Dive Brief:
- XPO Logistics will open two new LTL terminal sites in Adelanto, California and Conley, Georgia, the company announced Monday, part of its wider LTL capacity growth plans.
- The California terminal is slated to open this month with 99 doors and a freight assembly center. The Georgia terminal is expected to open in May with 97 doors, as a companion site to XPO’s existing terminal and freight assembly center in Atlanta.
- The new facilities aim to increase capacity in the growing Southern California and Atlanta areas, as the company leans into its most in-demand markets.
Dive Insight:
Acting XPO President Mario Harik called the new terminals "strategic investments to optimize our network for the long-term."
"In California, demand is on the rise from manufacturing and retail expansion in the High Desert area. Atlanta is one of the largest LTL regions in the South, and a freight gateway into Florida," Harik said in a statement. "We’ll continue to add capacity where it will be most effective in driving efficiency, growth and returns."
The California terminal will increase XPO's capacity in San Bernardino County, where the company has seen an influx in demand for LTL services amid rising development, Harik said. In Georgia, the site will add pickup-and-delivery capacity in a high-volume metropolitan area.
The new terminal centers are the latest arm of XPO's five-point LTL expansion strategy that the company launched last October. The plan, which focuses on improving network efficiency, includes a call for adding 900 net new doors, a 6% increase in capacity, by the end of 2023.
The California and Georgia terminals bring the cumulative net new door count under the plan to 345, according to the press release. XPO now has 294 terminals nationwide with its newest additions, according to an XPO spokesperson.
XPO last opened new LTL terminals in Wisconsin and Arkansas in January of this year, adding 50 new doors to its network. Those openings came months after XPO launched a 150,000-square-foot LTL service center in the Chicago area to meet rising e-commerce demand.
XPO has been all in on LTL service in recent months. In March, the company announced plans to spin off its its brokered transportation services from its LTL business in North America, making XPO a pure-play LTL.
In a February investor Q&A, XPO executives said the company's LTL strategy is now focused on low-risk investments in door capacity in markets with strong demand, including Southern California and Atlanta.
"Our door expansion is a multi-year strategy of gaining market share and pivoting toward growth," executives said. "We’ll add doors in markets where we’re seeing growth in demand. We already cover 99% of all zip codes, so we have to analyze what our customers need in specific markets."
