Temperature-controlled less-than-truckload carrier Frozen Food Express (FFE) announced Monday that linehaul driver pay will increase significantly beginning in early January.
The Dallas-based company plans to increase pay for new linehaul solo company drivers by 25%, with some experienced drivers earning up to 60 cents per mile in base pay. Linehaul pay for the company’s team drivers will increase 20%.
“Our drivers have been resilient throughout this entire year dealing with unprecedented challenges in the transportation and shipping industries due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Vice President of Operations Nick Cook. “As market conditions have changed and the American economy has roared back to life in recent months, we are thrilled to be in the position to increase our linehaul driver pay significantly starting in only a few weeks.”
The pay increase for FFE drivers follows similar announcements in recent weeks. FFE’s sister company, temperature-controlled truckload carrier KLLM Transport Services, announced one of the biggest pay hikes in its history in early December.
Other fleets have raised pay recently as industry capacity has suffered from a decline in new CDL drivers this year amid COVID concerns as well as the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse placing some drivers on the sidelines.
Last week, C.R. England announced a pay increase up to 25% and Covenant (NASDAQ: CVLG) implemented the largest pay increase in its 34-year history. Stevens Transport raised pay as much as 14% in November, with Heartland Express taking comp up as much as 12% (NASDAQ: HTLD) the same month. Schneider National (NYSE: SNDR) was one of the first carriers to implement a pay increase, bumping team pay higher in September.
FFE was taken private in 2013 by Duff Capital Investors, and its TL division merged with another Duff portfolio company, KLLM, the same year. In addition to refrigerated transportation, FFE provides cold storage and break bulk services through 17 facilities across the U.S. Combined, FFE and KLLM are the largest temperature-controlled carrier in the country.
“Truck drivers across the country have been the unsung heroes of 2020, and we are very proud of our drivers at Frozen Food Express,” concluded Cook.
