Effort and attention on educating and training
In an era when most companies seem intent on doing more with less, Old Dominion Freight Line is doing more with more. The fifth-largest U.S. less-than-truckload carrier hired 868 employees in the third quarter alone to keep pace with its rapidly expanding business.
“We increased the number of our full-time employees by over 2,000 employees, or 14.6 percent, over the past 12 months,” President and CEO David S. Congdon said. “We place a tremendous amount of effort and attention on educating and training employees,” he said.
Those new employees won’t have to fight for workspace. In 2014 alone, ODFL has either expanded or added service centers in Louisiana, Maine, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The Thomasville, North Carolina, company — the only large public LTL carrier to ride out the recession without a loss — has expanded its national footprint, opening or expanding 22 terminals in 2013. This year, capital expenditures will total $385 million, including $206 million for trucks, trailers and other equipment and $132 million for real estate and expansion projects at existing facilities, the company said in a statement.
Some of that expansion was dedicated to intermodal drayage, a fast-growing business for ODFL, which offers direct container drayage service from more than 22 ports and railheads.