Talkin' Trucks With Mike:A History of the TNT Companies

USF before they were bought in 2005 started getting screwy with there markings and was dropping the Holland or Reddaway name and going with just USF with the Holland or Reddaway on the back. Then they got bought out and the USF part was dead and the Reddaway and Holland name came back. I know it's become a hodgepodge mess of names and equipment.

 

I will say this TNT Holland had nice equipment and cleaner trucks then USF Holland did especially after USF was bought out by YRC, the Holland fleet was B-E-A-T for a while there you talk about old and rusted junk. Lots of Sterlings duct taped together. Now that Holland especially is doing better they have been updating there fleet they still have a lot of 11-12-13+ year old equipment, but I have been noticing newer trucks some brand new and some used and some newer trailers as well. However they probably had better equipment back in the TNT days. My guess was TNT was probably a stronger company then YRC.

 

TNT RED STAR EXPRESS
1987-1996


When I think of TNT Companies I always think of there third most famous operating company behind Reddaway and that's TNT Red Star Express #1 on the east coast. Red Star Express was down and dirty right in the center of it all Boston, New York City, Philladelphia all the big name city's in the North East it was Red Star Express. If you ever see the 1970s movie Dog Day Afternoon there is a Red Star Express truck going through a toll booth in that movie.
Red Star Express was a big name outfit certainly one of TNT's biggest. There survived by YRC New Penn that is there modern day successor.




In 1987 TNT Company was building it's network of regional LTL carriers in the United States and TNT's strategy was to always buy high performing, highly profitable cream of the crop carriers and they were looking for an east coast regional LTL carrier to buy and Red Star Express was the answer. To fill in there east coast gap.

The only TNT Company at the time that was really having trouble was TNT Pilot and because Pilot and Red Star were both east coast one North East and the Other South East they thought that TNT was going to buy Red Start to fix Pilot, but that was not the case as it was always TNT operating strategy to run all of there companies separate and it's true TNT nor USF ever really merged there companies. TNT said they were not going to merge there regional LTL carriers and concentrated on carriers that had 1-2 day hauls. Which would have been there regional carriers.

 

USF RED STAR EXPRESS
1996-2004 R.I.P. RED STAR EXPRESS

 

All right I need some help what do you guys know about TNT Dugan?