How it started
Foundation and diversification
Roadway Services Inc. (RSI) was created in 1982 as a holding company by national less than truckload (LTL) carrier Roadway Express. Roadway Express was initially RSI's only subsidiary but in 1984 the company acquired short-haul carrier Spartan Express Inc., then specialized truckload carrier Nationwide Carriers Inc., and finally in 1984, it purchased Roberts Express, a same-day critical trucking company, from Emery Air Freight.
With both truckload and LTL services available via its subsidiaries, in 1985 RSI founded a package delivery service, Roadway Package System (RPS) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. RPS was intended to out-compete the package delivery services of UPS by structuring itself for lower costs. By 1988, RPS covered 70% of the US from 130 terminals.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s RSI experienced both expansion and contraction as it acquired the largest western US regional carrier, Viking Freight, but closed the unprofitable Nationwide Carriers in 1989. In 1990, Viking subsidiary VFS Transportation was closed and Spartan was absorbed into Viking, operating as a subsidiary. At the same time Roadway Express continued its expansion with services to Europe in 1991 and a number of Pacific Rim ports soon after. Also in 1991, RSI replaced Pan Am Corp. on the Dow Jones Transportation Average. At the time, RSI was the third-largest motor freight carrier in the US.
In 1993, RSI acquired Southwest regional LTL carrier Central Freight Lines which it placed in its Roadway Regional Group along with Viking in the West, Viking subsidiary Spartan in the central and southern US and Cole's Express in New England. RSI also expanded into air freight with its 1993 founding of Roadway Global Air (RGA) based in Indianapolis.
Roadway Express spinoff
From Wikipedia’s article on Caliber System, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3