Trucking company will expand in Vandalia

Tax incentive credited for Dayton Freight Lines project, 51 jobs.

Dayton Freight Lines is launch

ing an expansion in Vandalia, expecting to create 51 new fulltime jobs on Poe Avenue.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved a 1.383 percent, seven-year “job creation tax credit” for the project, Gov. John Kasich’s office announced Monday.

The expansion is expected to generate $3 million in new annual payroll while retaining $11.2 million in existing payroll.

Ohio apparently was competing with other states for the expansion. According to a “scope of work” document from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, Dayton Freight has “a sizable office in Tempe, Ariz., where the back-of-

fice positions could easily be added or an option to grow its Indianapolis office. The tax credit is a major factor in the company’s decision to expand in Ohio.”

Dayton Freight’s investment would be toward acquiring and renovating an existing building, the state said.

Based at 6450 Poe Ave., Dayton Freight Lines is a freight carrier with 50 service centers across the Midwest. The company opened its first service center in Dayton in 1981, its second the next year in Cincinnati, and others in Chicago and Columbus in 1985.

A message seeking comment was left with Mike Cronin, Dayton Freight’s executive vice president.

Kevin Burch, president of Dayton’s Jet Express, another local freight company, said Dayton Freight has a “rocksolid” reputation in the Midwest and beyond.

“They understand marketing,” said Burch, who serves as chairman of American Trucking Associations. “They understand what customer services takes.”

Dayton Freight leaders study equipment and industry trends to make sure they’re making the correct business decision before execution, Burch said.

“I know their beginnings,” he said. “I know how they got started. They understand what hard work is. They’re just good people. And they’re typical of trucking people — they give back to the community.”

Founded in the early 1980s, with nearly 4,000 employees today, the company is a significant player in Midwest transportation and trucking. The business hauls freight mainly in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan and elsewhere, extending service to all of the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Guam.

The Dayton Freight fleet includes 1,310 tractors and 3,109 trailers, and its web site says that “98.60 percent” of all its shipments arrive on time, with 99.8 percent of all shipments getting to their destinations claims-free.

Vandalia officials are overseeing more than one sizable business expansion at the moment. Last week, Montgomery County commissioners approved a $70,000 grant to fund the expansion of an existing “advanced manufacturing” company, also in Vandalia.

The company’s identity in that project, codenamed “Project Bullseye,” has been shielded so far. The project won approval for a $70,000 Montgomery County Economic Development/Government Equity (ED/GE) grant.

That company was considering a total investment of about $40 million, Vandalia Assistant City Manager Greg Shackleford told this news outlet. The company would be committing to 35 new full-time jobs with an average annual salary of $80,000, he said.

But the company behind Project Bullseye is not Dayton Freight, a city of Vandalia said Monday.

“Bullseye is completely different, I can tell you that,” said Rich Hopkins, communications manager for Vandalia.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority on Monday also approved credits for two projects in Columbus.