Landstar, Quality Detail Katrina Relief Efforts, Impacts

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andstar System’s chief executive officer said Thursday that the carrier had more than 1,000 pieces of equipment moving to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Landstar CEO Henry Gerkens told CNBC that the carrier, No. 14 in the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, had dry vans, refrigerated cars, cargo vans and had contracted more than 450 buses to transport people stranded at the New Orleans Superdome to the Astrodome in Houston.

“We are doing what we can to get those people out of there,” he said. “We’re also providing water, ice, tents, cots and blankets.”

News services said the situation in New Orleans Thursday continued to be chaotic, with reports of gunshots being fired at rescue helicopters and the city's mayor saying the storm's death toll could reach the thousands. Much of New Orleans continued to be under water and the city was under a state of martial law.

Landstar was also trying to contract with tank-truck carriers to bring fuel to its trucks, as supplies are short at filling stations throughout the region, Gerkens said.

Meanwhile, Quality Distribution, the largest U.S. tank-truck carrier, said Thursday that its operations in the Gulf Coast region have been disrupted.

The company said it estimated that the inbound and outbound freight into the region generates about $1.5 million dollars every week in revenue.

“While we do not anticipate the loss of all of this revenue, at this point, we are unable to estimate either the duration of the disruption or its ultimate impact on our financial performance,” Quality said in a statement.

“In addition, we do not yet know the extent, if any, to which any losses will be covered by business interruption insurance,” it said.

Quality is ranked No. 33 on the TT 100.