A fast-growing, Chattanooga-based freight brokerage company plans to double its employee headcount to over 200 by year's end, and it's expanding its office footprint to the North Shore.
Trident Transport, cited as the fastest-growing private company in Chattanooga on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list, has invested heavily in technology to aid its expansion, said Chief Commercial Officer Carter Garrett.
Also, the part of the company involved in the home goods and improvement sector has benefited from the direction the economy has moved during the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
Due to the growth, Trident has leased more office space, with plans to shift some of its staff from its two Southside locations downtown to the Signal Mill complex on Manufacturers Road.
Garrett said the company is moving into about 16,000 square feet that was used by Covenant Transport Solutions over the past year.
That company, the freight brokerage arm of Chattanooga-based Covenant Transportation Group, has moved to its primary facility at 400 Birmingham Highway, said Paul Bunn, executive vice president at the group.
He said the shift was done in an effort to better utilize fixed overhead and align the brokerage business with Covenant's other operations.
Garrett said Trident, which was founded in 2013, is slated to immediately move over about 70 people to Signal Mill. That historic former knitting facility received a $10 million makeover a few years ago and houses retailers and restaurants such as Edley's Bar-B-Que.
"This will be the brokerage floor," he said, adding that the new space can house about 140 people.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Trident Transport's North Shore location can hold up to 140 employees, according to the freight brokerage company.Garrett noted that Trident kept all of its employees during the coronavirus-fueled lock down earlier this year, and it also added about 25 workers to keep up with business growth.
He expects revenues to top $100 million in 2020.
"We continue to add employees," Garrett said, noting it hires a lot of workers from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and UT-Knoxville.
In addition, he said, the company's other offices in Tampa and Minneapolis are growing.
"We're 24/7," the company executive said, citing Trident's customer service as another key to its growth. "Our office doesn't close. We've had a lot of success putting customers first."
Grayson Garrett, Trident's senior vice president of sales, said that Trident's customer service and employees separate it from competitors.
"They're a hard-working bunch of people," he said.
Carter Garrett said that Trident will social distance its employees in the new space. Also, he said, the company lets employees decide whether to come to an office or work from home amid the pandemic.
Heath Haley, Trident's chief executive officer, said company officials are excited about the new space.
"We're looking forward to filling the space with even more top talent in Chattanooga and continue growing our company in this amazing city." he said in a statement.
Mark Harrell, the company's chief operating officer, said the employees are the reason for the company's exponential growth.
Trident landed at No. 609 on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list. The company grew revenues by 769% over the past three years, according to Inc. 5000.
Katelyn Clark, Trident's marketing brand manager, said the company has made the Inc. 500 list for the last three years. She said the company has invested not just in technology but in its people as well.
Chattanooga has been dubbed "freight alley" because of its trucking and logistics cluster of companies. Eight of the 10 local companies on the Inc. 5000 list are in that business sector and another is an insurance broker servicing the trucking industry.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.