ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080055
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Overnite Transportation Co. is laying off as many as 1,000 employees nationwide because of declining traffic and depressed freight rates, company officials said Thursday.
Richmond-based Overnite, which has 14,000 employees at more than 170 terminals, will lay off at least 600 employees, said company spokeswoman Molly Remes. The layoffs began Monday. Overnite is a unit of Union Pacific Corp. of Bethlehem, Pa.
``This is an industrywide phenomenon. The entire industry financially is down significantly,'' James D. Douglas, president and chief operating officer, said Wednesday.
Douglas said the layoffs are being spread among the ranks, from high-level managers to office workers and drivers. They include salaried and hourly employees.
The layoffs will not affect Overnite's terminal in Roanoke, which employs 80 people, said Jerry Gallimore, the terminal manager.
Overnite is one of the nation's largest carriers in the less-than-truckload sector. Less-than-truckload haulers consolidate loads from several customers aboard their trucks.
Such companies have been squeezed over the past year. Weak companies desperate for business have driven rates down for all carriers. Package companies such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express, meanwhile, have captured a growing share of the profitable market for shipping high-value, time-sensitive goods.
Overnite, once the country's most profitable less-than-truckload company, has been hit hard. It lost $10 million in 1995, compared with profits of $64 million the year before. The company also is involved in a battle with the Teamsters union, which is trying to organize Overnite drivers nationwide.
Staff writer Greg Edwards contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines KEYWORDS: JOBCHEKby CNB