(The following article by Urvaksh Karkaria was posted on the Journal Gazette website on January 20.)
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Triple Crown Services Co. will invest more than $21 million as it doubles its Fort Wayne terminal and maintenance center and begins service in the Minneapolis area.
The Fort Wayne company’s expansion will create about 25 jobs, including 15 in Fort Wayne, company president James Newton said Monday.
Triple Crown, 2720 Dupont Commerce Court, a subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Corp., employs about 235 companywide, including about 190 in Fort Wayne. The company, which serves customers in the Eastern, Midwestern and Southern United States and parts of Canada, reported 2003 annual revenues of nearly $225 million.
The expansion is expected to increase the company’s annual sales by about $60 million by 2006.
The company plans to spend most of the investment in acquiring 800 RoadRailer trailers and 250 rail bogeys – the wheel assemblies on which the trailers ride.
In less than 10 minutes, the double-duty trailers can be detached from a truck cab, put on a set of railway wheels and converted into railroad cars. The trailers are made by Lafayette-based Wabash National Corp.
The company’s Fort Wayne terminal and maintenance center, which employs about 45 including mechanics, will increase by 6,000 square feet. Triple Crown will invest $800,000 in expanding the center, which will include new trailer and bogie maintenance bays, Newton said. Construction is expected to begin in March and be completed this summer.
The last major expansion for the 18-year-old company was in 1997 when it expanded to the Dallas area. The company invested about $12 million in that expansion.
The local terminal is the staging area for freight picked up and delivered within 100 miles of Fort Wayne. The maintenance operation services the Triple Crown RoadRailer fleet.
Triple Crown has outgrown its service center and has had to outsource some of its fleet maintenance, Newton said.
“Our fleet has exceeded the capacity of the shop,” he said.
Also, the quality of the Fort Wayne workforce is the best and warrants the local expansion, Newton said.
Triple Crown is seeking a tax abatement on the building improvements from the city of Fort Wayne. The abatement could result in about $86,000 in tax savings over 10 years.
The company will also expand its service network into the Minneapolis area. Triple Crown plans to begin operations in Minneapolis within the next two months and to have a new terminal in operation by midyear.
The opening of the Minneapolis terminal will bring the total number of terminals in the Triple Crown service network to 12 in the United States and two in Canada.
The Minneapolis market is underserved and generates freight Triple Crown is good at handling, Newton said.
“Many of our customers have asked us to serve that market for them,” he said.
Triple Crown’s expansion carries extra weight because logistics is a key area for projected job growth in this area, said Rob Young, president of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance.
“The strongest statement an employer can make is reinvesting in its business and in its community,” Young said. “And that’s exactly what’s happening here with Triple Crown, in addition to (the company) expanding its network.”