Caliber System Inc., known until 1996 as Roadway Services Inc., was a transportation holding company based in
Akron, Ohio
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...
. During its history, Caliber owned a number of logistics companies including
Roadway Express
Roadway Express, Inc. was an American trucking less than truckload (LTL) trucking company. Roadway Express and its holding company, Roadway Corporation, were acquired by logistics holding company Yellow Corporation in 2003 and the parent companie ...
, Viking Freight, and Roadway Package System (RPS) among others. Roadway Express was spun off in 1995 and Caliber was acquired by
FedEx
FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...
in 1998 with subsidiaries becoming
FedEx Ground
FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of the FedEx Corporation, is an American ground package delivery company headquartered in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The company began as Roadway Package System (RPS), founded in 1985 by t ...
, FedEx Freight, FedEx Custom Critical, and FedEx Global Logistics.
History
Foundation and diversification
![Roadway truck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Roadway_truck.jpg)
Roadway Services Inc. (RSI) was created in 1982
as a holding company by national
less than truckload
Less-than-truckload shipping or less than load (LTL) is the transportation of an amount of freight sized between individual parcels and full truckloads. Parcel carriers handle small packages and freight that can be broken down into units less t ...
(LTL) carrier
Roadway Express
Roadway Express, Inc. was an American trucking less than truckload (LTL) trucking company. Roadway Express and its holding company, Roadway Corporation, were acquired by logistics holding company Yellow Corporation in 2003 and the parent companie ...
. Roadway Express was initially RSI's only subsidiary but in 1984 the company acquired short-haul carrier Spartan Express Inc., then specialized truckload carrier Nationwide Carriers Inc., and finally in 1984, it purchased Roberts Express, a same-day critical trucking company, from
Emery Air Freight.
![RPS Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/RPS_Logo.jpg)
With both truckload and LTL services available via its subsidiaries, in 1985 RSI founded a package delivery service, Roadway Package System (RPS) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. RPS was intended to out-compete the package delivery services of
UPS
UPS or ups may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* United Parcel Service, an American shipping company
** The UPS Store, UPS subsidiary
** UPS Airlines, UPS subsidiary
* Underground Press Syndicate, later ''Alternative Press Syndicate'' or ...
by structuring itself for lower costs.
By 1988, RPS covered 70% of the US from 130 terminals.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s RSI experienced both expansion and contraction as it acquired the largest western US regional carrier, Viking Freight, but closed the unprofitable Nationwide Carriers in 1989. In 1990, Viking subsidiary VFS Transportation was closed and Spartan was absorbed into Viking, operating as a subsidiary. At the same time Roadway Express continued its expansion with services to Europe in 1991 and a number of Pacific Rim ports soon after.
Also in 1991, RSI replaced
Pan Am Corp. on the
Dow Jones Transportation Average The Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA, also called the "Dow Jones Transports") is a U.S. stock market index from S&P Dow Jones Indices of the transportation sector, and is the most widely recognized gauge of the American transportation sector. ...
.
At the time, RSI was the third-largest motor freight carrier in the US.
![Boeing 727-251(F), Roadway Global Air AN0207899](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Boeing_727-251%28F%29%2C_Roadway_Global_Air_AN0207899.jpg)
In 1993, RSI acquired Southwest regional LTL carrier
Central Freight Lines
Central Freight Lines Inc. (CFL) is an American regional less-than-truckload (LTL) company headquartered in Waco, Texas and serving the Southeastern and Southwestern United States. For much of its history it was the largest and longest tenured f ...
which it placed in its Roadway Regional Group along with Viking in the West, Viking subsidiary Spartan in the central and southern US, and Cole's Express in New England.
RSI also expanded into air freight with its 1993 founding of Roadway Global Air (RGA) based in Indianapolis.
Roadway Express spinoff
While RSI's smaller regional carriers were all non-union, Roadway Express was unionized
and in April 1994 it was impacted by a nationwide strike of the
Teamsters Union
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the un ...
. The strike was the result of a breakdown in negotiations between the Teamsters and Trucking Management Inc., a negotiating group which represented 23 large trucking companies including Roadway Express,
Consolidated Freightways
Consolidated Freightways (CF) was an American multinational less-than-truckload (LTL) freight service and logistics company founded on April 1, 1929, in Portland, Oregon, and later relocated to Vancouver, Washington. Affectionately known as "Cor ...
, and
Yellow Freight
Yellow Corporation is an American transportation holding company headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. Its subsidiaries include national Less than truckload shipping, less than truckload (LTL) carrier YRC Freight, regional LTL carriers New Pen ...
. In the end, the strike lasted 24 days
and, according to the RSI, resulted in losses of for the quarter at Roadway Express.
The strike at Roadway Express highlighted the division's profitability imbalance when compared to RSI's non-union carriers. At the time, Roadway Express contributed over 40% of the parent company's annual revenue
but was less profitable than the other trucking units.
As a result, RSI announced in August 1995 that it would spin off Roadway Express as a separate, publicly traded company.
As an independent company, Roadway Express grew substantially achieving profits of in its first year.
In 2003 Roadway was acquired by Yellow Freight to form
Yellow Roadway Corporation.
Caliber System
![Boeing 727-81(F), Roadway Global Air AN0192356](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Boeing_727-81%28F%29%2C_Roadway_Global_Air_AN0192356.jpg)
In November 1995, Roadway Services announced it was changing its name to Caliber System, effective in January 1996 and would move its stock listing from the Nasdaq to the NYSE under the new symbol "CBB."
It also rebranded Roadway Logistics and Roadway Technology to Caliber Logistics and Caliber Technology, respectively.
Caliber immediately began an effort to reorganize in an attempt to decrease costs. In November it shut down RGA and sold the assets to
Burlington Air Express
BAX Global was an American international shipping company that was headquartered in Irvine, California, and had other major offices in Australia, Singapore, London, the Netherlands and Toledo, Ohio. The company was founded in 1971 also opera ...
.
Caliber said it had lost on the venture.
In December it announced it would be consolidating its remaining trucking companies, Viking (with subsidiary Spartan), Central, and Cole's into a nationwide carrier named Viking Freight Inc.
But, Caliber continued to experience significant losses.
Viking announced a wage freeze in July 1996 and in December said it would be eliminating 30 terminals and 1,500 jobs in a bid to reduce costs. Despite positive performances from RPS, Roberts, and Caliber Logistics in Q1 1997, Caliber announced in March it would be selling or closing a large portion of the eastern operations of Viking leaving it as a west coast-focused carrier.
Caliber reported Viking had seen losses of around after having been unable to bring Viking to profitability since merging its smaller, regional carriers into a nationwide offering. The cuts were expected to include 4,000 jobs and 83 terminals in the eastern, southern, and central US. These areas had been primarily served by the former Coles and Spartan subsidiaries.
In June 1997, Caliber sold the assets that had formerly comprised Central to an investment group led by former Central leadership backed by trucking magnate and
Swift Transportation co-founder
Jerry Moyes
Jerry Moyes is the Founder, and former Chairman and CEO of Phoenix-based Swift Transportation, one of the largest trucking companies in the United States. Moyes is also owner of charter airline Swift Air and FBO Swift Aviation at Phoenix Sky Harb ...
. It was re-incorporated as Central Freight Lines and continued as an independent regional LTL carrier.
Acquisition by FedEx
In January 1998, Caliber System was acquired
by the newly formed FDX Corp., now
FedEx
FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...
Corp, a company formed by
Federal Express
FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...
to serve as a holding company for its express business and its new, Caliber subsidiaries.
Following the acquisition, former Caliber subsidiary Roadway Express () took Caliber's place on the Dow Jones Transportation Average.
Fate of subsidiaries
![Yrc worldwide by cam vilay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Yrc_worldwide_by_cam_vilay.jpg)
In the years prior to its acquisition by FedEx, Caliber had already spun off, sold, or shut down several major subsidiaries:
* Nationwide Carriers, its truckload subsidiary, shut down in 1988 and its operations were absorbed by Viking
*
Roadway Express
Roadway Express, Inc. was an American trucking less than truckload (LTL) trucking company. Roadway Express and its holding company, Roadway Corporation, were acquired by logistics holding company Yellow Corporation in 2003 and the parent companie ...
was spun off as an independent, publicly traded company in 1995. It was acquired by rival Yellow Corp. in 2003 to form
Yellow Roadway Corporation.
* Roadway Global Air was shut down in 1995 and its assets were sold to
Burlington Air Express
BAX Global was an American international shipping company that was headquartered in Irvine, California, and had other major offices in Australia, Singapore, London, the Netherlands and Toledo, Ohio. The company was founded in 1971 also opera ...
.
* Spartan Express had been made a subsidiary of Viking in 1990 and was merged into Viking in 1996. Its former operations were shut down in 1997 when Viking pulled out of the southeast.
![Central Freight Lines truck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Central_Freight_Lines_truck.jpg)
*Coles Express had been merged into Viking in 1996 and its former operations were shut down in 1997 when Viking pulled out of the northeast.
*
Central Freight Lines
Central Freight Lines Inc. (CFL) is an American regional less-than-truckload (LTL) company headquartered in Waco, Texas and serving the Southeastern and Southwestern United States. For much of its history it was the largest and longest tenured f ...
former assets (Viking's central operations) were sold to former Central management in 1997 and resumed independent operations.
At the time of its acquisition by FedEx, Caliber had five major subsidiaries remaining:
![Yvfdx 1b (13388218454)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Yvfdx_1b_%2813388218454%29.jpg)
* RPS became
FedEx Ground
FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of the FedEx Corporation, is an American ground package delivery company headquartered in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The company began as Roadway Package System (RPS), founded in 1985 by t ...
in January 2000 complementing FedEx's existing Federal Express courier business.
![FedEx View](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/FedEx_View.jpg)
* Viking continued until 2002 when it was renamed FedEx Freight West, part of the new FedEx Freight brand along with
American Freightways
American Freightways Corp. (AF) was an American regional less than truckload (LTL) carrier based in Harrison, Arkansas
Harrison is a city and the county seat of Boone County, Arkansas, United States. It is named after General Marcus LaRue ...
, renamed FedEx Freight East. With the 2006 acquisition of
Watkins Motor Lines Watkins may refer to:
Boats
* Watkins Yachts, an American sailboat builder, in business from 1973-1989
** Watkins 32, an American sailboat design
** Watkins 33, an American sailboat design
Places
In the United States:
* Watkins, Colorado
* Watki ...
, all three were integrated into a single entity, FedEx Freight.
* Roberts remained focused on same-day-critical trucking services and was renamed FedEx Custom Critical in January 2000.
* Caliber Logistics and Caliber Technology were merged to form FedEx Global Logistics shortly after the acquisition.
See also
*
Trucking industry in the United States
The trucking industry serves the American economy by transporting large quantities of raw materials, works in process, and finished goods over land—typically from manufacturing plants to retail distribution centers. Trucks are also used in the ...
*
History of the trucking industry in the United States
*
Package delivery in the United States
*
FedEx Express
FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2020, it is one of the world's largest airlines in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the name ...
*
*
*
References
{{Authority control
1998 mergers and acquisitions
Companies based in Akron, Ohio
Logistics companies of the United States
Trucking companies of the United States
Transportation companies based in Ohio
1982 establishments in Ohio
American companies established in 1982
Transport companies established in 1982