, and Best Overall Fleet for Company Drivers, sponsored by Bose Ride of Framingham, Massachusetts. The names will be announced at the March 25 awards ceremony during TCA’s Annual Convention at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. Between Monday, March 17, and Friday, March 21, clues about the winners’ identities will be posted with the hashtag #BestFleets14 to TCA’s Twitter account (http://www.truckload.org/Twitter) and Facebook page (http://www.truckload.org/Facebook).

For more details about Best Fleets to Drive For, visit http://www.BestFleetsToDriveFor.com.

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TCA is the only national trade association whose collective sole focus is the truckload segment of the motor carrier industry. The association represents dry van, refrigerated, flatbed, and intermodal container carriers operating in the 48 contiguous states, as well as Alaska, Mexico, and Canada. Representing operators of more than 200,000 trucks, which collectively produce annual revenue of more than $20 billion, TCA is an organization tailored to specific truckload carrier needs.

CarriersEdge is the leading provider of online driver quality improvement solutions. Comprised of online testing, training and reporting tools, along with expert business analysis and consulting services, CarriersEdge allows trucking companies to improve business performance by improving driver quality, and do so without the compromises required by traditional alternatives.