This story appears in the May 4 print edition of Transport Topics.

Corporate-owned truck fleets are facing growing pressure to justify their in-house freight operations as manufacturers and retailers target transportation expenses in response to the sharp nationwide downturn in sales.

Almost 80% of 170 companies surveyed last year by research firm Aberdeen Group said managing the costs of transportation and shipping was one of the biggest challenges facing their organizations.

“The sudden spike in fuel and other charges caught many organizations by surprise, and many lacked sufficient processes to manage the changes effectively,” analyst Brad Wyland said in a report published in March.

“Not only have rising freight costs and shipping charges forced many executives to panic and throw more resources at trying to solve the problem, but more groups within the organization are suddenly seeing the true costs behind transportation and creating mandates to try and bring it under control,” the report said. Corporations generally use their own trucks to make store deliveries, carry specialized or dangerous materials, or guarantee dependable and flexible freight-hauling capacity on key traffic lanes. Most firms also outsource a portion of their transportation needs to for-hire and dedicated carriers.

Increased scrutiny has put a damper on tractor growth among private fleets as

corporations shift more freight to dedicated for-hire carriers. And it is forcing fleet managers to step up use of technologies, such as routing and freight optimization software, that can trim costs by reducing miles driven, industry experts said.

“Private fleet justification exercises are a fact of life at many companies — more so perhaps in tough economic times,” said Harry Haney, associate director of logistics operations at Kraft Foods in Madison, Wis.

After several years of double-digit percentage growth in tractor count in response to tight freight hauling capacity, the total for the 10 largest fleets on the Transport Topics Private 100 list for 2009 is projected to reach 46,653, less than 1% more than the year before.

At Kraft, Haney said, “We benchmark our fleet performance against other private fleets, as well as with our contract carriers against their fleet operations.”

Key performance indicators include the percentage of miles driven

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