Averitt Begins Construction of 2 Regional Service Centers

Each facility will replace a smaller, existing Averitt site and is set to begin operations in 2028. (Averitt)

Averitt Express began construction of two new regional campuses in Charlotte, N.C., and Louisville, Ky., earlier in May, as part of an upgrade of facilities in key locations for the carrier.

Each facility will replace a smaller, existing Averitt site and is set to begin operations in 2028.

Both locations were identified by a senior executive in March as potential “pinch points” as the freight industry rebounds after the longest downturn in industry memory.

Averitt ranks No. 29 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 12 in the less-than-truckload segment of the freight market.

Rather than buying ex-Yellow Corp. terminals as many of Averitt’s LTL peers have, the Cookeville, Tenn.-based carrier is expanding its firepower in existing locations with a regional campus for all of its divisions.

Averitt has five divisions — LTL, truckload, dedicated, distribution and fulfillment, and integrated and global solutions. But LTL makes up about 70% of Averitt’s business.

Size matters in the top-heavy LTL space as terminals are necessary for a successful business. However, they require a great amount of land and cost a lot of money to build, and the land is typically hard to come by near major metropolitan areas.

The Charlotte expansion will see the company more than double its workforce in the city, hiring an additional 211 associates over the next four years.

The campus will include a 16,000-square-foot office; a 75,000-square-foot, 150-door crossdock expandable to 200 doors; two warehouses totaling more than 500,000 square feet of distribution and fulfillment space; and parking for more than 400 trailers.

Averitt currently operates a 40,000-square-foot service center in the area where 182 full-time employees work.

“This Charlotte expansion represents one of the most exciting and distinctive facility investments in Averitt’s 55-year history. It will be unlike any other Averitt location in the country,” Barry Blakely, chief operating officer at Averitt, said in comments accompanying the construction announcement.

The Louisville expansion will add 64 new jobs in the city over the next four years and retain 182 employees at Averitt’s existing Louisville location.

When finished, the campus will include a 10,000-square-foot office; a 50,000-square-foot, 100-door crossdock expandable to 160 doors; a warehouse with more than 286,000 square feet of distribution and fulfillment space; and parking for more than 300 trailers.

Averitt currently operates a 40,000-square-foot service center in Louisville. Averitt opened its first office in Bullitt County in 1982.

The carrier is already expanding its core LTL business to get ahead of what it sees as an emerging upturn in the freight market segment, particularly in areas where capacity constraints are beginning to surface.

Averitt is adding 379 dock doors and 260,733 square feet of dock space through the end of 2027, as well as 1,953 truck parking spaces and 732 associate parking spaces.

“We aren’t necessarily increasing our geographic footprint. We are adding what we think are solutions for our customers within our geographic footprint, which is primarily the Southeast,” Kent Williams, executive vice president of sales and marketing, told TT in an interview in March.

Williams positioned Averitt’s core focus as from Virginia south through Florida and westward into Texas and Oklahoma.

Averitt had 84 service centers at the beginning of 2025. The company opened one more — in Ocala, Fla. — in February.