RoadOne IntermodaLogistics appears poised to take on a larger freight hauling presence on the East Coast, having reportedly agreed to lease a state-of-the-art distribution center set for construction near the Port of Virginia.
The Industrial Realty Group acquired a 40-acre parcel in Suffolk, Virginia, with the intention of building a 227,000-square-foot facility. RoadOne is expected to lease the entire facility upon completion, greatly enhancing its truck transportation footprint in the region.
“This new facility will provide transload services to expedite the movement of inbound cargo from the Port of Virginia to U.S. markets. These strategic initiatives provide our shipper clients with the best logistics services and connectivity to our broad national network,” RoadOne CEO Ken Kellaway reportedly said. “This is the fourth new transload facility and the second one in Virginia that we’ve added in the last year and a half.”
RoadOne ranks among the largest North American intermodal trucking operations, operating upwards of 95 facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
Walmart Hiring Truckers Heading Into Holiday Season
The big box retailer is on track to hire more than 40,000 seasonal employees heading into the busy holiday season. But this year, Walmart is reportedly giving the gift of 1,5000 full-time trucking jobs as well.
Walmart continues to build a secure reliable trucking footprint through strategies that include a Private Fleet Development program to train upwards of 800 new drivers. The household name retailer also offers among the highest truck driver wages, with salaries reaching above $110,000 annually. The company’s intention to add 1,5000 full-time CDL professionals would augment a fleet that hovers around 13,000.
St. Louis-Based Vega Transport Beating Driver Shortage Odds
Although American Trucking Associations indicates the country struggles with a truck driver shortage of more than 80,000, one St. Louis outfit continues to swell its ranks. Vega Transport has reportedly increased its year-over-year truck driver count by 4 percent.
Rather than try to compete with large operations that are doling out six-figure salaries, companies such as Vega pivoted and focused on truck driver quality of life.
“We started Vega Transport back in 2005 on the premise to give our drivers better home time. Our focus was on how we could bring people home. They don’t want to live on the road. They have to do their work away from their home, but they don’t want to necessarily spend a month at a time on the road,” Vega Transport president Nick Sinanovic reportedly said. “We designed the system where St. Louis is our main hub, so we’re primarily looking for shipments in and out of St. Louis. But we’re also at the same time giving them miles. We do send them out to Florida and Pennsylvania, but we bring them back instantly to St. Louis. We don’t let them bounce around the country before they get to go home. That was really a big differentiator.”
The Greater St. Louis area appears to be trending in the positive as well, with a recent study indicating freight hauling companies added 124 drivers in 2022.
Sources: prnewswire.com, bizjournals.com, ksdk.com, transportdive.com, cnbc.com
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