In August, less-than-truckload carrier Saia Inc. opened six new terminals across the great expanse northwest of the Rockies as part of the company's Western expansion. Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota now have two new Saia terminals each.
But August's expansions are not the first that Saia have completed. In 2024 alone, the company has also opened 10 other terminals across the country, including in Texas, Montana, New Jersey, Utah, Texas, California, Iowa, and Minnesota. All of these new locations seem to be making good on the company's expectation to spend $1 billion in 2024 on investments in terminals in new and existing markets, as well as new employees to staff these locations and new equipment and technology.
These terminals are also making good on the various investments Saia made in the wake of Yellow Corp.'s closure in summer 2023, an event which Fritz Holzgrefe, the president and CEO of Saia called "a generational type of moment" in a call with investors and analysts, according to Fleet Maintenance affiliate FleetOwner. In the second half of 2023, Saia hired 1,500 more people and had a record revenue quarter of $751 million as it capitalized on the slack Yellow left behind. Then, the company went on to buy 17 former Yellow terminals for $236 million in January.
To find out more about the fleet's expanions, Fleet Maintenance spoke with Saia VP of Fleet Management, Matthew Copot, as well as to discuss the company’s maintenance strategies and industry outlook.
[Edited for clarity.]
Fleet Maintenance: How did Saia start out as a company?
Matthew Copot: Saia started in the small town of Houma, Louisiana, founded by Louis Saia Sr., 100 years ago in 1924. He began moving his neighbors’ goods to New Orleans, where he would travel to pick up produce.
FM: How many trucks does Saia operate? What kind of vehicles are they?
MC: We operate over 6,000 power units right now, scattered throughout different types. Because of the way our operations run, we predominantly have single-axle day cabs, but we also have tandem-axle day cabs, and some sleepers, straight trucks, as well as yard horses.
FM: How many miles do you tend to run per year?
MC: We run hundreds of millions of miles per year. But it varies quite a bit based on any single truck.
FM: Does Saia handle all of its own maintenance?
MC: We embrace a hybrid model where we have a good proportion of our work being done in house, but also outsource to third parties. Sometimes those third parties are brick and mortar locations where you might be using OE- dealer support for items such as warranty claims. You may also have mobile vendors on site to handle some of the tactical repairs that take place day to day.
FM: What maintenance tasks are typically kept in house?
MC: We try to keep a majority of our preventative maintenance internal, but it does happen on occasion that we’re sending out PMs. We also try to keep work in house where we might be more efficient versus a third party.
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FM: How does Saia adapt to shifts in the industry or society at large, whether it’s international conflict or economic and regulatory changes at home?
MC: During our July earnings call, our CEO talked about how conditions in the industry remain uncertain right now. We believe our operating trends support the continued execution of our long-term growth strategy, and our performance over the last several years has positioned us for record investment in the business, regardless to industry or societal shifts.
Our approach is always based on customer focus. That's our centralized thought process. If you take care of the customer, all things fall into place from there. And we look at customer focus internally as well. We look even harder at the metrics that relate to a client’s operational needs so we can help them be as efficient as possible and have the assets that they need to deliver to the customer.
As far as regulatory items, there's a lot changing in the environment as it relates to fleet maintenance, so we work to stay in tune with what those are to make sure that you are within compliance.
FM: What would you say Saia is most concerned about in the industry? (ex. Freight recession, growth of alternative powertrains, safety, technician/driver shortages)
MC: When you talk about customer focus and availability, a lot of this revolves around the challenges surrounding hiring. And when you tie that in with the ongoing expansion that we're going through right now, we're looking for people, but it’s difficult to make sure that we have somebody that's the right piece of clay that fits well within our organization.
FM: What is Saia doing to work around these hiring challenges?
MC: For the expansion, you're looking at what's already on your bench when it comes to leadership positions. You think about drivers, dock workers, technicians, and everybody you know because there's just so many support roles. Then you see if you can grow your own [people]. Within the organization, are there folks that want to transition out of a certain role and don't realize that there're other opportunities? We know we've got good culture fit [with them], and then help retain them in a different capacity.
Otherwise, technical knowledge and continuous improvement are good [in new hires]. [You want] trainable folks and to make sure that they are able to take feedback.
FM: What goals are Saia working toward in the future?
MC: Just heading forward with the expansion strategy. It's a lot for us to enter new markets and to make sure that we don't lose focus looking at things that we can't really control or forecast. We’ll just do what we know, and that's building this book of business, making sure we launch all these new facilities on time with the correct support, and delivering the customers’ freight.
