It’s not all bad news at Van Buren-based USA Truck.
Alcoa has announced that USA Truck is the Tier 1 2012 Carrier of the Year for providing “outstanding dry van service in North America.” It was the first time USA Truck has received the award from Alcoa.
“The core carrier awards represent a successful partnership that has been developed with our top transportation providers in North America. The carriers we are recognizing have best met the criteria established to insure the needs of Alcoa facilities,” Tim Reyes, president of Alcoa Materials Management, said in a statement.
The other Tier 1 van core carriers for Alcoa are Celadon Trucking Services, Covenant Transport, and Swift Transportation Corporation.
Ed Hamorsky, director of Logistics and Transportation added, “This program continues to drive more intimate business alignment and trust between Alcoa and the core carriers that serve our plants. We continue to put a lot of focus on deploying effective sourcing and execution strategies to reduce our transportation spend. Many of the successes we have realized the past few years are linked to creative solutions offered by our core carriers.”
The Alcoa award is welcome news for a troubled trucking company. Full-year financials for USA Truck released Jan. 31 showed a $17.54 million loss for 2012, marking four consecutive years of losses. USA Truck was forced in August 2012 to obtain a new line of credit during the third quarter of 2012 after violating covenant agreements with the previous credit arrangement.
On Feb. 18, the company announced a management change.