I had the opportunity to visit with Cathy Mattan with XPO Express (formerly Express-1) to discuss their history, recent transitions and rebranding.
Q. Tell us about yourself. How long have you been with XPO Express?
A. I recently joined XPO Express in November 2013, I have 18+ years’ experience in the recruiting industry.
Q. Give us a little history about XPO Express.
A. Founded in 1989, XPO Express has grown from a privately owned owner/operator business to a publicly traded international expedited freight shipping provider. Servicing the U.S., Canada and Mexico, XPO Express offers Ground Expedited, Air Charter Expedited, BEST International Expedited and Select Services, providing high-value and time-critical shipments.
Q. With that long history in this industry, what are some of the biggest changes (or challenges) you’ve seen in recent years?
A. Fleet Owner Growth has increased significantly. What was formally a one-to-one relationship has morphed into a one-to-many model where a fleet owner is bring a significant amount of the capacity to market. More stringent regulatory environment has reduced the number of drivers in the the market creating capacity issues within an already constricted transportation industry.
Q. XPO Express is now part of the larger XPO Company; can you tell us more about this larger company?
A. XPO is a performance-driven supply chain partner to more than 14,000 diverse companies in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Q. With your diverse fleet, what kind of drivers and equipment is XPO Express wanting to partner with?
A. We are an expedite carrier, we like team drivers. We need to add trucks we have more freight then we can haul right now.
Q. Driver retention is very difficult in 2014. What kind of efforts is XPO Express to improve driver retention?
A. If you treat people with respect they will stay with you.
Q. Why do owner operators and drivers want to be part of XPO Express?
A. We value each driver and OO. We know drivers / OO have a very difficult job and we recognize that. We show our drivers/ OO they are a very valuable asset to our company.
Q. We are into the 3rd Quarter of 2014. What kind of freight volumes do you expect for the remainder of the year.
A. July has been a slower month historically. People in all industries take more vacations in July that any other month, not to mention the manufacturing industry generally uses the month of July to re-tool and qualify machines. In August and September we will see these facilities coming back into production mode and expedites will increase significantly.
Q. Can you recall any recent situations where an XPO Express driver “saved the day” for your customer?
A. Our drivers “Save the day” for our customers EVERY DAY! We are an ambulatory industry and our customers rely, daily, on our great professional drivers. It is a tough job and we have the BEST drivers in the industry.
Q. What’s on the horizon for XPO Express?
A. A significant item on the horizon is our Name change. We are proud to be part of XPO Logistics and want to reflect this in our name. Capacity increase requirements are driven by our relationship with our other XPO sister companies.
Q. Anything else you’d like our readers to know?
A. We value each and every driver/ OO in our fleet. You are not a truck number with XPO Express, you are a person and we treat everyone as such.
For more information, call XPO Express at 888.327.1194
