Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022:
Stoughton expanding to increase intermodal chassis production
Stoughton Trailers announced its plan for expanded intermodal chassis production. In 2022, the company will begin manufacturing chassis products in Waco, Texas.
The new Waco facility will add additional chassis capacity to Stoughton’s already expanding chassis production capacity in Wisconsin. In December of 2021, Stoughton installed a new chassis production line at its Stoughton, Wisconsin facility.
As part of its future chassis production plan, Stoughton purchased a parcel of land in Waco and is building a new manufacturing facility to further expand chassis production capacity and tap into alternative labor markets.
The construction of the Waco facility is already underway and expected to be completed quickly. The company anticipates moving equipment into the new facility by March and beginning chassis manufacturing by early second quarter.
When the Waco, Stoughton, and Evansville facilities are operating at capacity, the collective output of all three facilities will increase the run rate to approximately 20,000 to 25,000 chassis per year, hitting that rate by September 2022.
“The new Waco facility and Stoughton production line will help fulfill our customer production commitments for 2022 and beyond,” said Bob Wahlin, President & CEO, Stoughton. “By the end of 2022, the company will have invested $25 million dollars expanding our chassis production capacity. These investments would not have been possible without the remedial relief provided by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on chassis from China. I would like to thank our facilities, operations and chassis team members for their hard work to date on these important projects.”
The new Waco location provides Stoughton Trailers with convenient access to the many seaports, rail yards and chassis customer locations in the southern tier of the United States.
J.B. Hunt paid nearly $10M in bonuses in 2021
J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. (CCJ Top 250, No. 3) recently announced it paid nearly $10 million in appreciation bonuses to company drivers, maintenance technicians, and full-time hourly employees in 2021.
“This year, our drivers and frontline employees have gone the extra mile to honor our commitments and meet the needs of customers,” said John Roberts, president and CEO of J.B. Hunt. “We wanted to express our gratitude for their dedication to making J.B. Hunt the industry leader it is today.”
Earlier in 2021, J.B. Hunt celebrated its 60th anniversary. In October, the company recognized 116 drivers for achieving two, three, four, and five million miles driven without a preventable accident, awarding more than $1.6 million in safe driver bonuses.
