Last year certainly didn’t disappoint for the many accomplishments we achieved as a company. From opening six new terminals in the Northeast during an eight-month period to the successful partnership we established with Canadian-carrier TST Overland Express, 2017 was a year unlike any other in Saia’s 94-year history.

In addition to expanding our footprint and forming new alliances, we made substantial investments — approximately $217 million — in terms of new equipment, technology and infrastructure. For instance, we celebrated the grand opening of our new, state-of-the-art terminal in St. Louis, Mo. just this past October.

We’ll also continue to expand our operations in the Northeast with plans to open upwards of six new terminals. We have identified facilities in this market as we work towards this goal. Along with this, we plan to open other terminals in our legacy states. For instance, we'll be opening another facility in the Dallas metro area. This new location will give us the opportunity to reach more customers in this large market as well as free up some capacity at our other two Dallas terminals.

We’ll be adding more resources and launching fresh concepts to help sales identify new customers. And, we’ll be focusing on brand recognition as we step up our digital advertising presence and strategically advertise in key markets. We also will be adding people in positions of customer service at the terminal level in several of our large facilities to improve responsiveness to our customers. By making all of these improvements, we are investing in the future of the company and positioning Saia for impending growth.

In closing, we worked hard in 2017 to improve in all areas of our operations even as we pushed into the Northeast. We, too, came together as a team to support one another after hurricanes devastated parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast. We were able to establish the Saia Employee Relief Foundation, which offers assistance to employees impacted by disasters and other losses. It truly was an extraordinary year! As always, I am grateful for your support. Let's all work together to make 2018 a tremendous success.