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Apr 21, 2010 3:40 PM, By Charles E Wilson

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DUPRE Logistics LLC can be described in many ways: Dedicated logistics provider, third party logistics manager, fuel distribution specialist. What the firm is not is a traditional trucking company even though it operates hundreds of tractor-trailer rigs.

Managers of the Lafayette, Louisiana-based logistics specialist say they have developed a different operating model, one that enables their company to build customized transportation and distribution services for a wide array of shipper customers. This operating model gives Dupré Logistics tremendous flexibility in responding to changes in customer distribution requirements.

“Our services can evolve with our customers, and that is one reason our future looks very bright,” says Tom Voelkel, Dupré Logistics president and chief operating officer. “We have become a diversified third-party logistics provider. Dupré Logistics is not a trucking company and hasn't been for a long time. We are a company that has trucks, and we always will have trucks.

“We believe that the diversified nature of our operation was instrumental in helping us weather the severe recession of the past two years. Our economist tells us that it might take five to seven years for the US economy to get back to where it was in 2007.

“However, we have no doubt that this company will be better than it was at the start of the recession. We are on a growth course, and we believe we have a lot of good things working for us. Our goal is to double the size of our overall operation in three years.”

Three decades

Reggie Dupré, Dupré Logistics chief executive officer, adds that the most recent recession was just one of many challenges faced by the company during its three decades of operation. Dupré Logistics celebrated its 30th anniversary on March 20.

“We have much to be thankful for and much to celebrate here at Dupré Logistics,” Dupré says. Many organizations never have the opportunity to celebrate 30 years in business. This milestone puts Dupré Logistics in a select small group of companies. It is who we are, what we're made of, and why we are so optimistic about the future.”

The company started in 1980 as a family-owned gasoline hauler with 10 employees. Chemical hauling was added in 1985, and the young company acquired a dry freight carrier in 1986. From there, Dupré Logistics evolved into a diversified logistics service which today has more than 1,000 team members across 67 locations nationwide.

Today, the company operates more than 1,200 pieces of transportation and material handling equipment managed with sophisticated technology. Dupré's services are used by more than 200 companies throughout the United States and parts of Canada and Mexico.

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