CRST turns 60
Six decades ago, Herald and Miriam Smith started Cedar Rapids Steel Transportation (CRST) in the heart of Iowa, at a time when they didn’t own any trucks or have any customers.
Yet Herald Smith, known as “Smitty” (seated at right with Ian, left, and John, center), convinced companies he could save them money and contracted with owner-operators who were hauling livestock to Chicago to return to the Cedar Rapids area with loads of steel.
Today, 60 years later, that small-town steel hauler is now a $1.5 billion trucking conglomerate—the sixth largest TL carrier in the U.S.—with plans to reach $2 billion in annual revenues by 2017, noted Dave Rusch, CRST International president & CEO.