Journal of Commerce: Roadrunner expands in Atlanta with overhaul of former Yellow terminal
This article was first published in the Journal of Courier (https://www.joc.com/) here:
https://www.joc.com/article/roadrunner-expands-atlanta-overhaul-former-yellow-terminal_20240412.html
US less-than-truckload (LTL) provider Roadrunner is opening a 75-door terminal in Atlanta, rebuilding a facility once leased by bankrupt carrier Yellow from the ground up to meet its own needs.
“I’ve never been a huge fan of spending on real estate, that’s not where the money is made,” Chris Jamroz, executive chairman and CEO of Roadrunner, told the Journal of Commerce Thursday. “But in the context of LTL, there are certain setups, certain layouts, that you need to operate profitably and to provide good service.”
He said the new facility in Atlanta delivers those features, and more.
“We’ve been scouring the Earth for two years trying to find a facility in Atlanta,”Jamroz said. “This building is textbook perfect for LTL. We have room for growth, butwe’re not overwhelmed by emptiness. And it’s not designed to be a storage facility.”
The Atlanta facility will anchor Roadrunner’s network in the Southeast, withcorresponding hubs in Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. “These are the absolute pillarsof our network,” Jamroz said. “Having a hub in Atlanta is important.”
LTL carriers of all sizes are chasing properties in markets across the country, whether terminals formerly owned or leased by Yellow or new sites they can develop. It’s an unprecedented land rush sparked by the
collapse of Yellow last year.
But those carriers are also responding to changing shipper needs, creating more density in their networks as more freight is shipped shorter distances, and more frequently.
For Roadrunner, the new terminal’s design must make its long-haul, point-to-point network more efficient. The company earlier this year added 135 lanes to its network ,building on market openings in Kansas City, Denver, Las Vegas and Richmond, Virginia.
The expansion has carried Roadrunner into new states in the US and into Canada.
Designing for drivers
The new lanes and facilities were accompanied by shorter transit times. Jamroz said the Atlanta terminal will help speed freight. “Even without announcing faster transit times, we’ll be executing faster transit times because of the added efficiency,” he said.
The new terminal is also the first to have a “flagship driver lounge” to provide servicesfor Roadrunner’s owner-operator workforce. Three maintenance bays will help thoseindependent contractors schedule preventive maintenance.
