Finishing examiner Johnny Cannon talks with driver trainee Larry Miller as he backs up a truck at the U.S. Xpress facility in North Georgia.

U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. has cut 27 workers in its inter modal, or container-to-rail service sector this month, company executive vice president John White told WRCB-TV 3. The Chattanooga-based trucking company said the job losses have been in logistics, technology and management.

"This (the layoff) is strategic headcount reduction that will lessen our involvement in the flatcar and trailer business," White told Channel 3 in a telephone interview. "These are people with skills that are readily transferable, or to any business locally that would require personnel with logistics or IT experience."

White said the cuts have "nothing" to do with subsidiary Arnold Transportation's December merger with LinkAmerica Corp., a Fort Worth, Texas-based truckload and logistics carrier serving the Southeast and Southwest.