The Acklie Cos., one of the trucking industry's largest privately owned groups of trucking companies, has announced organizational changes effective Jan. 1, 2003.

Comprised of Crete Carrier Corp., Shaffer Trucking Inc., Sunflower Carriers and Hunt Transportation Inc., the Acklie Cos. operate 5,500 power units and 13,000 trailers, providing customers dry van, temperature sensitive and flatbed/specialized services.
On Jan.1, 2003, Shaffer and Sunflower will combine the operations of the two temperature-sensitive companies, serving customers as Shaffer Trucking, a division of Crete Carrier Corp. In announcing the change, Chairman Duane Acklie said, "This is the next step in the evolution of our organization as we are focused on efficiently delivering superior service to our customers. The new Shaffer division will provide our customers one of the largest temperature sensitive fleets in the industry consisting of 2,700 state-of-the-art trailers." Operational functions will remain in New Kingstown, Pa. and York, Neb., and will closely coordinate the daily activity with the dry van business of Crete Carrier in Lincoln, Neb.
"Our new organization will take the best of both Shaffer and Sunflower to create a single entity that we are confident will be the best temperature-sensitive motor carrier in the trucking industry," said Acklie, a former ATA chairman.
With more than 65 years of continuous service, Shaffer is one of the strongest temperature-sensitive companies in the industry serving a wide variety of customers in 48 states, Canada and Mexico.