GE's Trailer Fleet Services business is celebrating 50 years of service to the trucking industry this month with branch-based customer events and a commitment of 5,000 total hours of volunteer community service from employees.

"The daily challenge for us and for our customers is to generate as many revenue hours as possible for each trailer in a fleet," said CEO Joe Artuso. "We've combined years of experience in the trailer business with the global research capability and financial stability of GE to give customers specific products and services to help them be successful."
Trailer Fleet Services, headquartered in Wayne, Pa., can trace its legal history back to a company called Container Leasing Inc., which filed for incorporation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on Sept. 12, 1957, from a location on South 19th street in nearby Philadelphia. It later changed its name to Transport Pool, then Transport International Pool, as the company expanded. From 1975 to 1987, it was owned by the former Gelco Corp.
For the past 20 years, Trailer Fleet Services has operated as a wholly owned affiliate of GE, and today has $1.5 billion in assets and is a $550 million revenue division of Stamford, Conn.-based GE Equipment Services. The unit has 1,100 employees (175 at its Wayne headquarters), 130,000 trailers, and 100 locations across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. A complete history is posted at the company's web site at www.trailerservices.com.
"Rentals and the long-term leasing of trailers remain an important service we provide," Artuso explained, "but what's exciting for us is how we can now add maintenance services, remarketing services and asset monitoring to help our customers boost their productivity, meet their cash flow goals and ultimately improve service to their end customer."
Trailer Fleet Services customers are primarily operators of trucking fleets that carry cargo for others or private fleets that haul their own goods, such as Wal-Mart. Trailer Fleet Services' largest customer is the U.S. Postal Service.
Maintenance Services were first offered in 2000, on both company-owned trailers and customer-owned trailers. Today more than 500 GE mechanics, using fully outfitted mobile maintenance service trucks, service hundreds of trailers daily for national, regional and local customers.
Remarketing has grown to the point where Trailer Fleet Services sells 25,000 to 30,000 trailers annually, making it the largest retailer of used trailers in the United States.