Business View - January 2015 91
are and they don’t mind paying a little more, but they
expect a higher level of service.” Meanwhile, merchan-
dise like furniture, soft drinks, building products and
appliances – freight that other carriers consider dif-
ficult, and often decide not to handle at all – has be-
come a Church go-to.
“We want to take on those, because that’s where the
higher revenue is and that’s where the higher poten-
tial for profits is,” Church said. “It is a niche business.
I don’t think there are a whole lot of options who can
babysit it the way we do or give it the attention.”
Additionally, the company’s substantial investment in
technology – independent satellite tracking on every
truck and trailer, and electronic on-board recording de-
vices in every truck – has made it both more attractive
to customers with sensitive shipments, and less under
the thumb of the federal and state regulators who are
cracking down more heavily on companies in violation
of drive-time rules.
Sweeney said this April will mark four consecutive
years in which the company has maintained 100 per-
cent compliance with the various requirements for on-
board electronic logs.
“We’re able to walk into our customers with confidence
and tell them, ‘We are a safe organization,’” he said.
“We also walk in and explain to them, ‘Hey, don’t ask
us to do 1,000 miles between 5 in the evening and 9
tomorrow morning. It’s not possible legally and we just
make sure they understand our role. What does that
give them? It gives them the confidence that they can
go to bed tonight and know that my driver is not going
to be overtired. He’s not going to drive into a busload
of nuns carrying orphans. He’s going to get that prod-
uct there safely and on time and we give them a real-
istic ETA. That’s huge in this litigious society. Liability is
not just housed with the trucking company now.”
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Church Transportation & Logistics Inc.
WHAT:
Asset-based transportation provider of
services that include full truckload, multi-stop
truckload, dedicated transportation, cross-dock/
warehousing, expedited, logistics management
and consulting
WHERE:
Corporateheadquarters inBirmingham, Ala.
WEBSITE
:
LOGISTICS
