Another freight broker has set up shop in Chattanooga with a target of doubling sales every year in the growing trucking and logistics industry.
Arrive Logistics, a transportation service provider that has already grown into a $360 million-a-year business in its first four years, has added a freight brokerage sales office in Chattanooga's "freight alley" adjacent to two other rapidly growing logistics startups. The existing 10-person office is preparing to quickly grow to 50-60 employees as the latest venture to benefit by the experience of former Access America and Coyote Logistics employees.
"Expanding into Chattanooga will provide vast growth opportunities for Arrive Logistics and increased value for our customers and carriers," said Matt Pyatt, who co-founded Arrive Logistics with Eric Dunigan in Austin, Texas in the summer of 2014.
Arrive Logistics opened an office on the second floor of the downtown Chattanooga Lifestyle Center at 325 Market Street.The company arranges shipments across North America and has quickly grown from a single 10-person office start in Austin to more than 600 employees at offices in Austin, Chicago and now Chattanooga.
The company choose Chattanooga as its latest office to capitalize on the talent and experience of freight brokers here, many of whom began at the former Access America which grew into a $500 million-a-year business before merging first with Coyote Logistics in 2014 and then with United Parcel Service (UPS) a year later in a $1.8 billion deal.
Former Access America personnel have gone on to help start up or lead other freight brokers in Chattanooga, including Avenger Logistics, Lync, Trident Transport, LMS and Steam Logistics, and other related logistics support businesses such as Reliance Partners insurance and Reliance Human Capital Management. Chattanooga is still home to a major regional office for the Coyote subsidiary of UPS as well as America's biggest privately owned warehouse company, Kenco Logistic, and two of the nation's top 10 long-haul trucking carriers - U.S. Xpress Enterprises and Covenant Transport.
Arrive Logistics located its Chattanooga office in the same second floor office space of the downtown Chattanooga Lifestyle Center on Broad Street as Steam Logistics, which brokers freight shipments around the globe, and Reliance Partners, one of the biggest insurance agencies targeting truckers and shippers. The three logistics companies share a cafeteria, make-shift bar, rest rooms and meeting areas and combined create a supportive sales culture for each company, according to Asa Shirley, a former Access America and Coyote manager who is now senior vice president of sales for Arrive Logistics.
Just a block away on Market Street, another logistics startup, Freightwaves, is building a data, news and analytics company which company CEO Craig Fuller wants to build into a $1 billion-year enterprise.
For Arrive Logistics, Shirley is leading the new Chattanooga office and is recruiting brokers to continue to grow more business.
"We're right in the middle of everything, right in the hear of downtown Chattanooga," Shirley said of the new Market Street site for Arrive Logistics in Chattanooga. "We are uniquely positioned to offer some of the best career opportunities in the industry."
Shirley is hoping to recruit top salesmen and brokers attracted to Arrive Logistics' training, benefits and work culture.
"With this third office, I'm looking forward to building a team with sales and industry experience who work with passion and a purpose," Shirley said. "We've grown aggressively and we want to continue to grow in the future."
Arrive Logistics is hosting a launch party on Tuesday to mark the opening of the new office, including an in-office celebration followed by a local happy hour recruiting event.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreeress.com or at 757-6340.