Freight transfer station opening delayed

By Tim Trainor - 11/20/2008

Old Dominion logo

A freight transfer station scheduled to open next month has been delayed until February.

The terminal, which will be operated by Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., will employ five people and be used as a "break point" for tractor-trailers driving from the Pacific Northwest to the south and east.

Bell-Mont Properties is building the facility for Old Dominion on 20 acres in the tax increment financing district, also called a TIFID, 10 miles southwest of Butte near the Port of Montana.

Old Dominion's Montana operations manager Rob Haney said the company had originally projected (the terminal) would be open by Christmas, "but now it's looking more like February." The 24-door facility will replace the three-door operation that was Bob's Pickup and Delivery at 2941 Wynne Ave. There was not enough room at that location for an expansion, so the company decided to head to the TIFID.

Brothers Raymond and Randy Bell, co-owners of Bell-Mont, sold portions of Bob's Pickup and Delivery to Old Dominion earlier this year. They will own and develop the property and lease it to Old Dominion.

Bruce White, Butte's terminal manager for North Carolina-based Old Dominion, said the office is anxious for the building to be completed.

They are currently located in the old Safeway building in what White describes as "our little toll booth of an office." White said the Butte facility will be a major hub, and that "anything coming up from Salt Lake or from Seattle" will pass through the transfer station. When it arrives, the cargo will be sorted and rearranged in trucks heading east to Minneapolis and Chicago, or south towards Texas.

He said the company employs five people in Butte, one line haul driver and four office employees. He said "a couple" more employees would be needed once the new building is operational.

"We want to grow that number as business picks up," said Haney.

Both Haney and White said times are tough for the freight industry, but that the company is well positioned to outlast a down economy.

"When consumer spending is down, it brings the trucking industry down," said White. "But we'll get through it and this facility will make us a more efficient company." Reporter Tim Trainor can be reached at 496-5519 and tim.trainor@lee.net.