Logistics firm with Valley presence changes name

A logistics company with operations in Waynesboro kicked off 2016 with a new name.

Huntington, W.Va.-based Allied Logistics and its operating companies are now known as Reo Logistics. The company also has been divided into two divisions: transportation, led by Reo Hatfield, and warehouse, headed by Michael Carroll.

Until Jan. 1, Hatfield was president of Waynesboro-based Reo Distribution, a unit of Allied Logistics. Hatfield co-founded Reo Distribution in 1988, and the company joined Allied Logistics two years later.
Hatfield, who is based in Waynesboro, hopes the new name will help people better understand the company’s services. They include logistics, warehousing, distribution, management and transportation. It owns trucks and trailers to help customers haul equipment and also has contracts with trucking companies. In a nutshell, he says, Reo is a “total logistics company.” It is now being branded as one to avoid confusion among customers.

The company also has over 4 million square feet of warehouse space in Virginia and West Virginia. About 1 million square feet of that space is located in four buildings in Waynesboro, Hatfield says.

Reo Logistics also has a business incubator at its 114-acre Waynesboro facility. The incubator, begun in 1990, now houses 23 companies.

“We’ve had some of our customers get so big that at times they’ve moved out of our facility because they’ve established themselves so well,” Hatfield says.

One of the incubator’s greatest success stories is Bloomaker, a company in Stuarts Draft that supplies hydroponic flowers.  Bloommaker started out at the incubator, and Reo Logistics still handles its transportation needs.

Reo Logistics has 150 full-time employees. It expects to reach $100 million in annual sales by 2017. It also is adding 14 new account manager positions this year to help companies with freight needs as well as solidify and build relationships with trucking companies.