FreightWaves Haul of Fame: WTI Transport offers key flatbed services… and unique employee services as well

WTI Transport was founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1989 as Wellborn Transport Company by Stephen Rumsey and Miller Wellborn. The company began with a fleet of 12 trucks driven by owner-operators, as well as a card table and a ledger to keep track of financial transactions. Now, under the name WTI Transport, the company is one of the largest and most successful flatbed haulers in the Southeast.

Acquired by Boyd Brothers Transportation

In December 1997, Boyd Brothers Transportation acquired Wellborn Transport Company. At the time, Wellborn operated approximately 330 tractors from terminals in Birmingham, Decatur and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Memphis, Tennessee, and Columbia, South Carolina. Revenues that year were reported at more than $30 million. Wellborn operated as a stand-alone subsidiary of Boyd Brothers for several years. Shortly after it was acquired, the Wellborn name was changed to WTI. 

Becoming part of Daseke family of companies

In November 2013, Daseke, Inc. acquired Boyd Brothers Transportation, and WTI therefore became part of the Daeske family of companies. Daseke is the leading consolidator and largest flatbed and specialized transportation company in North America. 

Daseke offers comprehensive services to many of the world’s most respected industrial shippers. Taken together, its companies comprise a fleet of approximately 6,000 tractors and 13,000 flatbed and specialized trailers. The Daseke companies also have a million-plus square feet of industrial warehousing space.

WTI in 2021

Today, WTI Transport is a 100% open-deck/specialized carrier that primarily services the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and East Coast. WTI operates a late-model conventional fleet of tractors and trailers that provide dedicated, regional short-haul and long-haul transportation services. The shipments the company hauls consist mainly of roofing, building materials, and all types of aluminum, iron and steel products. WTI’s  flatbed operations utilize both company drivers and owner-operators. It has terminals in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Mobile, Alabama, as well as in Nashville. It also has an additional transport yard in Whites Creek, Tennessee.

WTI Transport is a member of the American Trucking Associations, Truckload Carriers Association and the Alabama Trucking Association. WTI has been recognized for exceptional service as well as a commitment to safety and sustainability.

Chaplain services

Almost all companies of any type make the point that their most valuable assets are their employees. WTI Transport is no different… On the company’s website you will find this quote: “Our most valuable asset is our people, and we seek to provide benefits that extend beyond a paycheck.” 

However, WTI Transport offers a fairly unique benefit to its employees – the Chaplain Assistance Program (CAP), which is provided through Corporate Chaplains of America (CCA). As explained on the website, “While the benefits of hospital or military chaplains are fairly well-known, few people are aware of the extremely positive impact chaplains are having in the workplace.”

Specializing in helping employees of the companies it works with through personal or family  difficulties, as well as crises of any sort, CCA assistance is available 24/7/365. A CCA chaplain visits company workplaces once a week, and assistance/counseling is confidential.

The WTI chaplain is primarily based at the company’s Birmingham terminal. The website states, “However, he is only a phone call away for any of our drivers, non-drivers or their families. One of the great benefits of Corporate Chaplains is their availability, 24/7, backed up by a commitment to return your phone call within 15 minutes, day or night.”

The following is also found on the WTI Transport website: One industry leader remarked, “Over the last six years our chaplains at the various terminals have assisted our employees through crisis after crisis. The chaplaincy program has exceeded all of my original expectations.” 

The company also has the WTI Prayer Network, an employee initiative to connect WTI Transport employees and their family members “who believe in the power of prayer.”