Less-than-truckload carrier XPO said Thursday it has completed the expansion of its Salt Lake City terminal, which serves the Pacific Northwest market.
A total of 58 doors and 170,000 square feet of yard space were added to the site. The addition is part of a multiyear expansion, which will add 900 doors on a net basis to its national network of roughly 15,000 by the first quarter of next year.
At the end of 2022, XPO (NYSE: XPO) had added six terminals and 369 net new doors.
“At XPO, we’re focused on adding capacity where it’s most effective in driving efficiency, growth and returns for our business,” Dave Bates, chief operating officer, stated in a news release. “Our investment in the Salt Lake City facility will allow us not only to better serve our existing customers but will support new business growth in a market that’s a major hub for freight.
The site currently employs more than 200 people, a number XPO plans to increase through the addition of dockworkers and driver sales representatives.
XPO has been expanding its market share in recent quarters. Through the first two months of the second quarter, the company’s tonnage declines were just a fraction of that seen by some of the nation’s biggest LTL carriers.
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George Stokes
Responding to Freight Zippy regarding ABF Freight, while revenue per shipment or yield did indeed dip in recent months by 10-12%, you are only looking at half the story. Shipments actually increased by over 7% in the first quarter, while most other LTL carriers saw both tonnage and shipments decline. As ABF Freight saw contract freight volumes dip due to the soft economy and declines in manufacturing in recent quarters, it made r decision to pull freight from the spot market using the dynamic pricing model. While this has resulted in a temporary decline in yield, the decision was justified by ArcBest CEO Judy McReynolds as a way to keep trailers full and employees working instead of “adjusting headcount”, Wall Street-speak for layoffs and furloughs. FedEx Freight has gone through four rounds of furloughs at some terminals and other carriers have also had to layoff employees in recent months. McReynolds pointed to the tight labor market and difficulty in finding qualified CDL drivers as a reason to avoid even temporary layoffs, as a certain percentage of those on layoff might not return when recalled. ABF Freight’s metrics in the last six months have been mostly positive and better than many competitors, in part due to an emphasis on retaining skilled employees and keeping trailer capacity adjusted to market conditions.
In other words… the devil lies in the details.
Freight Zippy
Wow that graph showing the decay in CWT for Arc Best really caught my eye. 10 and 12% respectively is really ugly. I do hear that they are using a very aggressive dynamic pricing model.
Looks like something that needs to be revisited as they are going backwards. Especially after promising a decent new contract??
Back to XPO, looks like they understand the business. I do know several managers there who were at Yellow previously. How odd, they were terrible managers at Yellow but automatically become great managers once employed at XPO???