When Saia LTL Freight, Inc. first began 94 years ago, it served a small area in Louisiana. Since then, the company has been committed to growing and now services 38 states and ranks as the 10th largest LTL carrier in the industry. Today, we are dedicated to growth more than ever with a goal of offering coast-to-coast coverage.
Until this year, the Northeast has been an untapped market for Saia, but as we’ve grown as a company, so have the numerous requests from our loyal customers wanting Saia to expand. Today we can proudly say that Saia is once again expanding and will be opening four new terminals in May, which will include Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, PA, as well as Newark, NJ.
This expansion has been a goal of Saia’s for quite a number of years. With Pennsylvania and New Jersey both holding spots in the top 10 for national market share in both inbound and outbound business, the desire for any shipping company to serve this area is clear. With recent investments in infrastructure, safety, marketing and personnel reaching nearly $200 million, the timing is perfect for Saia to take root in the Northeast.
With $5 billion in potential market share shipping into this region and $2 billion shipping out to the rest of the country, this expansion represents an enormous amount of opportunity for Saia and its customers. Expanding to these markets gives our loyal customers access to more direct shipping points across 38 states. We’re also excited to bring our industry leading delivery service, proactive customer service, and low cargo claims ratio to our new customers in these new states as well.
So, what are we doing to make sure this is a successful expansion? We started by building a strong leadership team. Our new regional management team brings over 30 years of experience and knowledge to Saia. Bob Newton (operations) and Tony Nicosia (sales) are both seasoned veterans in the transportation industry who have worked and are well respected in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York metro areas.
Right behind our leadership is a team of highly dedicated sales executives, drivers and dock workers — positions that have been responsible for the growth of the company since day one. This expansion will add close to 100 new employees to the Saia team, a number that will continue to grow as our business does.
However, in being new to the area, we know that there could be some initial apprehension from customers who aren’t familiar with Saia. But, we have that covered too because we’ve been expanding and growing since our inception. We’re a company that has survived longer than most LTL companies. We’ve opened 10 new locations at one time before, making this a relatively small expansion for us. Our experience in growth and expansion makes it easy for us to continue with the quality initiatives that we as a company are committed to. Additionally, to show our customers in these new markets how committed to service we are, we’re putting our money where our mouth is by offering our industry leading Xtreme Guarantee service.
We are excited to offer new customers the same on-time LTL service with expertise and quality that we’ve offered every other customer for nearly a century. And to our current customers, we’ve listened to you and we hope this expansion proves to you our commitment to continually earning your business through growth and opportunity. We look forward to servicing you and your customers in these new markets.
– See more at: http://blogspot.saia.com/2017/04/03/saia-ready-for-expansion-to-the-northeast/#sthash.Di1LoVa5.dpuf
