ODFL opens up Oakland-based container drayage facility

Less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services provider Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) took another step in expanding its container drayage operations, recently announcing it has opened up its Oakland, California-based Container Drayage Operation.

Company officials said this effort will support 42 port, rail, and container yard facilities in California, as well as the Port of Oakland.

“We are in expansion mode in the container drayage division and want to continue to increase our presence on the West Coast since we have the desired markets on the East Coast covered,” said Wayne Bersch, ODFL director of container operations, in an interview. “The West Coast offers a large volume of opportunity and our existing drayage customers desire the same highly dependable service they experience in other OD drayage markets to be present in new markets.”

This expansion, said Bersch, has been on the table since 2008 but was quelled by the economic downturn in 2009 before getting consideration again with a pickup in economic activity in 2010.

In terms of benefits shippers will see from this effort, Bersch cited additional access to the dependable, on-time service that ODFL offers for its best-in-class container drayage services.

“Old Dominion is the one stop contact for 16 major drayage markets, with Oakland being the newest,” he said. “We have the best service and a skilled and knowledgeable staff that has been handling container drayage operations since the 1960’s. Our commitment to service helps us deliver a container drayage service that exceeds the quality of similar services provided by our counterparts. This service is bolstered by one of the largest and most consistently successful trucking companies in the U.S.”

ODFL’s container drayage division, which includes direct point-to-point delivery, loading, unloading, short-term warehousing, and container pools for import and export shippers, saw a 19 percent gain in 2011 container drayage shipments and a 35 percent increase in shipments in 2010.

In February, the company opened its first Pacific Northwest-based container drayage facility, rolling out the Seattle-Tacoma Drayage Operation.