It didn’t read like big news.
The press release said freightPro.com (www.freightPro.com) has named V & S Transportation, a small carrier based in Rancho Dominguez, Calif., as an agent in the Los Angeles area.
Not big news at all, at least not all by itself. But if all goes according to plan, freightPro.com could be making 2,000 more such announcements. That’s because freightPro.com is assembling a network of small, often family-based carriers and warehouse companies across the country to handle a class of shipments too big for UPS and too "different" for standard LTL carriers.
According to David Doherty, Marketing Director for freightPro.com, the company intends to sign up no fewer than 80 warehouses and 2,200 fleets to expeditiously handle business that now falls through the major planks of the U.S. trucking platform. He said freightPro.com is looking for companies willing to do a little extra – carry a shipment upstairs at no extra charge, for example – while adhering to a simple, easily understood tariff.

Not all freightPro.com's affiliates are little. One truckload carrier in the freightPro.com network is U.S.Xpress of Chattanooga, Tenn., the 22nd largest carrier in the U.S. and itself a partner in the Internet exchange Transplace.com.
Unlike many other services with similar names (the names of at least five other major web startups begin with the word “freight”), freightPro.com does not use the Internet to match loads, solicit bids or negotiate rates. Instead, the Internet is used for communication with customers and its service providers.
At freightPro.com’s Web site, customers can enter origin zip, destination zip, weight and approximate dimensions. Their order will be processed without reference to outside tariffs, National Motor Freight Classifications or what freightPro.com calls "other burdens commonly associated with shipping freight."
freightPro.com calls itself "a non-asset based, freight shipping and fulfillment company that uses the Internet as a platform to provide customers a simple, flexible, low-cost alternative to the traditional method of shipping freight."
The company was founded by former Yellow Corporation executives Jim Bramlett and Steve Denny, and by Pat McKinney with Overnite Transportation.