TRUCKING COMPANIES POOL WEB RESOURCES

TRUCKING COMPANIES POOL WEB RESOURCES    Six U.S. trucking companies said Tuesday they would merge their logistics businesses into a joint Internet-based venture, to be called Transplace.com.
   Participants are Covenant Transport, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, M.S. Carriers Inc., Swift Transportation Co., U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. and Werner Enterprises, Inc. Their combined logistics revenues totaled $650 million last year.
   Transplace.com, to be based in Dallas, will be “a one-stop supermarket for transportation solutions,” the companies said.
   “The venture will also function as a clearinghouse, or an exchange, providing more liquidity of capacity, especially that of small carriers, increasing total available capacity to the shipping public,” they said.
   Jun-Sheng Li, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Transplace.com, and president of J.B. Hunt Logistics, said the companies would develop programs through Transplace.com for cooperative purchasing of products, supplies, and services.