Estes Express Lines Celebrates 85 Years of Progress
RICHMOND, VA… Estes Express Lines, the largest privately held, less-than-truckload carrier in the nation, celebrated its 85th anniversary in August.
Estes founder W.W. Estes started the company during the Great Depression with one truck, no driver’s seat and the courage to seize an opportunity to help local farmers transport their produce to market. His legacy of fiscal conservatism, hard work and exceptional customer service is one that W.W.’s son and grandchildren have honored to build Estes into a full-service, coast-to-coast, North American freight transportation provider.
Today, the company employs more than 16,000 people across all of its operating entities, divisions and affiliates in the U.S. and maintains a fleet of more than 32,500 tractors and trailers.
In addition to its comprehensive network and longevity in a competitive and challenging business, Estes is also notable for having third and fourth generations leading the company. In family-owned companies such as Estes, it is a rare achievement for the founding lineage to remain involved past the first two generations. In fact, less than 15% last to the third generation, and fewer than 2% make it to the fourth.1
At the helm are President and CEO Rob Estes and Executive Vice President and COO Billy Hupp, both third generation leaders. Five other family members are also part of the company’s leadership team, representing third and fourth generations.
Both Estes and Hupp attribute the company’s continued success to a commitment to core values and a continued focus on innovation and fleet investments.
“We firmly believe that the bonds of family make for a strong and lasting foundation for success,” said Estes. He also pointed out that, “Being able to achieve fourth-generation participation comes from having a much larger team of dedicated Estes employees who are unwavering in their commitment to provide the best customer experience possible.”
Innovation and fleet investments are additional building blocks for the enduring success of the company.
"By the end of 2016, nearly 55 percent of our more than 7,000-unit tractor fleet will be three years old or less," says Estes. "Our equipment is more reliable, more up-to-date and more technologically advanced, and our customers are the direct beneficiaries of this younger fleet."
Hupp adds, "Our tractors and trailers include state-of-the-art safety features such as electronic stability control and forward collision avoidance alerts—both of which are making a difference on our nation’s highways. We’ve also added many features that help secure the freight and prevent damage, such as our Webb Walls, which allow us to brace freight more precisely and prevent load shifting."
Further investments in Estes' fleet and facilities in recent years, such as solar-powered terminals, new tractor fairings, trailer skirts and strong driver efforts to reduce idle time and shift progressively are helping to reduce the company's carbon footprint.
Today, with more than $2.39 billion in annual revenue, Estes offers direct coverage in all 50 states including offshore coverage to Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In addition, Estes customers have easy solutions for Canada, Mexico and through Estes Forwarding Worldwide, virtually anywhere in the world.
“Estes continues to grow purposefully, while maintaining the fiscal responsibility that has served our company so well over the past 85 years," says Estes. "The focus remains on providing superior customer service."
To learn more about Estes’ past, present and future, visit www.estes-express.com and click the History tab under “About Us” to view a multimedia presentation of historical truck photographs and a history video as well as articles that chronicle the company’s 85 years of service.