Home Trucking Articles Starting a Small Trucking Company: The Story of PAM Transport

The Story of PAM Transport

The story of PAM Transport is one that demonstrates the importance of making wise business decisions, waiting for the right place and the right time, and persevering. Paul Allen Maestri, the founder of this thriving company, chose the right time to start a trucking company. This decision has yielded huge benefits for decades.

Learn more about PAM Transport and how it became such a huge success story for small trucking companies.

The Early Days of PAM Transport

In 1980, regulations that had held the trucking industry back for decades finally started to fall apart. The Motor Carrier Act Of 1980 lifted many of the significant restrictions that had been placed on this industry.

1980 is also the year in which PAM Transport was founded. This decision alone gave PAM Transport a boost in its early years, since its founders could immediately take advantage of the newly deregulated industry.

Another factor that played into the company’s early success was its location. Located in the Ozark Mountains region of Arkansas, PAM Transport was perfectly positioned to quickly and efficiently serve customers all over the country. By getting started in the Midwest, this company could start building a customer base right away and then focus on outward expansion.

Factors in Growth

Company executives and industry experts have extensively explored the factors that have made PAM Transport one of the biggest motor carriers in the United States. A company executive notes that PAM Transport has always excelled in expanding its customer base, which has also strengthened their reputation, earned them referrals, and provided them with the connections they needed to grow.

Industries

Some small truck companies do very well when working with customers across a variety of industries, but more often than not, you’ll find that companies that experience steady growth do so because they limit their focus. PAM Transport gets the vast majority of its business from the automotive industry, where its drivers transport parts, finished vehicles, and tools. It does have a presence in retail and manufacturing, but many in the industry know PAM Transport for its automotive work.

International Connections

As PAM Transport spread across the United States, executives saw an opportunity to build connections with Canada and Mexico. PAM Transport now has a facility on the Mexican border at Laredo and El Paso, Texas. It also serves companies in the southern parts of Ontario and Quebec (PAM Transport, 2016).

Beliefs and Corporate Culture

Nowadays, PAM Transport has over 1700 trucks and more than 4000 trailers on American roads. There are two main groups of people that company owners have to keep happy to achieve and maintain growth: customers and truck drivers.

The slogan of PAM Transport is “Our service makes the difference.” With this slogan, Paul Allen Maestri had a clearly defined goal when starting a small trucking company. Paul Allen Maestri wanted to exceed expectations at every step of the shipping process, but he didn’t stop there. He also wanted customers to walk away from each transaction feeling like they had been taken care of. This philosophy led PAM Transport to boost profits 97% in the first half of 2015 (Talk Business, 2016).

One area in which small fleet trucking companies may drop the ball is driver relations. It does you no good to have tons of customers and no truck drivers to deliver their hauls. The current CEO of PAM Transport notes that this industry has slowed down in recent years, due in large part to the national truck driving shortage. He says that he believes PAM Transport has an advantage in this area, due to their focus on driver recruitment and retention. PAM Transport drivers may find that this organization beats the competition in areas like driver pay, home time, availability of miles, and truck upgrades.

When you work on starting a small trucking business, taking care of your drivers should be one of your main priorities.

Service Products

Throughout this company’s history, executives have always strived to provide customers with the services that they need. As a result, PAM Transport has features like just-in-time delivery, dedicated service, trucking team availability, web tracking, and satellite communications.

PAM Transport has weathered many changes in the truck driving industry, and because of their ability to adapt to change, they are still successful today. If your goals include starting a small trucking company, there is plenty to learn from PAM Transport.