European connection: FedEx Freight continues expansion, launches LCL service through Frans Maas partnership. (Trucking).

FedEx Freight is not your grandfather's trucking company. Continuing its growth and diversification under the FedEx Corp. aegis, the $2 billion unit now is offering less-than-container-load service to and from Europe through a partnership with Koninklijke Frans Maas Groep N.V., a leading international freight forwarder, logistics and transportation company.

"What we had to do was simplify the transaction," said FedEx Freight President and CEO Douglas G. Duncan. "We needed single-rate generation. We give you a quote door to door.

"There are very few businesses in this country that sell within confines of the domestic U.S. anymore," Duncan said during a break at last week's National Industrial Transportation League annual meeting. "The big shippers generally have a lot of expertise in international shipping. The small and medium-size shippers have a traffic manager that has to do it all. That's where we can bring a lot of value."

FedEx Freight, as part of the $20.6 billion FedEx Corp. is able to call on the services of FedEx Trade Networks Ocean Transport Service, which acts as a Federal Maritime Commission licensed ocean transportation intermediary. Frans Maas will handle the European ocean coordination and ground transport.

"When we partner with FedEx Trade Networks to handle customs and freight forwarding, we have a lot of expertise that a typical domestic trucking company …