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November 17, 1999 1:54 PM, EST

Jevic Transportation is proving that it pays to be different. Just ask its new owner, Yellow Corp., which doled out $200 million for the family-run business in August.

	Michael James - Transport Topics
	Skip Harley (left), who supervises local dispatches, schedules the next day’s runs from Jevic’s base in New Jersey.

New Jersey-based Jevic owes much of its success to the way it combines elements of the truckload and less-than-truckload operating models to provide what it calls a rapid, “breakbulk-free” LTL service. To separate itself from the pack, the carrier, from its start, set out to reduce the number of cross-docking steps traditionally found in LTL operations.

However, Jevic discovered that running out in front means you encounter more resistance. It also can jeopardize your independence. The Muhlschlegel family, which owned the company since its formation in 1977, took it public in 1997, but Wall Street was not particularly sympathetic to its uniqueness. Ultimately, Jevic’s need for more capital and its longing to adopt the latest technology, which it could not afford, propelled the company into the resource-rich arms of Yellow Corp.

But everyone involved says Jevic’s originality is not at risk.

For the full story, see the Nov. 15 print edition of Transport Topics. .