Global Logistics/LTL news: ODFL rolls out new regional command centers

OD-Global, a subsidiary of less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion Freight Line which focuses on import and export services, said this week it has opened up four regional command centers in an effort to better serve its global customers.

ODFL refers to these centers as OD-Global Command Centers, and they are located in existing company offices in Atlanta, Dallas, New York City, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
They added that these offices will be up and running by the middle of next month and handle operations for OD-Global’s Northern, Southern, and Gulf Coast regions, along with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“The expansion of OD-Global to include regional offices has been a part of our planned evolution since the inception of our forwarding/NVOCC operations in 2007,” said Greg Plemmons, vice president of OD-Global in an interview. “The timing of the openings was driven by customer demand and growth of our forwarding operations.”

Plemmons said that these offices will provide customers with local support in the movement of international ocean and air shipments from beginning to end.

“OD-Global offers a full range of forwarding and supply chain services,” he said. “Services provided by our worldwide network of agents and partners is fully integrated with OD’s asset based infrastructure in North America including LTL, TL, container drayage, expedited, warehousing and rail. End to end visibility is provided on all OD-Global shipments. It’s important to note that OD has one of the lowest claims ratios in the US LTL market, so our customers’ freight will be delivered undamaged.”

Old Dominion’s U.S. operations are divided into seven geographic regions, according to Plemmons. Each of these new offices will serve its customers in one of those geographic regions. Regions included are Northern, Southern and Gulf Coast Regions, as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The other regions will continue to be handled centrally from ODFL’s Thomasville, NC headquarters, and staffing will vary from office to office and will depend on volume and customer demand.

In terms of the biggest benefits of these offices for shippers, Plemmons said that customers have told him they prefer dealing with a local business whenever possible, with relationships between importers and exporters on the one hand and their Global Supply Chain provider being extremely important.

“Opening these new and future planned offices is consistent with Old Dominion’s philosophy of providing local customer support,” he said.