Hub Group opens two new Comtrak terminals

Freight transportation services provider Hub Group Inc. recently announced that it has opened new terminals for its national drayage and truckload services subsidiary Comtrak in Indianapolis and Milwaukee.

These additions bring the total number of Comtrak terminals in the United States to 24, according to company officials.

Comtrak President Jim Ronchetto told LM that the driver for these new terminals was for customer service and operational reasons.

“Having a domicile in a particular city helps us balance our operations and provide a higher level of service to our customers,” said Ronchetto. “Another benefit is having a presence improves our opportunity to recruit and attract drivers in that city. We have been evaluating our network needs throughout last year and started working on these two particular locations about four months prior to the openings.”

In terms of shipper benefits, Ronchetto said that having these new terminals allows Comtrak to shuttle loads more efficiently with terminal locations located closer to actual freight locations. And he added it allows the company to prepare for anticipated legislative changes and serve a wider area while factoring in possible changes like truck driver hours-of-service.

Before adding these new terminals Hub Group and Comtrak had a driver base in Milwaukee and Indianapolis, which operated out of its Chicago headquarters. But with a local presence, Ronchetto said that the company will be able to expand its reach and service more shippers.

The two terminals will service over 200 customers.

“We have grown our drayage operations aggressively in 2010 and our goal is to continue expanding throughout 2011,” said Chris Kravas, Chief Intermodal Officer for Hub Group, in a statement. “In today’s volatile trucking environment, expanding Hub Group’s drayage capacity gives us the ability to provide enhanced service for our Intermodal customers.”