XPO to retain Con-way Truckload

After rejecting final bids from three trucking companies, XPO Logistics Inc. has decided to keep the full truckload shipping arm of Con-way Inc., according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.    XPO Logistics Inc. has decided to keep the full truckload shipping arm of recently acquired Con-way Inc., according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
   XPO CEO Brad Jacobs told WSJ in an interview the company received final bids for Con-way Truckload from three trucking companies last week, but chose to retain the business instead. That business had been for sale since the middle of 2015, following XPO’s $3 billion acquisition of Con-way Inc.
   Prior to its purchase of Con-way, primarily a less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier, XPO had previously operated as an asset-light third-party logistics provider and freight brokerage. The deal also included Con-way’s 3PL subsidiary, Menlo Logistics.
   “We went through the process, we compared the offers we got with what we think we could do with it…and I think we can improve it by integrating it and bringing it lots of new customers from our other service lines,” said Jacobs.
   In the past two weeks, XPO has cut 190 employees from its LTL division, as well as former Menlo Logistics President Robert Bianco and Chief Operating Officer Gary Kowalski, as part of its previously announced cost cutting plan to eliminate redundancy following the Con-way acquisition. The company also shuttered seven Con-way truck terminals in what it said were “remote” locations that could be better served by larger facilities in those areas.
   Meanwhile, news broke last week that XPO is suing LTL rival YRC Freight for allegedly stealing two top Con-way executives along with corporate trade secrets related to information technology, customer pricing and strategy. YRC responded on Monday by publicly dismissing the lawsuit as “meritless allegations by a competitor that has chosen to invoke the legal process in an attempt to thwart the progress being made by YRC Freight in service to its customers.”