Old Dominion, the leading US Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) provider, has seen its stock price compound at 18% per year for the past 34 years. 

On the surface, what might seem a simple, commoditized trucking company has beaten the market considerably over decades. ODFL earns 25%+ ROEs compared to small parcel companies such as Fedex at ~15-16% ROE. This has fascinated us. 

ODFL’s high historical returns, the LTL long-term structural drivers in e-commerce, and a more fragmented supply chain led us to explore this industry in North America over the last two years. 

This roundup curates some of the work our team at InPractise covered, with details on how we covered each topic:

1. XPO Logistics & US LTL: Scaling via M&A: Why XPO decided to grow the business using a roll-up strategy and what challenges did such an approach entail
2. Choosing LTL Carriers: A Customer's Perspective: How global companies with complex supply chains decide which LTL carriers to contract
3. Old Dominion, XPO, Mainfreight & US LTL: A Broker's Perspective: Why brokers still exist in the LTL space and what are their relationships with LTL carriers and their end customers
4. US LTL: A Non-Asset-Based Network Structure: Why do some LTL companies decide to remain asset-light and contract local asset-based carriers to transport the goods on their behalf, along with the advantages and challenges such an approach entails
5. Mainfreight vs Old Dominion: US LTL Comparison: A head-to-head comparison between two LTL leaders who dominated their respective markets using different approaches to scaling their business
6. Mainfreight Culture and US Market Challenges: How Mainfreight dominated the New Zealand market and what challenges the company is facing now that it has entered the US market

InPractise Partners have also conducted work on ODFL and the LTL market in North America, which you can find linked here: 

• Old Dominion Freight Line: National Account Management & Expedite Services
• Fedex Freight, Old Dominion, & US LTL Trucking
• Old Dominion, Saia, & US LTL Competition
• Old Dominion Freight Lines vs Fedex Freight: Competitor Angle
• Old Dominion Freight Lines: LTL Pricing & 3PL Threat
• US LTL Trucking: Old Dominion Freight Lines vs YRC Freight

History & Market Structure