Con-way Freight announced today, Nov. 5, that it is substantially increasing its capacity in the Northern Illinois area with construction of two major new facilities in LaSalle and Rockford. The less-than-truckload freight carrier held groundbreaking ceremonies today at the sites in LaSalle and the Rockford suburb of Cherry Valley, marking the start of construction at both locations.
In LaSalle, the company is building a 220-door Freight Assembly Center (FAC), while in Cherry Valley construction of a 110-door local operating location is already under way. The facilities represent a local investment of more than $27.5 million, and respond to needs for expansion as growing freight volumes exceed capacity at existing facilities. Once the facilities are completed, the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company expects to increase local employment by more than 35 positions between the two sites.
The expanded Rockford facility more than doubles capacity to 110 dock doors and will be able to process more than 650,000 pounds of freight each day. Initially, Con-way Freight expects to add up to 10 additional driver sales representatives with the opening of the expanded facility bringing the total number of area employees to nearly 80.
The LaSalle facility will provide two important functions for the company. During the day, it will serve as the local operating location for more than 250 businesses in the Greater LaSalle area, providing pickup and delivery of shipments. At night, it will function as one of Con-way’s largest FACs in the country, processing more than 60 million pounds of freight annually. The LaSalle FAC serves as a strategic central re-ship location where trucks arrive nightly from cities in 10 states across the Midwest. At the center, over a period of hours, more than 1,000 heavy-freight shipments are processed as trucks are reloaded and then dispatched back to their home cities, providing next-day service. LaSalle becomes the 80th FAC in the Con-way Freight network.
Construction on both facilities is expected to last about one year, with freight processing scheduled to begin at the facilities in early 2009.
