CCJ Innovators profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact CCJ Editor Jeff Crissey at [email protected] or 800-633-5953.
Cedar Rapids Steel Haulers opened its doors in 1955 hauling metals from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Chicago. Eight years later, the growing company topped the $1 million annual revenue mark and began diversifying into the general freight and refrigerated markets.
By 1980, CRST eclipsed $50 million in revenue. Immediately after the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 deregulated the trucking industry, CRST acquired Three “I” Truck Line (now CRST Dedicated Services) – an acquisition 17 years in the making – and Malone Freight Lines (now CRST Malone), augmenting the company’s flatbed, less-than-truckload and dedicated options.
Those two acquisitions, along with the original CRST (now CRST Expedited), would propel the company to become CRST International, one of the largest privately held transportation companies in North America and currently No. 17 in CCJ’s Top 250 annual ranking of for-hire carriers.
In the last seven years, CRST International has been in acquisition mode again, purchasing Specialized Transportation Inc., BESL Transport, Pegasus Transportation and Gardner Trucking to enhance its final-mile, overdimensional, temperature-sensitive, specialized and dedicated capabilities.
As a large transportation provider with a highly diversified mix, CRST International has been served well by its decision to have its subsidiaries maintain separate identities and operating structures.
CRST’s seven trucking operations offer a wide array of driver jobs. In addition to the student group run through CRST Expedited, CRST’s asset-heavy division (Pegasus, Dedicated Services and Gardner Trucking) is comprised primarily of solo and team company driver positions, while lease-purchase and owner-operator positions are available in its asset-light division (Malone, STI and BESL).
