Rob Estes, President Estes Express

President's Letter

Most of you know that a break-bulk terminal is like an airline hub for LTL shipments. Freight “passengers” are dropped off at the break-bulks, where they catch a connecting “flight” (tractor-trailer) to their final destination.

At Estes, our line-haul network continues to grow to accommodate more freight “passengers.” In January, we created a new break-bulk terminal in St. Louis to handle the growing business in the heartland. St. Louis is just one city and one terminal in the middle of the country, but the need to ramp up operations there is a definite economic indicator, and I am cautiously optimistic as our economy continues to improve.

Besides being a hopeful sign of economic recovery, our increased capacity presents some very real advantages for our customers:

  1. With more capacity, we are able to route shipments more efficiently—and greater efficiency means less handling and decreased chance of damage.
  2. Customers in the St. Louis area now benefit from a very broad 1-day delivery territory. That means that shipments get to their destinations faster. In many lanes, we’ve actually cut an entire day from the transit time.
  3. There is a ripple effect throughout the rest of the network—since we have more capacity through the St. Louis break-bulk, we’re opening up capacity (and the opportunity to create greater efficiencies) in Memphis, Indianapolis and Kansas City as well.
  4. We hired new employees in the St. Louis area to staff the break-bulk, which means we’re stimulating the local economy.

Our new St. Louis functionality is just one example of how we’re working network-wide to provide you with flexible solutions and greater capacity for getting your products to their destinations safely, quickly and efficiently.

None of this would be possible if we didn’t have the continued trust and support of our customers. We understand that with increased capacity comes increased responsibility to our expanding customer base. Our goal is to maintain that trust and support by exceeding your expectations every step of the way. Again, thank you for your business, and we look forward to serving you.

Sincerely,
Rob Estes
- President and CEO
  Estes Express Lines