Saia CEO: How We Built a National LTL Network & Cut Transit Times

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6}#fwtv_YHr94Xic0L4. fwtv-panel p{margin:0 0 12px}#fwtv_YHr94Xic0L4. fwtv-transcript p{margin:0 0 12px}SummaryView TranscriptSaia President and CEO, Fritz Holzgrefe, shares insights into the current LTL freight market, including customer sentiment and Saia’s strategic network expansion.

Discover how Saia’s investment in new terminals and workforce is cutting transit times, offering unparalleled service, and driving growth in competitive markets across the U. S. Holzgrefe also discusses navigating inflationary costs and balancing wage increases while maintaining a focus on customer value.

#LTL #FreightMarket #SupplyChainSaia has opened 70 terminals since 2017 as part of a deliberate, multiyear organic expansion that CEO Fritz Holzreif says is still far from its full potential.

Since 2023 alone, the carrier has added close to 40 new locations and replaced or relocated another 30 facilities — a pace of physical network transformation that Holzreif said no other LTL carrier has matched in the same period. The buildout matters because it has unlocked transit lanes Saia could not previously offer.

Customers can now ship freight from Trenton, N. J. , to Texas markets in three days, Holzreif noted — a direct result of the denser footprint. “Customers are coming to us and say, ‘Oh, fantastic, you can now get my freight from Trenton, New Jersey to Texas markets in 3 days,'” he said. “That’s significant. We couldn’t do that historically.”

“We are early innings of tapping the full potential of this business,” Holzreif said, adding that the roughly 40 facilities opened since 2023 have not yet reached the profitability or density levels the company believes they can achieve. The network strategy has coincided with market share gains in Saia’s own backyard.

The carrier added two terminals in the Atlanta metro following a customer-proximity model and has doubled its market share in that market over roughly five years.

Saia’s current operating ratio stands at 86, though Holzreif said that figure understates performance in the carrier’s longer-established facilities and that the company has significant room to improve returns across its newer terminals. On pricing, Saia pushed through a general rate increase in July.

Holzreif described customer reaction as largely in line with expectations — frustration with inflation but acceptance tied to service quality. “Customers are like, ‘You’re doing a great job. We don’t like the inflationary nature of what you’re having to do, but at the same time, we understand,'” he said.

The carrier also issued two wage increases over the past year, delaying the first to Oct. 1 before returning to its normal schedule with a July 1 increase, which Holzreif framed as a necessary investment in retaining what he called the best team in the business.

Customer sentiment surveys Saia conducts each quarter show sustained optimism heading into the second half of the year. After the first quarter, customers polled by the carrier expected the back half of the year to strengthen — and that view had not changed in the survey conducted after the second quarter, Holzreif said.

He sees shippers moving from gauging market conditions to actively selecting which LTL partners they want to grow with. Holzreif, who previously served as Saia’s CFO before moving into the CEO role, said the transition gave him a fuller view of how sales, operations, and financial discipline interconnect.

The 102-year-old carrier’s expansion traces back to 2017, when it began pushing into the Northeast, and accelerated when a competitor exited the LTL market, creating what Holzreif described as a generational real estate opportunity that helped Saia speed up its terminal acquisition pace.

Saia has opened 70 terminals since 2017 and nearly 40 since 2023, while also replacing or relocating about 30 more facilities in the same recent period. The expanded network now enables transit times such as Trenton, N. J.

, to Texas in three days — a lane Saia could not previously serve — and has doubled market share in the Atlanta metro over roughly five years. Saia issued a July general rate increase and two wage increases over the past year, with the CEO