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InTransit hauled to new office By GREG STILES A company built on its ability to move other people's freight began moving some of its own on Friday. InTransit, the 24-year-old Medford transportation broker, began consolidating its local offices into a new 20,000-square-foot, two-story building at Crater Lake Business Center on Excel Drive. "We've managed to accumulate, like most companies, a lot of stuff over 20 years," said Rob Lowe, vice president of communications. "It has been challenging." InTransit has accumulated customers and know-how as well as "stuff" during that span. Trucking is nearly a half-trillion-dollar industry. In 1998, according to the most recent figures available from the American Trucking Association, enclosed trailers and flatbeds hauled by semi trucks accounted for $481.6 billion in freight transportation expenses, and 7.7 billion tons of goods were shipped by truck carrier. Most of the country's 3,000 transportation brokers fall into the "mom and pop" category. Then there are giants such as C.H. Robinson of Minnesota, which did $2.9 billion in sales and made 2.3 million shipments during 2000. InTransit is somewhere in between, having logged $75 million in sales last year, up from roughly $50 million just two years ago. Locally, its chief competition comes from International Commodity Carriers Inc., with $26 million in sales, and Triple Express, with $15 million in sales. "They're the granddaddy of local brokers," said ICCI owner Dewey Wilson, noting that the local competition remains friendly. Transportation brokers leave the hauling to someone else, arranging for shipments by trucking lines or owner-operators. InTransit carved its niche long ago with flatbed shipments. "We were entirely flatbed, moving lumber up and down (Interstate 5)," Lowe said. "We're clearly the largest flatbed transportation broker, although today 20 percent of shipments are van freight." The company has 250 employees, but will see more now that there's space for them. "At the present time, we have a group of about 50 working in our Medford call center," Lowe said. "We could easily grow to 75 agents and have room for our corporate support staff as well. If we continue to grow the way we have, we'll have another 10 years before we feel the crunch." InTransit has roughly 45 affiliate offices in 17 states - from Arizona to New York and from Washington to South Carolina - adding a new one on the average of one a month this year. "The biggest change has come in the last five years, when we began an aggressive policy of opening up " said Lowe, a 13-year veteran of the company Just this month, the company opened its first Canadian office in Vancouver, British Columbia. "This will open up new opportunities for us," Lowe said. "We've always been a player, in and out of Canada. Now, we'll be able to do intra-Canadian traffic. But we'll have to get used to Canadian dollars and regulatory issues as well." InTransit president John T. Johnson started as the company's manager-administrator in 1986. He was hired by Sara Senet, then owner of what was known as R&R Transportation Services, founded by two truckers in 1977. In 1988, Johnson became a shareholder with Senet and the company took on its present name. InTransit outgrew its 7,500-square-foot building on Lear Way and moved its accounting, technical and computer programming staff to Cobblestone Village on Riverside Avenue in 1998. Although I-5 was the spawning stream, it's the east-west traffic that has provided growth. InTransit opened offices in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1983, in Arlington, Texas, in 1985, and Los Angeles in 1986. In the 1980s the company developed its trademarked FreighTrak software, which allows drivers, dispatchers, carriers and shippers to communicate in real time. "As the industry developed, we realized we would have to stay ahead of the competition if we expected to survive and grow," Johnson said. "We developed a strategy based on growth, innovation, teamwork and technological vision." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.