MINERAL WELLS - An established freight business opened a facility in Mineral Wells to better handle continued growth throughout the region
Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. opened its new Parkersburg Service Center at 190 Elizabeth Pike in Mineral Wells, just off of Interstate 77, on Sept. 4.
The company is a leading, less-than-truckload ("LTL"), motor carrier providing regional, inter-regional and national LTL service and logistics services.
Article Photos
Photo by Brett Dunlap
Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. recently opened its new Parkersburg Service Center in Mineral Wells. Denny Cowger, solutions specialist, and Adam Osborne, the terminal’s manager, stand in front of one of the company’s trucks at the facility’s two-acre site near Interstate 77.
"We haul various goods to our customers," said Adam Osborne, the terminal's manager.
The new location is part of a $90 million-120 million investment Old Dominion has committed to real estate purchases and expansion projects in 2012, company officials said.
"This new facility will allow Old Dominion to grow its operations in the Parkersburg area," Osborne said. "The new and expanded facility will enable us to react faster to customers' needs and meet the steady increase of customer demands in the area."
The company transports manufactured goods, retail goods and more. They also have a household goods moving service where they drop off a trailer at someone's home, the homeowner fills it up and the company transports to where ever the homeowner is moving.
"You name it, we will haul it," Osborne said.
The service center's coverage area includes Parkersburg, Clarksburg, Sistersville, New Milton, Harrisville, West Union, Grafton, Spencer, Proctor, Ripley and Ravenswood in West Virginia and Marietta, Watertown, Racine, Nelsonville, Caldwell, Cambridge and Athens in Ohio.
After a couple of days of being open, Osborne said they saw the potential to be able to expand further through the region with opportunities in Cambridge, Ohio and Clarksburg, W.Va.
The company has operated a distribution center in Charleston for years covering the entire state including Parkersburg, but Osborne said opening a facility in the Parkersburg area gave them better coverage into Ohio and the rest of the region.
The company has coverage across the United States as well into Canada and Mexico.
"From here, I can reach Birmingham, Ala., the next day, which is is unheard of," Osborne said, adding they can get to southern states, such as North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, in a day. "We provide a service to the customer few can," he said. "Every morning, we have freight that comes into us that we distribute out to the customers every morning and afternoon.
"We pick up in the areas we are in and have it shipped out to where the customers need them to go."
The two-acre facility currently employs 13 people, but company officials believe there is definite potential for growth in this area.
"We hope we grow," said Denny Cowger, solutions specialist who handles sales. "We are at six city drivers and two road drivers.
"We hope to be doubled that this time next year."
Company officials said many of the employees at the new facility were hired locally and have years of experience in the freight business.
"We expect good things here," Cowger said. "We have been the No. 1 LTL carrier for the last five years.
"We are proud of that."
Osborne said it would not take much for them to outgrow their current location.
"We are hoping to be able to out grow it," he said. "It will take a lot of hard work and luck."
Having a physical location that is operating lets their customers know they are here, Cowger said.
"We are here to serve the people of the valley and we look forward to doing it," he said.
