When it first noticed that some of its customers' shipments were being left stranded on its docks, LOGISCO figured it was an anomaly. But when it got to be 20 or 30 loads a day at its busier facilities, the contract warehousing company realized it was dealing with a full-blown crisis.

"Without warning, the contract carriers would take a last-minute deal somewhere else and just wouldn't show up," says LOGISCO executive Mike Jones. Recognizing that there wasn't much it could do about the carriers' behavior, the company simply started its own transportation division so it could handle pickup and delivery itself.

Launched 18 months ago at the company's Plainfield, Ind., location, LOGISCO Transportation Services (LTS) found its first customers among LOGISCO's existing warehousing clients. But the service is now catching on with others as well. The Brenéwood, Tenn.-based company is currently rolling out the program to its sites in Arizona, California and Texas.

Though this might strike some as an unpropitious time to get into the contract trucking business, Shellie Austin, who manages LTS, sees it as the perfect time for an upstart like LTS. "We may be small now, but I'd much rather be the underdog," says Austin. "It's just much more fun this way."