Celebrating Carrier Excellence - Our Partners in Service
At IL2000, exceeding client expectations isn’t just a goal—it’s our standard. We deliver comprehensive logistics management services tailored specifically to propel our clients' businesses forward. Our commitment to innovation, reliability, and continuous improvement fosters a trusted partnership, valuing our clients' profitability as if it were our own, giving rise to our launch of the Carrier of the Year Awards.
This commitment, however, doesn’t come to fruition single-handedly. It's bolstered by the unwavering support and excellence of our carrier partners. These partnerships are pivotal to our success, enabling us to translate our broad vision into specific, impactful outcomes. Through faster deliveries, greater cost efficiency, and enhanced reliability, our carrier partners are indispensable in our mission to deliver exceptional service.
To honor the vital role our carriers play, we proudly host the annual Carrier of the Year Awards. Starting in 2022, we recognize the outstanding contributions of our partners with awards in three categories: National, Regional, and Truckload. These awards are a reflection of our carriers' dedication, assessed against rigorous criteria.
Our carrier partners are more than service providers; they are essential collaborators in our quest to exceed expectations and support our clients' growth. The Carrier of the Year Awards celebrate the extraordinary efforts that make this possible, highlighting our shared commitment to excellence with every shipment.
Tim Gavronski, Sr. Director of Logistics Engineering at IL2000, noted, “As IL2000 continues to grow, scalability is something we take extremely seriously. Our ability to integrate easily and consistently is paramount. Both of our LTL winners have 99% successful API tracking records and were fully integrated with auto dispatch and invoicing. These integrations are crucial considering IL2000's aggressive growth goals, which we plan to hit. A survey of our leadership team is also a part of this ease of doing business metric. Departments indicating positive feedback inherently proves that they enjoy working with your companies.”
The methodology behind Carrier of the Year
Our annual Carrier Of The Year Award celebrates those carriers who make the impossible possible. The first Awards began in 2022 with both a National and Regional winner, and now 2023 winners continue with the addition of the Truckload Carrier of the Year Award.
Jim Post, VP of TL Operations and Development at IL2000, spoke about the value of adding the Truckload Carrier of the Year to the lineup: “With all the changes evident in 2023, we wanted to do something that would evaluate the ease of doing business with each carrier. That’s how we were able to consider and build in a core metric that would factor into our evaluation for winning the award. And while we had LTL covered well, we decided that adding a Truckload Carrier of the Year would help to broaden the recognition and ensure no one is left unserved in our consideration.”
All awards are both comprehensive in scope and exacting in their criteria, ranking companies across a wide spectrum of indicators, including on-time delivery and pick-up, claims, year-over-year growth, total volume, responsiveness and the unique value-added between IL2000 and each partner.
This year’s winners were based on criteria that reflected the commitment to quality and the uniqueness that can come from each collaboration. Rather than only focusing on a sense of going “Above and Beyond,” we wanted to create a more data-driven means of evaluating carrier performance. In turn, we implemented an internal Carrier Survey to capture and apply results in our methodology for assessing performance.
This year's winners excelled across all categories, a must for IL2000.
R+L Carriers - National winner
For the second consecutive year, the National Award went to R+L Carriers. With a fleet of over 20,000 vehicles, R+L Carriers repeatedly demonstrated superior performance. Their ability to offer liftgate service nationwide and their expansive expertise in hazardous materials have made them an invaluable partner to IL2000 and our clients.
About R+L Carriers
Based in the United States, R+L Carriers is a Global Freight Transportation and Logistics company that has remained family-owned and operated since 1965. R+L Carriers offers one of the most comprehensive networks of nationwide service centers for LTL, Truckload, Expedited and Cross-Border Shipping. In addition to its core value-added shipping solutions, R+L Carriers has a portfolio of services that extends to International Supply Chain Management, Warehousing and Customs Brokerage.
Southeastern Freight Lines - Regional winner
This year's Regional Award recipient was Southeastern Freight Lines, a national LTL transportation services provider with a track record of adding value in partnership with IL2000. Their on-time performance adjusted rate was excellent, and pick-up rates were 99.7%.
About Southeastern Freight Lines
Southeastern Freight Lines, a privately-owned regional less-than-truckload transportation services provider founded in 1950, specializes in next-day service in the Southeast and Southwest and operates 89 service centers in 13 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. Southeastern has a network of service partners to ensure transportation services in the remaining 36 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Mexico. Southeastern Freight Lines provides more than 99.4% on-time service in next-day lanes. Dedication to service quality and a formalized quality improvement process, adopted in 1985, has resulted in more than 525 quality awards received from customers and associations.
Averitt Express - Truckload winner
Averitt Express won the newest of the Carrier of the Year Awards. The Truckload Carrier of the Year was created to show value that goes beyond what we considered for the LTL award categories. Averitt has been a leader in communicating issues and working to overcome potential obstacles.
About Averitt
Serving shippers for over 50 years, Averitt is a leading provider of freight transportation and supply chain management solutions with an international reach of over 100 countries. Averitt's “Power of One '' service structure provides shippers access to LTL, Truckload, Dedicated, Distribution & Fulfillment, and Integrated services that cover every link in the supply chain. Averitt’s team has been awarded the highest honors in the industry in the past year, including five Quest for Quality Awards, numerous customer awards, and a No. 1 overall ranking in the MASTIO & Company shipper survey. Averitt's 8,500+ associates are dedicated to delivering the most reliable services within the industry and promoting a company culture centered around people, communities, sustainability, and giving back.
IL2000 CEO Kraig Cesar works hard to stay on the fast track to success
Successful companies find their footing in many different ways. In the case of IL2000, it found its feet behind the perseverance and focus of an Olympic hopeful runner, Kraig Cesar.
Sitting breathless next to the track at Ted Gormley Stadium in New Orleans on an early summer day in 1992, Cesar knew he was at an important stage in his life. He had just competed in the 800-meter race, running against the fastest half-milers in the country.
Despite his best efforts, the Mississippi State graduate and multi-time SEC 800-meter champion had fallen short in his second bid to make the U.S. Olympic team.
“I was at my peak and had done all I could do as a runner,” Cesar remembered of that day in the early summer of 1992. “I knew it was time to move into the next chapter.”
That was the first step in a career in sales and management that took Cesar through a variety of industries. The journey provided constant challenges, opportunities and an outlet for both his fiery competitive spirit and his urge to provide clients with impeccable service and care.
It all came together in 1999 when Cesar founded IL2000, a full-service freight and logistics company based in Virginia Beach.
In the two decades since, Cesar has built IL2000 from a one-man shop into a robust company that employs more than 60 people and serves clients around the globe.
“From the beginning, my philosophy has been to take care of clients, take care of employees and take care of profits,” Cesar says. “If you do the first two really well, the third one takes care of itself.”
The same drive that pushed Cesar on the track has pushed him to assist clients with their freight and logistics needs. While helping clients save money is a key company focus, it’s just part of the equation.
“Providing our clients with stellar service is our primary goal,” Cesar says. “We work hard, and when you do that while also providing them with substantial cost savings, you will be successful.”
Delivering great freight and logistics service may seem like a world apart from sprinting around a 400-meter track. For Kraig Cesar, laser focus and work ethic will bring success no matter what the venue.