Trucking Firm Expands in Emporia
Absolute Transport building a terminal
By Bobbi Mlynar
Saturday, March 24, 2007
A Phoenix, Ariz.-based broker and trucking company plans to expand its operations in Emporia, with a goal of eventually providing work for about 300 people. Many of them will live in or near this area.
Mary Condit, operations manager for Absolute Transport in Phoenix, said on Friday that a new building soon to be constructed outside Emporia will house dispatch, maintenance and trucks to serve customers across the country.
Ron McCoy has been working in Emporia as an agent for the brokerage side of the company and also is running trucking operations, Condit said. He will continue in those roles.
McCoy — not to be confused with Ron McCoy, ESU history professor — graduated from Emporia High School in 1975, received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Emporia State University in 1978, and completed his Master’s of Business Administration in 1993.
The history-oriented Ron McCoy came to ESU when the business-major Ron McCoy was a graduate assistant.
“Man, if that didn’t create a few interesting phone messages,” he said.
McCoy had operated his own trucking firm since 1993, and joined Absolute in July 2006. He expanded the firm’s cargo hauling to include refrigerated business, in addition to the dry loads, flat-bed hauling and other cargo Absolute already handled.
The increase in business and the central location, as well as access to highways, made Emporia an attractive site for a large operation, Condit said.
The new 12,000 square-foot building will be located at West Highway 50 and Road D, about two miles west of Deer Trail Implement’s new building, McCoy said. Dirt work already has been completed and crews are waiting for soil to dry so concrete can be poured.
Mitchell-Markowitz Builders will be contractor for the project, estimated to cost approximately $700,000 to $750,000.
Drivers and trucks will come from a combination of three sources, McCoy said. Absolute Transport has its own trucks and drivers, and several fleet owners have turned over their trucks to be managed and operated by Absolute.
“And of course, we will have owner-operator contractors as well,” McCoy said.
Advertising is underway to attract job applicants in Emporia and other parts of the country.
“Over the course of time, while initially you hire people from outlying areas, honestly, about two-thirds of our drivers either ended up coming from this area or in fact moving to this area, which is always a nice plus.”
McCoy said he was reluctant to make predictions, but he anticipates having 50 trucks operating out of the terminal by the end of summer.
With cooperation from the weather, the building project could be completed later in June. Surveys, zoning change and permits already have been secured, McCoy said, and applications to the county health department and the Kansas Department of Transportation are under consideration for a lagoon and highway access, respectively.
“The zoning’s all done and all of the rest of the permits are in place already,” he said. “We need about a week of warm weather and we’ll be ready to fly.”