US-based transport business and OEM, XPO, has renewed its platinum partnership with Truckers Against Trafficking for 2023.
“Our safety culture at XPO has taken on a new dimension through the training developed by Truckers Against Trafficking,” said XPO CEO, Mario Harik.
“Human trafficking is a hidden crime, and the [Less-Than-Truckload] LTL industry is in a position to be part of the solution. Through our partnership with Truckers Against Trafficking, our drivers can potentially save lives.”
The announcement coincides with National Human Trafficking Awareness Day and marks another milestone in the company’s anti-trafficking training for its drivers.
In 2022, approximately 4,500 XPO employees learned how to spot signs of human trafficking by completing a training certification program. Truckers Against Trafficking tailored the content for short-haul LTL and local trucking operators.
“XPO exemplifies how the trucking industry can be a force for good in combatting human trafficking,” said Truckers Against Trafficking Executive Director, Esther Goetsch.
“By championing our training in their national operations, XPO mobilises thousands of drivers to support this important cause.”
An estimated 50 million individuals worldwide are victims of human trafficking at any given time.
Truckers Against Trafficking is engaging the transportation sector to report suspected abuse through channels such as the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Approximately 1.4 million truck and bus drivers have completed Truckers Against Trafficking training to date.
Earlier this month Harik spoke with CNBC’s Frank Holland about the state of the freight market as well as XPO’s planning to ramp up trailer production in 2023.
The business performs 13 million shipments per year, moves 18 billion pounds of freight annually, serves 25,000 customers (two thirds are industrial) and has 294 terminals.
“Supply chains today are operating much more efficiently than when they were a year ago,” said Harik.
More product, he added, is flowing into the country which is providing XPO’s industrial partners including Ford, Dow, General Electric and Caterpillar with greater access to raw materials so that they can complete pent-up, open orders for their customers.
A key competitive advantage for XPO is its capacity to build its own trailers.
“We use two types of trailers,” said Harik. “Trailers that move freight between our terminals and trailers that we use to pick up freight from our customers’ locations.
In 2022, XPO produced more than 4,700 new trailers – double of what it produced in prior years.
It is also boosting its trailer production capacity by 50 per cent going into 2023.
XPO aim to use the trailers it produces to move more freight for its customers as well as improve operational efficiency.