Peter Latta, chairman and CEO of A. Duie Pyle, has rejected takeover offers for the regional LTL carrier from two national competitors that have expanded into the Northeast over the past two years.

Instead, the West Chester, Pennsylvania-based airline celebrated its 100th anniversary as a private, family-owned company this year, hosting harbor cruises and other festivities for its 4,300-employee workforce.

“We are absolutely committed to the people of Pyle and want to continue to be a family-owned company,” Latta said in an interview with Trucking Dive. “We got through the first 100 tough years, and now we have to get through the next 100 tough years.”

Pyle’s growing operations stretch from the Canadian border in Maine to the Virginia-North Carolina border and beyond into West Virginia and Ohio. The carrier, which has ties to Dayton Freight Lines and Southeastern Freight Lines, generated revenue of $775 million last year.

Pyle started with two trucks and operated just one terminal until 1996. The company survived labor unrest and other disruptions that had bankrupted its competitors over the past century by cultivating and maintaining a culture of trust among owners and workers, Latta said.

Pyle’s first customer, Lukens Steel, is a testament to Pyle’s place in Pennsylvania’s transportation history, in which trucks hauled steel, coal and food, supporting industry and population growth, says Rebecca Oyler, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association.

“Our nation’s history in the 20th century is intertwined with the history of transportation in Pennsylvania, and A. Duie Pyle can be proud to be an important part of that history,” Oyler said in an email.

“Not just a number or a body on a seat”

Jesse Weeks praised Pyle’s treatment of his workers as he pulled a 40-foot trailer loaded with loads of paint, coffee, motorcycles and more out of a terminal in Jessup, Maryland, near Baltimore, one day in May.

The 48-year-old driver from Pyle has been driving trucks for 27 years and was the trucking company’s first employee when it expanded into the Baltimore area, he said. Now he trains other drivers.

Managers greet Weeks and his colleagues by name, and they visit the terminals regularly to meet with drivers over meals and gather feedback.

“The owners know you,” Weeks said. “You’re not just a number or a body in a seat.”

Pyle’s leaders build that trust by informing their employees about takeover offers – and also telling them the reasons for rejecting them.

“The most common comment I hear from many companies that acquire something is, ‘Nothing will change,'” Latta said. “Well, everything will change.”

According to Latta, the life or death of publicly traded transportation companies, such as the two freight giants that failed to take over Pyle along with private equity firms, depends on quarterly results and analysts’ opinions.

“We don’t want to sit in a goldfish bowl,” said the chairman and CEO. “We are very open with our people – because we are absolutely committed.”

“How did we survive?”

Founded on April 1, 1924 by Alexander Duie and Mary Ellen Pyle with a used 1918 International Harvester truck, the company has grown together with its customers into a leading regional transportation company.

Reaching the 100th anniversary required overcoming a number of challenges, including the Great Depression, World War II, a 14-week strike, deregulation, a ransomware attack, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a roof collapse following a snowstorm at a West Chester facility.

“We had two warehouses, a terminal and less than 100 people on the team. How did we survive when the carriers who had the market, the customers and the facilities didn’t survive?” Latta said. “I attribute it to a three-word answer, and that is: ‘the people of Pyle.'”

Latta realized how strong the company’s relationship with its workers was in 1979 when he witnessed striking workers decide to quit the Teamsters union and end the strike.

“The Teamsters’ world was very different then than it is today,” Latta said. “They took a big risk when they broke the picket line and told the union, ‘Stop it. We’re done.’ That taught me a lot about trust and its power.”

Jeff Young, a 62-year-old driver from Pyle who goes by the nickname “Squeak,” said that culture was evident when he interviewed 30 years ago with Latta and his father, Jim Latta, who remained involved after the handover.

“As long as you work hard, tell the truth and do a good job for us,” Young recalls Jim Latta saying, “you will always have a job here.”

As CEO, Peter Latta was “an extremely good steward of the company” and oversaw its growth, said Jim Craig, Jessup’s terminal manager.

Take care of those who “keep the wheel turning”

In addition to harbor cruises and truck-themed cakes, Pyle’s centennial celebration also included a commission for a model of the company’s original 1918 International Harvester.

At the heart of the celebrations were Pyle’s workers, who were the ones who immediately started shoveling snow after the roof collapsed and kept operations running every day, including during the June 2019 ransomware attack and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Weeks is looking forward to a party Pyle is hosting this fall at the National Aquarium in Baltimore for his employees in the region.

He enjoys his work and believes that Pyle’s leadership understands that “we are the ones who keep things running” and that “they are the ones who make sure we are taken care of.”

By hauling freight, the driver was able to raise his two sons, 20-year-old Peyton and 17-year-old Trenton, in Mount Airy, Maryland.

“It allows my boys to have a good life,” Weeks said. “I can provide them with things they want and need because I’m willing to go out and work.”

Pyle believes investing in its people and technology will be key to future success as it adds four terminals it acquired from Yellow Corp., which filed for bankruptcy last year just before its centennial.

“Cultural engagement and volunteerism – it is important to seize opportunities,” said Latta.

Photo editor Shaun Lucas contributed to this story.