A Reflection on the Year Past & Year Incoming
Contributed by: Dan Vander Pol, Co-President
As we reflect back on a very unique year in which there were some great highs, but also some very low lows.
We endured the loss of our leader, David Vander Pol, who left big shoes to fill and a legacy of great work ethic, faith, and vision. You have our commitment that we will continue to make Oak Harbor a great place to work and strive every day to do what is best for our team.
We will think about our four core values whenever making big decisions:
- Family Comes First
- Expect Exceptionalism
- Take Care of the Customer
- Leaders Lead from the Front
I would like to highlight some great things that happened this past year. The biggest being the opening of our first Arizona terminal in Phoenix. Thanks to a lot of hard work by our team, the opening went extremely smooth and freight levels have climbed steadily. This opening was largely driven by the fact that the company that was previously hauling our AZ freight was not providing the service that our customers desired. By opening our own terminal in AZ, we will be Bringing Peace of Mind to customers in AZ for a long time to come.
We moved to an improved facility in Bakersfield. This gave us more doors and more yard space to operate and has helped save time on our linehaul due to improved efficiencies.
We also completed a 24 door addition onto our Reno facility. They had been operating at capacity for a while and when we had a large shipper open up a facility there, we new expansion was needed. This came on just in time to give us much needed room to operate and grow in the Reno market.
We have many other projects in the works that will continue to make Oak Harbor the best in the business. A brief list of the projects we will be working on next year are:
1. Building a new terminal in Redding, CA
2. Paving the lot North of the terminal in Portland, OR
3. Building a new terminal in Olympia, WA
4. Building a new terminal in Patterson, CA
5. Adding 16 doors onto our Pasco, WA terminal
6. Continue to investigate opening up in Salt Lake City, UT
It is likely we will get the Redding terminal done, pave the Portland lot, complete the Pasco addition and open up in Salt Lake in 2022. The other projects will take longer to complete.
I would like to personally thank all of our great employees for the hard work they put in this past year. Your great work has made this year a success for Oak Harbor Freight Lines and all our customers that rely on us every day. I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas season and a Happy New Year!
