1920s...

The A. Duie Pyle Company was founded in 1924 by Mr. Alexander Duie Pyle, who began a 90 plus year relationship with his first customer, Lukens Steel (now Cleveland-Cliffs). Located in Coatesville, PA, Pyle started on its journey toward becoming a highly-reputable company in a fiercely competitive industry by offering LTL, Truckload and Warehousing throughout the region.

Duie and his wife, Mary Ellen, ran the business from their dining room in Coatesville, PA. Duie was the driver and mechanic, while Mary Ellen was the dispatcher and the bill collector. In June 1921, a daughter, Eleanor, was born providing additional incentive for the success of the fledgling business. As the company grew, Duie purchased more trucks and expanded the business into moving and storage, heavy hauling, and local pick-up and delivery services.

Annual Revenue Growth to $55,000.

1930s...

The Great Depression, which began in 1929, was devastating to individual businesses and local and national economies. Unemployment rates of 30% and the failure of thousands of banks threatened every company and family in the nation. These economic hardships and the challenges that they presented would be the overriding considerations of the 1930s.

Duie’s business struggled but his perseverance and work ethic prevailed. It was during this time, Duie purchased the operation of Handwork Feed Mill on North 2nd Ave. in Coatesville. He continued to operate the feed business and use the building as the company’s new office. It was conveniently located next to the storage warehouse on 2nd Ave, which he was leasing and later bought. By 1932, the company fleet had grown to 20 trucks.

In 1935 in an effort to stabilize the industry, the trucking and transportation industry was subjected to regulation under the Federal Motor Carrier Act. The company was “Grandfathered” under new Interstate Commerce Commission regulation. State regulation followed this Federal initiative.

Annual Revenue Growth to $97,000.

1940s...

In 1941, the war began in earnest for the U.S. Being a heavy manufacturing area, the Northeast boomed with demand for trucks and drivers to move raw materials and finished goods. Commercial vehicle production ceased as factories transitioned and retooled to produce military supplies. The draft and enlistments of millions of young men quickly drained the labor pool of available drivers. These factors combined created tremendous challenges for transportation companies. For in the face of growing demand, the industry lacked the ability to replace aging equipment and parts and hire enough drivers.

Duie’s company continued to grow through tough war-times. Through the company’s long relationship with Lukens Steel, Pyle helped to move urgent war materials, including materials used in the "Manhattan Project" which produced the Atomic Bomb and ended the war.

In December 1942, Duie and Mary Ellen’s daughter, Eleanor, married Jim Latta Jr, who was subsequently deployed to India and Burma for three long years.

The war ended in 1945. Mr. Pyle’s son-in-law, Jim Latta, returned to the U.S., left the Army and joined the company. As Mr. Pyle’s health began to fail, Jim took the helm to guide the Pyle Company through the next five decades.

Annual Revenue Growth to $443,000.

1950s...

In May 1952, the company was incorporated with its headquarters address being 131-141 East Chestnut St., Coatesville, PA. The company continued to grow driven by the tremendous post war demand for consumer goods and the demands of the Cold War. The steel hauling and other flatbed truckload activity along with household moving and storage were still the primary business activities. However, the general commodities hauling in both truckload and LTL began to expand.

In 1953, the company opened a terminal in Philadelphia, PA and later moved its LTL operation from Coatesville to Garfield Ave. in West Chester, PA. LTL and truckload operations were subject to regulation by the ICC for interstate and by the PA PUC for intrastate movements, so operating areas were subject to a laborious licensing process through these agencies.

Under the Eisenhower administration, construction of an interstate highway system was rapidly accelerated. This construction propelled the LTL industry into a period of extensive demand and expansion. In 1957, Pyle was one of the first carriers to innovate its operations through commercial two-way radio technology. Overnight delivery became synonymous with A. Duie Pyle’s LTL operations as the company grew its local LTL operation centered around Chester County, Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Annual Revenue Growth to $2,059,000.

1960s...

After moving the company to West Chester, Jim Latta expanded the business with the addition of two warehouse facilities in West Chester, PA. He closed the Philadelphia terminal and completed construction of a new truck terminal on Garfield Ave. in West Chester to replace the old World War II Quonset building. With several additions, this terminal served the company until 1987 when operations moved across town to Westtown Rd.

In addition to the two warehouses and trucking terminal constructed on Garfield Ave., a new furniture storage warehouse was constructed also on Garfield Ave. During the 60s, the flatbed/steel hauling operations still provided the majority of the company’s revenues with over two hundred company drivers and owner operators moving steel throughout the Northeast for Lukens Steel, Bethlehem Steel, and U.S. Steel. The company operated flatbed terminals in Coatesville, PA, Morrisville, PA, Baltimore, MD, and Buffalo, NY. The household moving and storage business continued as an important part of the business, while the LTL and commercial warehousing continued to grow.

During this time, all three of Jim Latta’s sons, Jimmy, Duie, and Peter, began their summer apprenticeships in the service garage, the warehouse, and on the dock learning the important building blocks of the business. Pete Reeser, Jim Gainor, Harry Smith, Dave Vernon and Henry Wahls insured the Latta boys had busy and informative summers.

The 1960s was a turbulent time for the nation. Many members of the Pyle company had family who responded to the call of duty and served their country honorably during this difficult time. The war time exigencies created increasing demand for goods and services which fed a growing economy. It was a busy time for the steel hauling operations and freight company.

Annual Revenue Growth to $4,348,000.

1970s...

Jim Latta reluctantly announced the closing of the company’s household moving business after a brief Teamsters strike. Household movings had been a key part of the company’s business since the 1920s.

Two of Jim Latta’s sons, Jimmy and Duie, joined the leadership ranks of the company. The company also enjoyed the service of three members of the Gainor family at this time. (Jimmy started in 1924, John Sr. in 1950 and John Jr. joined them during the decade.)

A large parcel of property was purchased near Parkesburg, PA for expansion of Pyle’s warehousing and transportation operations. Additional warehousing facilities were built along with a satellite terminal to support warehouse transportation and truckload van operations with the nearby Green Giant distribution center. By 1979 this location provided a warehouse operation with rail access and over 350,000 square feet of space for customers.

A new shop and maintenance garage were constructed on the Garfield Ave., West Chester, PA property and the old Quonset building was torn down.

Deregulation of the airline industry in 1977 preceded the deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980. There were ominous signals from the airline experience that warned of similar issues for trucking. The company was concerned……could it continue to operate successfully and profitably in the coming deregulated environment? This concern was shared with employees and their union representatives. The Teamsters Union refused the company’s requests for increased flexibility to cope with the coming industry changes and ordered a strike. During the next three months, Jim Latta’s sons and the management team continued to operate the warehouses and make deliveries. During the strike, a group of employees led by Reed Knox, Jim Calhoun, and George Herhei formed a “back to work committee.” Joined by a large following of disenchanted union members, they rebelled against union coercion and decertified the Teamsters Union as their representative in September 1979. In 1980, deregulation of interstate commerce became a reality. The company moved into the 1980s and into the deregulatory era as a union-free transportation and warehousing company. The path was now cleared for a union-free flexible entrepreneurial culture to emerge in a region dominated by union LTL carriers.

Annual Revenue Growth to $9,605,000.

1980s...

Following the 1980 deregulation of the transportation industry, A. Duie Pyle began to exercise its new flexibility and culture as a union-free entrepreneurial driven transportation and warehousing company. The tremendous commitment by all Pyle employees to these endeavors enabled the company to weather the economic and sales challenges resulting from deregulation of interstate operations in the trucking industry. Intrastate operations remained under state regulation until 1995. Also, the company began their “Annual Company Meetings,” a tradition which continues today.

Responding to the tremendous competitive pressures resulting from deregulation, Jim Latta charged his oldest son Jimmy with expanding the company’s sales force and marketing efforts. During this time, the company’s operating area within PA nearly doubled via a grant of new intrastate authority from the PA PUC which enabled Pyle to grow its intrastate operations to most of eastern PA. The resulting rapid growth via the enhanced sales and marketing efforts resulted in the construction of a new 100-door LTL terminal and headquarters on Westtown Road in West Chester, PA to accommodate the growing LTL business. The former LTL home on Garfield Ave. became a Pyle rental property.

A. Duie Pyle secured the 3M business as a core carrier and was invited to participate in their Quality Transportation Process. As a result of that experience, Pyle instituted a formalized Quality Process company-wide and established metrics to monitor these measures of quality.

Shippers began to “bid” their business against the LTL industry excess capacity resulting in rate wars and predatory pricing. “Discounting” became the prevalent pricing practice, and Overnite Transportation introduced the first blanket discount of 10% available to all shippers.

In 1989 and for the first time, A. Duie Pyle was selected by the readership of Distribution Magazine (later Logistics Management Magazine) as a “Quest for Quality Award” winner.

During this decade, carrier failures multiplied as over capacity, increased competition, “discounting” and predatory pricing took their toll on long established LTL and truckload carriers. As a result of its flexibility, A. Duie Pyle was successful in finding niches in equipment and service offerings that other carriers with rigid unionized “work rules” were unable to provide or perform. This helped insulate Pyle from some of the industry pressures and allowed for continued growth. However, the churning of business industry-wide was having a profound effect on the health of numerous carriers, accelerating trucking company failures and challenging even the most nimble and profitable carriers.

During this time, Jim Latta’s third son, Peter, entered the family business and became President and CEO of A. Duie Pyle, and the company opened Pyle Leasing to meet the equipment and trailer storage needs of local businesses.

Annual Revenue Growth to $22,066,000.

1990s...

As the company’s business continued to grow, more customers requested that the company expand its LTL operations beyond its single West Chester service center service area. Deregulation continued to drive the legacy unionized carriers, with their higher costs and inefficient practices, out of business. A nationwide month long Teamster strike in 1994 awoke many shippers to their vulnerability, and they began a frantic search for “union-free” capacity. This created more demand and opportunity for flexible and efficient union-free carriers to expand operations. A. Duie Pyle began two decades of expansion throughout the Northeast.

In 1991, Kevin Gearin joined the company as VP of Operations, an important step in the company’s future plans to become a “regional carrier.”

In 1994, the company was still operating from a single LTL terminal in West Chester PA, but competitive and customer pressures were escalating to expand beyond the historic single terminal footprint. The decision was made to expand beyond this single terminal niche and into a more defensible position as a regional carrier providing comprehensive Northeast coverage. In the coming years, the company would offer full LTL coverage in 8 states including PA, NY, NJ, DE, MD, CT, MA and RI and parts of ME, NH, OH, VA and VT. A. Duie Pyle added 8 service centers during this time, starting with its second service center in Edison, NJ in 1994 to service the challenging needs of New York City and the surrounding New York/New Jersey metro area. This limited operation would later be relocated to a 106-door facility in Carteret, NJ in 1998 to meet the needs of the company’s growing customer base. The Carteret service center would later play an integral part in the Import/Export business and the Caribbean service offering.

During this time frame, A. Duie Pyle expanded its truckload van division to encompass most of the Northeast, while the flatbed division continued to serve Pyle’s legacy customers. The company added an additional 250,000 square feet of warehousing space in King of Prussia, PA, and launched ADP Logistics, its 3PL division, with the signing of its first logistics customer, Conrail Corporation.

During this decade, Pyle became the first LTL carrier to employ fleet-wide satellite communications through deployment of Qualcomm technology. Later investments in technology included document imaging and Pyle proprietary Dashboard-to-Desktop™ which provided customers with nearly instantaneous response to inquiries and shipment status. Utilization of radio frequency (RF)/bar code scanning was also initiated within the warehousing operations during this period. In conjunction with achieving many milestones in technology and safety, Pyle launched a formal “National Account” program when Wally Heinbach joined the company. He and Jim Latta crisscrossed the country calling on National Account decision makers. Wally also provided direction to the company’s growing Truckload business.

Legacy carriers like St. Johnsbury, Preston, North Penn, and Vallerie’s continued to fail as the industry struggled with excess capacity and predatory pricing.

In 1998, A. Duie Pyle established a partnership with Southeastern Freight Lines (SEFL) and offered extended coverage beyond the Northeast to its customers. The company would later form a partnership with Dayton Freight (DFL) for extended Midwest coverage. During this time, the company’s fourth warehouse facility was built adjacent to the West Chester service center property, and an additional warehouse facility with 570,000 square feet was purchased in Parkesburg, PA in conjunction with the sale of the King of Prussia warehouse.

A. Duie Pyle closed out a decade of growth by expanding its LTL coverage area into the eastern Canadian Provinces through a strategic carrier partnership with Midland Transport. The Canadian coverage would be subsequently expanded to all provinces and territories via a relationship with Concord Transportation for western Canada.

All three of the company’s principal business units (LTL, Truckload, and Warehousing) celebrated numerous awards for consistent service performance over the 10-year span. Recognition came from various customers throughout the Northeast, including Avery International, Ashland Chemical, The Scotts Company, PPG, E. I. DuPont, 3M, Nalco Chemical, Reynolds Metals, Appleton Paper and York International.

The 1990s proved to be a decade of marketplace recognition for A. Duie Pyle and a growing awareness among shippers of Pyle’s solid reputation for quality service, innovation, and resilience through Northeast weather and complexity. Throughout the decade, A. Duie Pyle continued what has become an annual tradition. Beginning in 1989, the company has been a continuous Logistics Management Magazine’s annual “Quest for Quality Award” winner for service excellence. This annual award is the result of a scientific opinion poll conducted by the magazine’s independent research firm. A. Duie Pyle upholds this annual distinctive honor through the present day.

Annual Revenue Growth to $113,990,000.

2000s...

This decade marked continued growth in the Northeast for A. Duie Pyle and its ascendance as the #1 Service Regional LTL carrier in the Northeast.

A. Duie Pyle added more service centers to its expanding infrastructure, including York, PA, Pittsburgh, PA and Streetsboro, OH. The company also completed construction of the Albany service center. By 2003, Pyle had built its twelfth service center in Southington, CT. Two years later the company opened a new Syracuse, NY service center and acquired a warehouse facility on a large campus in Westfield, MA, adding 460,000 square feet to its then current inventory of warehouse space. Pyle also began partnering with Dayton Freight (DFL), thus expanding the LTL reach into the Midwest with another solid family owned LTL partner. Russ Miceli joined the company as VP of Sales and Marketing, and the company expanded its Field Sales program.

Five years later, the company completed a $30 million expansion project in New England via the opening of a Johnston, RI service center and a service center in Northborough, MA – considered one of the most advanced and largest regional LTL service centers in New England. By 2008, Pyle offered nearly two million square feet of public and contract warehousing space, with the opening of a New Castle, DE warehouse. The company quickly exceeded that milestone with the 2009 ground-breaking of a second warehouse facility on its Westfield, MA campus. During this same year, the company’s warehousing staff received the “Warehouse of the Year Award” from The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Marysville OH, for the third successive year. Truckload Solutions also received the “Truckload Carrier of the Year Award” from The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.

As A. Duie Pyle geared up to celebrate 80 years of service in 2004, it advanced the employment of technology for customers. The company introduced “MyPyle,” a secure website for customers, and launched its Dashboard-to-Desktop™, which offered customers the most advanced real-time shipment tracking technology available, including Advance Delivery Notification. A. Duie Pyle quickly became the only regional LTL carrier in the country to provide this level of advanced shipment visibility and reporting for its customers. Two years later, CIO Magazine presented A. Duie Pyle with “The CIO 100 Award” for bold initiatives in demonstrating the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in IT.

The industry continued to consolidate with the demise of APA, Red Star, Consolidated Freightways, and other legacy Teamster carriers.

In 2005, the Pyle Company received the ATA’s most prestigious safety award available to motor carriers in the United States, the “American Trucking Association President’s Trophy Award,” which is an award the company would win again in 2009, 2013 and 2017.

Owner Peter Latta transitioned to Chairman of the Board and 30-year industry veteran Steve O’Kane joined the team as President of A. Duie Pyle in 2006. Steve had previously served as president of New Penn over a New Penn career that spanned 30 years.

In 2007, A. Duie Pyle’s Director of Loss Prevention, Peter Dannecker, received the American Trucking Association’s prestigious “Safety Director of the Year Award”. During this same time, the company was also awarded the “New York State Carrier of the Year Award” for safety.

In 2007, A. Duie Pyle added Independent Directors to its Board as it attempts to gain additional perspective and expertise to guide the company’s continued growth and to lay the groundwork for generational owner succession.

By 2009, 40 drivers were recognized for achieving one million miles of safe, accident-free driving. Four of these drivers hit the two million mile mark. A. Duie Pyle’s success in raising the safety standards in the Northeast was driven by an initiative that began in 2003 with the opening of the Truck Driving Academy at the West Chester campus. This academy offers truck driving positions at Pyle to all students who complete the most rigorous safety training program available in the Northeast. Through this unique 10-week training candidates are compensated while attending classroom and highway instruction. The Pyle Truck Driving Academy continues to train driver candidates in safety, customer service and on-the road driving skills. This program has produced over 225 A. Duie Pyle drivers to date who are fully versed in all aspects of the business.

During this time, A. Duie Pyle was accepted into the “Responsible Care® Program” by the American Chemistry Council (ACC). In 2009, A. Duie Pyle became the first LTL carrier in the United States to receive the “LTL Carrier of the Year” award from BASF, the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world.

In early 2009, A. Duie Pyle acquired seven LTL service centers in a purchase-leaseback transaction with YRCW and New Penn. The first of these service centers, Altoona PA, was put into Pyle service after upgrades to the property and facility were completed.

In August 2009, A. Duie Pyle was recognized as a “SmartWay Transport Partner” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for commitment to improve the environmental performance of transportation operations.

In November 2009, A. Duie Pyle completed construction of a 245,000 square foot warehouse with indoor rail siding on the Westfield, Massachusetts campus. This opening becomes A. Duie Pyle’s seventh warehouse facility, increasing total warehousing operations in the Northeast to over two million square feet.

The book “The First 85 Years – A History of A. Duie Pyle, Inc. 1924-2009” is published, and the company re-brands with a new logo.

Annual Revenue Growth to $207,553,000.

2010s...

In the Fall of 2010, A. Duie Pyle began solar installation at the Parkesburg, PA warehouse campus. Over 4,000 solar panels were installed, allowing this 570,000 square foot facility to run on 100% Solar Energy.

Serious and extensive upgrades began in 2011 on the Allentown, PA Service Center with the opening in October. In this same year, A. Duie Pyle attained certification under the Responsible Care® Program and was named “Responsible Care Partner of the Year”. Technology upgrades and security enhancements included the purchase of the Descartes Route Planning Optimization Software and the migration of all servers from the corporate office in West Chester to offsite data centers.

In 2013 the company formalized the Customized Solutions Group which encompassed Truckload/Brokerage, Custom Dedicated, and Warehousing & Distribution. This group, headed by Keary Mueller, capitalizes on the synergies and flexibility enabled through the extensive infrastructure and equipment resources of the company and most importantly the culture, enthusiasm and commitment of the Pyle people. Pyle’s operating expertise in the Northeast provided the perfect base for expanding dedicated and brokerage services. The eighth warehouse was added to Pyle’s total inventory adjoining the Westfield, MA campus and providing additional rail served warehousing. Steve O’Kane retired as president of A. Duie Pyle having made many significant contributions during his tenure of service with the company. Randy Swart was named Steve’s successor and will operate LTL Solutions as it continues to grow and acquire greater market share within the Northeast.

The severe winter and record setting low temperatures of 2013-2014 enabled the company to further differentiate from other carriers via its asset based Protect From Freezing (PFF) Service.

In July 2014, A. Duie Pyle opened the Baltimore, MD Service Center. This facility extended the company’s LTL footprint into Northern Virginia. Rolling stock was increased with the purchase of over 110 Freightliner and Volvo tractors and over 170 new trailers, including 81 heated trailers bringing the Pyle heated trailer fleet to over 440 of its 2,000 units. Pyle also implemented a new fleet maintenance software system and introduced aerodynamic side skirts on the 53’ Line Haul trailers to enhance fuel economy.

In the first quarter of 2015, A. Duie Pyle opened a first-of-its-kind Logistics Center in Westampton, NJ. The 32-acre campus included over 100 doors for progressive loading and unloading and more than 132,000 square feet of warehousing space. A new companywide Dock Management System (DMS) replaced a paper based process with mobile touch screen devices. The flexible system allows for future development to match the ever changing needs of Pyle customers. Manual automated transmissions became a fleet standard while Pyle also began implementing additional fleet safety features including lane departure warning sensors and forward facing cameras.

During the second quarter of 2015 the 56 door Wilkes-Barre, PA Service Center opened with room to grow as capacity is needed. Pyle’s first Leadership Development Program graduates finished their program in May of 2015 and were deployed throughout the Pyle network. June marked the retirement of Jim Latta, one of three 3rd generation owners, after 42 years of dedicated service to the company and whose presence will be missed. Pyle’s investment in facilities and the environment continued with the opening of the environmentally-friendly Allentown, PA shop. Bays are lit by natural sunlight fed into the facility rather than overhead lighting. A large pool beneath the facility has the ability to collect 250,000 gallons of runoff water and return it back into the ground supply.

In September 2015 Brian Singelais won the Tank Truck Division at the 2015 American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) National Truck Driving Championship in St. Louis, MO. Singelais has been a driver with Pyle for over a decade.

In 2016 Pyle announced the opening of a new transportation service center in Newburgh, NY about 60 miles north of New York City to serve customers throughout the Hudson Valley. Container chassis were purchased and implemented into the Carteret, NJ operation for movement of shipping containers in and out of the ports of New York and New Jersey.

At the end of 2016 and during 2017, 71 Express Solutions vehicles were rolled out. These 18’ non CDL liftgate equipped straight trucks are used to support the expansion of E-commerce, residential deliveries and same day services.

2017 began with the opening of a new service center in Portland, ME and the introduction of MobileComm Handheld units for P&D drivers. A simple photo of the Bill of Lading goes directly to the new billing workflow application before the driver returns to the service center. These new processes increased billing velocity resulting in earlier availability for Linehaul and inbound planning processes. Pyle also invested in electric powered pallet jacks for handling heavy freight, helping to improve efficiency of dock operations at all service centers. In June, Billy Latta joined the company and after completing the Leadership Development Program, he moved into a Custom Dedicated role. Construction on the Bronx, NY service center was completed in the fourth quarter. Frank Granieri was named Pyle’s COO of Custom Dedicated and Warehouse & Distribution service offerings.

Thanks to the tireless commitment and perseverance of everyone involved, in January of 2018 Pyle officially opened its Bronx, NY service center on the East River in Hunts Point. The 77 door cross-dock facility further strengthened Pyle’s AM delivery and pickup capabilities in the New York metro and Long Island regions while increasing freight velocity and flexibility for the company’s many New York metro clients. With the addition of this facility into Pyle’s dense network, the company becomes uniquely positioned for reducing the impacts of congestion carriers often experience entering and exiting the city. Approximately 100 new Pyle team members come on board as a result.

The resolve of the whole Pyle team was tested in the late Winter of 2018 as four Nor’Easters directly impacted the Northeast in less than a month in March. Ever resilient and prepared, the Pyle team overcame the unprecedented challenges and continued providing exceptional service amidst building bill count levels. Surmounting these obstacles underscored Pyle’s operational excellence within the challenging Northeastern landscape and lent further credence to Pyle’s claim as being best equipped and unmatched within its primary service territory.

After 10 years of service, COO Randy Swart retired at the end of April 2018. Swart contributed greatly to Pyle, and under his leadership the company accomplished many strategic initiatives and materially advanced the Pyle Team’s cause. The leadership transition sees John Luciani assume the role as COO of LTL Solutions, while Frank Granieri maintained his role as COO of Pyle’s Dedicated, Brokerage and W&D segments.

The capacity issues within the industry attract increasingly more national media coverage as the spotlight is focused squarely upon the worsening driver shortage. In this climate, Pyle moved forward with initiatives for creating more quality capacity for its customers with a number of expansion projects. Construction began at Pyle’s Albany, NY, location, which will double the size of the service center to approximately 80 doors. Expansion into the Hagerstown, MD region begins with the opening of a 21 door service center, with plans underway in the region for an 80 door integrated facility with 200,000 square feet of warehouse space. The Hagerstown expansion will help alleviate capacity pressures from the York, Baltimore and Altoona service centers while enhancing Pyle’s service footprint. Additionally, land is purchased and plans are developed for the construction of a similar facility in Portland, ME.

On April 15th, 2019, Pyle celebrated 95 years within the transportation and logistics industry as a number of initiatives aimed at securing the company’s future progressed.

2019 proved to be a year of expansion and development for Pyle as numerous service center projects broke ground and saw their completion. Among these was the opening of a sixteen door service center in Burlington, VT, new service centers in Saco, ME, and Concord, NH, and doubling the number of doors at the Albany, NY Service Center. Pyle also relocated its Newburgh Service Center from a leased site to a larger, company-owned location.

Significant progress continued toward the construction of the Hagerstown Integrated Logistics Center. In response to early demand for the Hagerstown site, Pyle leased 150K sq. ft. of space in the area.

2019 also saw Pyle joining with two new partners, Speedy Transport for service to Eastern Canada and Oak Harbor Freight Lines for service to the West Coast. The partnership with Oak Harbor marked Pyle’s first venture in servicing shippers’ needs to and from the West Coast market.

2019 marked the 30th year Pyle was named as a Logistics Management Quest for Quality Winner. It was the fourth year in a row Pyle took home the top overall ranking in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional LTL category.

In April of 2019, Pyle piloted two FUSO electric trucks out of its Bronx service center to more adeptly service the congested New York Metropolitan area. The vehicles were the world’s first fully electric-powered, medium-duty trucks and A. Duie Pyle was one of the first North American carriers to implement them into their fleet.

While A. Duie Pyle has overcome a great deal over the decades, a new and unprecedented event tested the entire Pyle team in June of 2019 as the company fell victim to a cyber ransomware attack which completely disrupted the company’s network communications systems. The level of disruption was substantial; however, the 24/7 collective efforts of the Pyle People along with open and continuous communication directly from Chairman and CEO Peter Latta helped mitigate the damages incurred. Within days of the ransomware attack, Latta said the company was back online with little disruption to its customer service network.

Revenue totaled $491,000,000 which marked another year of significant growth for Pyle.

2020s...

By all accounts, the early months of 2020 seemed to indicate that Pyle was off to another strong year as LTL business volumes were up 5% year-over-year and the Dedicated, Warehousing, and Brokerage Business Units were off to a solid start as well. But starting in February, the COVID-19 Virus, which would soon become known as the COVID-19 Pandemic, started to become a consistent topic in the news, and it seemed the likelihood of it reaching the United States and spreading through communities appeared more and more realistic. Then, on Monday, March 16th, like many other businesses in the Northeast region of the United States, the Pyle Team felt the initial devastating shock that was unleashed by the COVID-19 Pandemic and quickly accepted that life and business as we knew it would not be the same for the months to come. In the four week period from March 16th to April 13th, Pyle saw the LTL Business Unit’s year-over-year Daily Average Shipment Count drop to a historical low of -40% Y-o-Y, with no end in sight of the forthcoming business level decline.

During this time, in what was originally deemed to be a temporary, 15-day effort to help ’slow the spread’ of the virus, state governments across the U.S took unprecedented actions by imposing severe ‘lockdown’ restrictions on businesses and citizens. These measures limited and disrupted nearly all elements of American daily life, with businesses and schools across the nation shutting their doors indefinitely in response to emergency public health orders issued by state governors. Pyle, qualifying as an Essential Business, was permitted to operate during this time; nevertheless, the effects upon carriers and customers in the supply chain and transportation sector were substantial and prolonged.

As the world adapted to the new conditions that were imparted upon us by the pandemic, Pyle Ownership and Senior Leadership were faced with many difficult and unprecedented decisions to make, all of which centered on trying to do what was necessary to ensure the long-term survival of the business. In an effort to create a safer working environment and to reduce the foot traffic at the Corporate Office and Customer Service Call Centers, Pyle’s Information Technology department worked in a matter of just 10 days between March 16th and March 27th to transition more than 330 Pyle office and administrative personnel to work from home. Of the many decisions that were made, two painstaking decisions included establishing a Voluntary Temporary Furlough Program (“TFP”) and enacting a Temporary Pay Reduction for all Pyle employees. At the height of the TFP, the number of employees who volunteered and who were approved to participate reached a total of 413 Pyle People.

In June, with business levels starting to gain momentum and bounce back from hitting the bottom of the COVID crater, the Temporary Pay Reduction program was terminated on June 1st and all Pyle employees returned to their normal pay rates. In addition, on July 3rd, all employees affected by the Temporary Pay Reduction received a one-time Lump Sum Payment to restore their foregone wages. To the credit of all the Pyle People and their hard work and efforts, by July 31st, all TFP participants had been recalled to work and the TFP was eliminated.

Despite the countless and ongoing challenges, there were still many bright spots in 2020. In LTL, the operations team achieved a record Shipment Count on November 30th 2020, exceeding the prior record set a few months prior on August 31st, 2020 by 421 Shipments. On the real estate front, Pyle continued expansion of facilities and operations across the LTL, Dedicated, and Warehouse & Distribution business units. Pyle expanded the existing warehouse campus in Westfield, MA by adding a 53-door LTL cross-dock with a fleet maintenance shop, completing an ‘integrated distribution center’ in the region. Pyle was also able to successfully open the Hagerstown Integrated Logistics Center, a brand new 80-door cross-dock facility with 200,000 sq. ft. of attached Warehouse & Distribution space. Located in Greencastle, PA, the “Hagerstown” site was the 3rd Integrated Logistics Center in the Pyle network and was expected to further advance Pyle’s unique integrated capabilities. Further north, a fleet maintenance facility was also added to the Newburgh Service Center. Pyle also focused additional efforts on the Northeast import/export market by becoming a TSA compliant carrier.

Whether it was the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Teamster’s Strike of 1979, or the Ransomware Attack in 2019, one theme has remained consistent over generations of Pyle People and that is the unwavering ability by the Pyle Team Members to overcome the most challenging of obstacles. The hurdles presented to the Pyle Team and their families by the COVID-19 Pandemic required levels of endurance and sacrifice the likes of which many had never experienced. But as history has taught us and generations of Pyle People have proven, the Pyle Team’s willingness and ability to persevere through the most difficult times is what creates the culture at Pyle that so many have enjoyed over the years.

As the country began to regain a modest degree of normalcy from the pandemic, 2021 still presented many new challenges as the world slowly emerged from the disruption of 2020. Along with new virus variants, the second year of the pandemic brought many additional disruptions: A vast and prolonged labor shortage led to many recruiting challenges for businesses which limited productivity. Massive congestion occurring at US ports led to significant inventory backlogs and a greater scarcity of many common consumer products. As the year progressed, costs soared leading to double-digit inflation on nearly everything from gasoline and construction materials to food.

The transportation & logistics industry was by no means immune to these challenges, but despite it all 2021 proved to be a record year for Pyle across its business units. With warehousing capacity tight across the country, Pyle’s long term investments in building physical capacity enabled its customers to flex their inventories in a market with record occupancy rates and scarce availability. Pyle’s Warehousing & Distribution service saw construction completed on additional warehousing space at the Hagerstown Integrated Logistics Center, bringing the total space at the site to just over 325k sq. ft. To continue to provide future capacity, Pyle also moved forward with plans for an additional 326K sq. ft. warehouse in Allentown, PA, with plans for opening in late 2022.

On the LTL front, Pyle furthered the expansion of its network into Virginia with the planned opening of three LTL cross-docks in Richmond, Roanoke and Manassas. The sites expand ADP’s next-day delivery capabilities and fill out the company’s network beyond the DC metro area. It is expected that there will be additional Service Center openings in the years to come as shipment density and bill count growth within Pyle’s existing service area occurs.

Surpassing $100M in revenue for the first time, Pyle’s Dedicated Transportation Solutions continued to diversify and grow its portfolio of clients by leveraging the integrated solutions model to provide multiple supply chain services. Pyle Brokerage also reached new levels of revenue growth as it assisted in helping customers resolve ongoing supply chain disruptions.

The company and many of the Pyle People were recognized by the industry and customers in 2021. In regards to company recognition, Pyle received ECHO Global Logistics & Geodis Carrier of the Year Awards, as well as customer awards from Starbucks & Uline, with Uline recognizing Pyle’s performance for 2020. 2021 also saw Pyle win top Northeast/Mid-Atlantic LTL Carrier from Mastio, a first time honor for the company.

For employees, Director of Loss Prevention Donielle Dziedzic won 2021’s HDT Safety & Compliance Award. Kris McLennan, VP of Yield Management, was honored with the SDCE’s Women in Supply Chain Award. Dan Carrano, VP of Fleet Maintenance, was named to Truck Fleet Innovators & SDCE Pros to Know lists.

Total Revenue: $628,390,000