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Page I of 2 <br /> Business <br /> TRUCK LINE'S CLOSURE LEAVES VOID <br /> STOCKTON FIRM'S CUSTOMERS CITE PERSONAL TOUCH <br /> By Reed Fujii <br /> April 29, 2008 <br /> Record Staff Writer <br /> STOCKTON - Moore Truck Lines, a family-owned trucking company that specialized in delivering small loads up <br /> and down California, has closed in the face of heavyweight competition and rising fuel prices. <br /> Founded April 1, 1947, in Stockton by Frank Moore Sr., the firm at one time operated terminals in Fresno, Yuba <br /> City and Stockton carrying general commodities and specializing in "less-than-truckload" deliveries within the state. <br /> "He built it up into a pretty good-size business in the LTL," said Frank Moore Jr., senior general partner, who <br /> formally closed the business March 28. <br /> The elder Moore handed over the reins of the company in 2002 and died Feb. 15, 2007. <br /> But changes began earlier, in 1995, with the deregulation of the trucking industry. Large corporate carriers, such as <br /> United Parcel Service and FedEx-"FedEx especially," Moore said -ate away at the company's customer base. <br /> "They are pretty efficient and can offer clients things we can't," he said. <br /> It's hard for a small company to compete with services that will carry anything from a single envelope or package to <br /> a pallet, a truckload or more, overnight in California or the rest of the United States and offering rapid international <br /> delivery as well. <br /> "They've really been hurting all the carriers," Moore said. <br /> The company downsized, closing its terminals in Yuba City and Fresno, but it continued to fill a niche in the <br /> industry, serving mostly small businesses with which it had built relationships over the years. <br /> This year's rising fuel prices proved the last straw, Moore said. <br /> "We've been absorbing the increases since the first of the year," he said. And when he began to add surcharges to <br /> cover some of the expenses, his clients balked. <br /> "They just could not absorb the increases we needed to cover our costs," Moore said. <br /> After taking a diesel delivery March 20 and paying $3.97 per gallon, he called it quits. <br /> Fuel costs are hitting the entire industry hard, said Julie Sauls, a spokeswoman for the California Trucking <br /> Association <br /> "It's tough," she said. "Fuel is surpassing even labor as the biggest expense for the transportation industry." <br /> http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080429/A_BIZ/804290301&tem... 4/29/2008 <br />