Dakota Lines Inc

About Dakota Lines

In May 1989 Gary Blom founded and established Dakota Lines, Inc. Gary is a CPA and has worked in the trucking industry since 1980. His vision for Dakota Lines was to provide intermodal freight service to and from Chicago, Illinois to strategic business hubs in the automotive industry located in Michigan.

In 1991 Robert Fields and James Lipkin became majority stockholders in Dakota Lines, Inc. Majority ownership by Mr. Fields and Mr. Lipkin provided the gateway for Dakota Lines to operate as a Minority Certified Carrier. Dakota Lines was recognized and certified by the Minnesota Minority Supplier Development Council in 1992. We continue to operate as a minority carrier and are re-certified each year. As a Certified Minority Carrier, we are recognized by General Motors and Chrysler as a Minority Carrier and participate as part of their transportation program.

Robert Fields has been in the industry since 1981. He has a broad knowledge and experience in operations and communication. James Lipkin’s experience was in multiple equipment ownership and operations. His experience as an Independent Contractor provides Dakota Lines with valuable insight regarding driver relations, communications, equipment specifications and maintenance.

In 1996 as part of our strategic objective to broaden our service capabilities, John Machado joined the organization. John brought his 22 years of experience in food stuffs transportation and a strong business relationship with General Mills to expand our business. We continue to provide successful expedited service for General Mills as well as other food stuff shippers. The service area for the food stuffs fleet is the mid-west, south east and the west coast.

Driven by growth Dakota Lines has expanded to over 75 trucks, through the addition of Independent Contractors and company owned trucks. We currently own and operate 90 trailers primarily 53 foot dry vans. All of our drivers are supplied with nationwide communication systems to insure up to the minute information exchange on all loads in transit. Our operations office has a state of the art computer system with EDI capabilities. We operate primarily in Michigan with lanes into Illinois, and into some southern states.

In 1989 Dakota Lines was established utilizing Independent Contractors, fleet drivers and company owned equipment to provide intermodal freight service to and from Chicago, Illinois to the automotive industry located in Michigan. We have expanded to provide expedited service using company owned dry vans to the Midwest & Southeast.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Dakota Lines.