ODFL expands in Virginia

Less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services provider Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) said this week it has relocated its Wytheville, Virginia service center to a larger facility as part of the company’s ongoing national expansion efforts.

ODFL said this facility provides shippers with various services, including pickup and delivery to a tri-state area comprised of Virginia, North Carolina, and West Virginia, as well as serving as an important turn-point location for its linehaul operations.

The company added that Wytheville facility’s service area includes Pulaski, Bluefield, Tazewell, Richlands, Marion, Galax, Dublin in Virginia; McDowell, Mercer and Wyoming Counties in West Virginia; and Sparta, N.C. It is one of nine Old Dominion service centers in Virginia.

“We relocated the facility to accommodate increased demand in the region which stems from the area’s strong manufacturing and mining industries,” an ODFL spokesperson told LM, adding that the new facility is comprised of 14 doors, whereas the previous one had eight.

When asked to cite the benefits this move will bring to shippers, the spokesperson said that the larger size will result in increased productivity for the facility, which means faster delivery times and a continuation of the premium service that our customers have come to expect from Old Dominion. 

And he added that larger yard also gives Old Dominion’s linehaul department more options to optimize the freight flow through this important junction of I-81, and I-77.

ODFL said it expects to spend $130 million on real estate purchases and expansion projects by the end of this year.   

In mid-September, ODFL updated its expectations for growth in third-quarter 2013 tonnage per day and revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges. The Company said it expects its growth in tonnage per day to increase in a range of 7.0 percent to 7.5 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012, versus its previous expectation of an increase in a range of 6.0 percent to 6.5 percent. Its forecast for revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges, is expected to increase 3.0 percent to 3.5 percent for the third quarter of 2013 from the third quarter of 2012, compared with the previous expected range of 4.0 percent to 4.5 percent.