Stoney M. 'Mit' Stubbs Jr.
The early '80s were uncertain, but not without promise.
On the truckload side, FFE managed to avoid some of the fiercest competitive wars by sticking with temperature-controlled freight.
Frozen Food Express chairman and CEO Stoney M. (Mit) Stubbs Jr. says, the Dallas-based company has never really positioned itself as a truckload carrier.
"The term truckload carrier never really came into existence until after deregulation," he notes. "Before deregulation we were a specialized carrier."
FFE's specialty has always been refrigerated trucking. The company started out in the 1940s hauling truckload temperature-controlled freight. In the 1950s it added less-than-truckload services.
Stubbs, who became president of FFE in 1978 and chairman four years later, recalls the early '80s as uncertain, but not without promise.
"We worried about somebody messing in our playhouse," he says, "but it also gave us a big opportunity to mess in everybody's else's playhouses."
It was the refrigerated LTL operation that presented the best growth prospects. "We knew it was kind of unique, so we took the opportunity to expand by purchasing several smaller LTL operations," Stubbs explains.
On the truckload side, they managed to avoid some of the fiercest competitive wars by sticking with temperature-controlled freight. "Before deregulation, most of the dry freight was hauled by the big LTL guys," Stubbs says. "So there wasn't really a dry truckload segment except for a few contract carriers."
There were a few new entrants in the refrigerated market but "the smart guys went after the dry freight," he continues. "Here was a chance for people to get in and get established. Companies like M.S. Carriers and J.B. Hunt got in on the ground floor and really made big things happen."
FEE added dry truckload services in the 1980s, which today enables it to offer any combination of refrigerated or dry truckload and LTL service throughout the U.S. and into Canada and Mexico.
If the '80s were tough, the '90s may have been even tougher. "Everybody was buying trucks like this economy had some way of growing at a 10% rate every year, and of course it doesn't," Stubbs recalls. The economy faltered, freight demand fell, the bottom fell out of the used truck market, and - especially after 9-11 - liability insurance premiums soared. "On top of that we had the ridiculous spiral in the cost of fuel," he adds.
The end result was trucking company bankruptcies in record numbers. But once again, FFE survived and thrived.
Revenues from its truckload and dedicated fleet segment have increased every year since 1999. The company's operating ratio from all freight services has improved steadily over the same period.
High fuel and insurance costs, plus the persistent driver shortage, are still major challenges, but Stubbs says the current capacity squeeze is enabling many carriers - including FFE - to implement some long-overdue rate increases. "It's been so many years since we've had increases that we're just trying to catch up," he notes.
Staying afloat in a business as tough as trucking is more than a full-time challenge for any fleet executive, but Stubbs is one of many who also gives significant time and talent to industry organizations.
The Stubbs commitment started with his father, Stoney M. Stubbs Sr., who preceded Mit as FFE president and was vice chairman until 1992. Often described as a strong man with strong convictions, Stoney Sr. held numerous leadership positions in state and national trucking associations, including a stint as chairman of the American Trucking Assns. in 1972/73.
Mit Stubbs has served on the board of the Texas Transportation Institute, the Texas Motor Transportation Assn., the Western Highway Institute, and the Interstate Truckload Carriers Conference (now the Truckload Carriers Assn.) He has chaired various TCA committees and is active in many local, regional and national transportation and business associations.
"The trucking industry gets bombarded - not only from the federal government - but also from state and city governments," he says of the need to be involved in industry causes. "We're constantly fighting all kinds of restrictions they want to place on trucks."
Equally tough is the constant fight against higher taxes on big trucks.
"We believe in paying our fair share for the roads," he says, "but we don't like to buy the roads twice."
— Patricia Smith
