Most of ODFL’s decisions as they relate to where and when to open up a service center are based on metrics included in what a door pressure report, which measures the of shipments pushing across each dock door over a period of time. The challenge we are running into now is that in select markets, where it is harder to find commercial real estate, and if you do find something, it often seems like someone does not want a trucking company near them so they kind of push back. We have never really taken the foot off of the gas, knowing that we want to keep expanding our network to be able to build our service center and door capacity. We are wide open with our real estate investments and have always been at the forefront of doing that. We are seeing some tight capacity there as well and are getting what we need, but shortages of certain types of things-whether it be aluminum or metal, or computer chips-is delaying some of the equipment we are trying to get. From an equipment standpoint…everybody needs additional equipment, and that is putting a lot of stress on the tractor and trailer manufacturers, and forklift manufacturers, too.

All of those are being challenged right now?īates: One factor is that everybody else is busy and needing to hire people, from a people standpoint. We look at our people, our equipment, and the number of doors we have in our service centers. When we talk about capacity, we talk about it in three different ways. This is my 35th year of being in LTL trucking, and I have never seen anything like this before. LM: How you describe the current state of the freight economy?ĭave Bates: I would start out by saying there is a big-time boom, in terms of a real strong freight economy right now. Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Dave Bates, senior vice president of operations, for Thomasville, North Carolina-based less-than-truckload services provider Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL).īates provided Berman with a detailed overview of the LTL and freight transportation markets, including the freight economy, how e-commerce continues to impact the LTL market, and 2021 Peak Season prospects, among others.

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