Member Spotlight: Dalton Trucking

Dalton Trucking is a widely diverse aggregates, freight, heavy-haul and mining company.

Dalton Trucking’s green trucks are a familiar sight on Southern California highways, still if Chairman Terry Klenske had his way, they’d be blue and yellow. As luck would have it, the fifth truck the company bought in the late ‘70s was green and white and the colors stuck. Originally, Klenske got into the trucking business because of his love of livestock. He bought a truck to take cows to breed. “I quickly realized that while I enjoyed raising cattle, there was only one crop a year, but trucking could bring a steady cash flow,” he says.

So when the opportunity to purchase the four-truck Dalton Trucking fleet – three transfer combinations and a 10-wheel dump truck – came along in 1977, Klenske went for it. At the time, he worked for Fleetwood Enterprises, the Riversidebased manufacturer of modular homes and recreational vehicles, and the trucking business was what Klenske calls his ‘hobby.’ “I figured I’d just stop by in the evenings and Saturdays, lube my trucks and count my profits,” he says. “Boy, did I learn!” In 1981, running Dalton Trucking became his full-time job.

Today, Dalton is still known as a dumptruck operation but aggregates work only accounts for about 25 percent of revenues. Another 25 percent comes from low-bed operations and heavy haul, and 20 percent is flatbed work. The company even handles intermodal hauling at the San Pedro ports.

The company’s newsletter – DTI Interchange – illustrates the breadth of work the company performs. In just one issue, there were stories of hauling a multi-million dollar satellite that had arrived at Long Beach airport on an Antonov123 from Paris; an off-highway berm replacement project that required a D9N Cat dozer, a 980F Loader, a Cat excavator and other equipment from Dalton’s construction fleet; a fertilizer haul from San Diego docks; a mine truck move; steel trans-shipments from the rails; and move of a 1/3rd scale model of an Airbus AQ380 headed for London’s Heathrow Airport.

Dalton Trucking’s principle place of business is a 26-acre property in Fontana, Calif., where trucks are maintained, repaired, fueled, washed and parked. The facility also stores lumber, pipe and steel beams. A second facility in Bloomington houses Dalton Logistical Services and serves as a public warehouse. A third location in the high desert at Adelanto has 10 acres for a 10,000-square-foot shop, a dispatch office, a fuel island wash rack and parking for more than 50 trucks.

In all, Dalton employs more than 200 and runs more than 100 trucks, including three-axle dump truck and trailers (about half pups and half transfers) and two- and three-axle tractors. Most of the three-axle tractors do lowbed or flatbed work, while the two-axles pull bottom-dump doubles, covered dome hoppers or flats. For the warehousing and rail trans-shipment operation, Dalton has flatbeds and eight 53-foot vans. “We handle everything from case goods and paper, to plywood, rebar and steel plate,” says Klenske.

While Klenske is still very much involved in Dalton Trucking, day-to-day operations are handled by his son, Matt. This allows time for Klenske to contribute to Inland Empire business associations and educational institutions. In addition, Klenske has been a leading figure in the Antique Truck Historical Association (ATHS) for years, serving two years as chairman.

Dalton supports ATHS and local charity events, regularly exhibiting some of its older, restored trucks ranging from pickups to a bubble-nosed Peterbilt and a bullnose Kenworth cabover.

“When folks ask me why we have so many different types of trucks and businesses, I tell them that’s easy,” says Klenske. “I’m still trying to find which one we can make some money with.”

For more information, visit www.daltontrucking.com