Local Trucking Companies in It for the Long Haul
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- T.J. Carney, president of Carney-McNicholas Inc., Austintown, is accustomed to taking on projects that have their share of logistical challenges. The company is proficient in transporting the entire contents of libraries, museums, businesses and government agencies, most of the time using Carney-McNicholas’ fleet of large trucks for the moves.
So, it wasn’t unusual for Carney to accept an offer from one of its customers that would prove among the most complex and daunting to date: to transport new furniture and fixtures originating from two sites in the United States and deliver them to a military base in Djibouti, Africa.
“We got a real geography lesson,” laughs Carney. “In the global economy, you just never know. With the miracles of email, we can put these kinds of things together.”
Transportation firms based in the Mahoning Valley have the ability to move products of any shape and size anywhere in the country, and in some cases, the world. As new opportunities present themselves with the burgeoning oil and gas industry, transportation companies are also committed to serving industries more traditional to the region. Many say it’s these sectors that continue to provide their bread and butter.
“When we look at our customers, most of them are experiencing slight growth,” notes Terry DiMascio, senior vice president at Aim NationaLease, Girard. “When you take that across the board, that’s a good thing. It seems like all segments of our business are in growth mode.”
Across the country, trends point to a trucking industry in recovery. According to a report recently issued by American Trucking Associations, trucks moved 9.4 billion tons of freight in 2012, or 68.5% of all domestic shipments, an increase from 2011.
Also last year, trucking generated $642.1 billion in gross freight-related revenues, or 80.7% of the nation’s freight bills. About 6.9 million people in the United States are employed in trucking-related industries, the report found.
Meantime, companies such as R&J Trucking in Boardman are busy hauling steel, solid waste and other industrial products across the region as others see a boost from the oil and gas industry. “We’re playing it by ear,” reports Mark Carrocce, vice president.
The key to running a successful transportation operation is detailed planning and preparation, Carney relates. The Djibouti project, for example, sourced furniture from two cities – Seattle and Grand Rapids, Mich. – and transported the products in containers to Norfolk, Va., where they were loaded onto ships bound for Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal. The products from Seattle were first shipped to Chicago, where they were transferred to containers, then shipped by rail to Norfolk. The furniture in Grand Rapids was loaded in containers at the factory.
“We had to do all the forwarding, book space on the boats, everything from point of origin to installation,” Carney says. “The entire logistical package.” The company tracked the cargo, the positions of the ships, their progress via a software program.
The Republic of Djibouti, a former French protectorate in the horn of Africa, is bordered by Somalia to the south and Ethiopia to the west. The first of Carney-McNicholas’ 50 containers arrived at the port of Djibouti June 5. The contents are now being moved to Camp Lemonnier, a U.S. Naval Expeditionary base instrumental in fighting piracy in the region.
“It’s an important base there,” Carney says. “It was fun, interesting and good to learn,” he says of the project.
Closer to home, Carney reports that his company is keeping busy with relocating libraries and renovations while turnkey hotel business is on the rise in Ohio, possibly because of growing interest in oil and gas exploration in the Utica shale.
“Business is pretty good around Youngstown,” Carney says, “as good as it’s ever been.”
While traditional hauling in the Mahoning Valley remains fairly steady – with the exception of the steel industry – major energy companies exploring Ohio’s Utica shale is attracting major investment in the form of pipeline and processing networks, and new well development across the state. Meantime, energy exploration in the Marcellus shale in western Pennsylvania remains very active.
The industry has presented new business opportunities for transportation firms in the region, Aim NationaLease among them.
“We’re looking to be a transport service for the oil and gas industry, reports Scott Fleming president of Aim Services Co. “We believe there are solid opportunities there.”
Fleming reports that the new company will start with four trucks designed to haul water to and from well sites. Water is essential to drilling operations, especially during hydraulic fracturing. Drilling companies inject millions of gallons of water – as well as sand and chemical additives – at high pressure into newly drilled wells to break open the tightly packed shale formations and release the oil and gas.
“We’ll start with water vacuum trucks and go from there,” Fleming says. Eventually, the company would like to provide heavy haul trucks and winch trucks for oil and gas operations in the region. “We want to be a one-stop shop for the industry,” Fleming states.
Aim’s footprint extends across the country and the firm employs around 1,000 and leases or manages 8,000 trucks.
Since Aim has hubs in Erie, Pittsburgh, Canton, Cleveland and in New York state, Fleming says the company is ideally positioned geographically to serve the region’s oil and gas market. Plus, the company has a stellar reputation for safety and maintenance, he reports.
“We’ve made the investment, and once the trucks come in, we expect the wheels to be turning right away,” Fleming says. Aim Services expects to then build its business across its national network.
“We don’t want to go too fast. We want to sustain what we have locally first and build that expertise,” Fleming says, “then, grow as better opportunities arise.”
R&J Trucking’s Carrocce says about six of the company’s drivers from Boardman are hauling oil and gas-related supplies every day to sites in this region. “When they’re constructing well pads, there are between 10 and 12 drivers,” he reports.
Much of the shale business R&J has secured consists of transporting aggregate to well sites and hauling solid waste to landfills, Carrocce says. “That’s been the extent of what we’re doing,” he says.
Its Canton terminal is probably the most active with the oil and gas business, Carrocce reports. “We’re doing a lot of work in the Carroll County area and western Columbiana County,” he says. “The Youngstown guys are working in Mahoning, Trumbull and parts of western Pennsylvania.”
Much of R&J’s business is tied to industrial hauling within a day’s drive. “We run day cabs so our drivers are home every night,” he says.
Manufacturing concerns, especially steel, are the biggest customers for R&J. Hauling municipal solid waste from transfer stations represent another large chunk of the company’s business, Carrocce reports.
“We’re seeing a lot of softness on the industrial side, except for pipe manufacturers,” Carrocce adds. “We don’t haul any pipe.”
Although Carrocce says that work with the oil and gas industry represents a small segment of his company’s business, it helps offset losses when other markets are in a downturn. “It’s a small portion of what we do overall, but we see it as a positive opportunity for the region,” he says of the oil and gas business.
“It’s good work, especially since the steel industry is struggling,” Carrocce says.
First published in the MidJune edition of The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.