Con-Way Central Express Opens New High-Volume Freight Handling Facility
4 August 2000
Company Cites Reduced Transit Times and Infrastructure Investment
SALEM, Ill. - Con-Way Central Express continues to expand and strengthen its freight-handling network in the Midwest with the opening of its second new high-volume freight assembly center within the last 30 days. The Salem, IL facility is scheduled to begin operations August 7. The company, a less-than-truckload commercial freight carrier, opened a similar high-speed facility in Louisville, KY in July.According to company officials, the new facility will significantly improve freight movement and reduce delivery times to a number of major cities in Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee and to Jonesboro, AR. "This new facility and its location will be key factors in the faster and more efficient movement of Midwest and Southern freight," said Richard V. Palazzo, president and chief executive officer of CCX. "The strategic location of Salem in our system and the capacity to handle larger freight volumes will allow us to route freight from our sister company, Con-Way Southern Express (CSE), and create new next-day delivery points from lanes that were previously two-day destinations," added Palazzo. "We continue to invest in our infrastructure with the goal of giving customers the shortest freight delivery times in the industry."
New one-day delivery lanes created by the Salem facility will include Memphis and Nashville, TN to Chicago; Memphis to Indianapolis; and St. Louis to Atlanta. In total, 128 transit lanes and over 976,000 five-digit postal ZIP code combinations will be converted from two-day to next-day service.
The company purchased 43 acres in Salem at 2180 West Main Street, close to several major highways. The new facility will have 46,000 square feet with 38,220 square feet of dock area and 8,000 square feet of office space. The facility will start operations with 100 doors and, company officials project, will move close to two million pounds of freight within a 24-hour period.
Kevin Huner is the manager of the new facility. He has been in the freight transportation industry for 21 years. He joined CON-WAY in 1996 as a freight operations supervisor.
Con-Way Transportation Services is a $1.9 billion transportation company that provides time-definite and day-definite freight delivery and logistics services for commercial and industrial businesses. Within the CON-WAY family are regional less-than-truckload carriers Con-Way Central Express, Con-Way Southern Express and Con-Way Western Express; Con-Way Truckload Services, providing multi-modal, full truckload shipping; Con-Way NOW, an expedited carrier specializing in emergency shipment service; and Con-Way Integrated Services, a contract supply chain execution service provider.
CON-WAY is a subsidiary of Palo Alto, California-based CNF , a $5.6 billion management company of global supply chain services with businesses in regional trucking, air freight, ocean freight, customs brokerage, global logistics management and trailer manufacturing.