Looking for a foothold in Arizona's anticipated booming trade hub, an Atlanta-based company has purchased a commercial truck dealership's Tucson and Phoenix locations.
Vanguard Truck Centers bought Arizona Truck Center Inc., located on five acres at 1111 E. Benson Highway, as well as the 15-acre sister dealership in Phoenix and the commercial-truck part supplier Norwood Equipment Inc., also in Phoenix.
The full-service truck dealership sells and provides maintenance for everything from cement mixers to dump trucks, street sweepers and tractor trailers. The big trucks are a product that Vanguard believes will be in bigger demand as Tucson leaders eye the creation of an inland port for distributing trade across the country and border.
"We're lying in wait" for the growth, said Gary Bonkowski, general manager of the Tucson dealership.
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In June, Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities Inc., the regional economic-development agency, took over the 10-year city of Tucson effort to create an inland port to capitalize on foreign trade moving through Southern Arizona.
According to a city-commissioned study, the concept of an inland port in Tucson is "viable and economically feasible."
An inland port could generate 4,292 additional jobs in Pima County by 2020 and 5,236 by 2030, according to the report by Philadelphia-based The Tioga Group.
Vanguard President Tom Ewing, in town last week to visit with the 33 Tucson employees, said the company is optimistic about that industry's growth — and its need for commercial vehicles and equipment.
"We're poised for that to explode," Ewing said.
The company's biggest Tucson customers include trucking company HDS and DSW Inc., Ames Construction Inc. and Ron's Produce Co. Inc. It also services the city of Tucson's street sweepers in its 32,000-square-foot shop.
Aside from its headquarters in Atlanta, Vanguard has commercial truck dealerships in Austin and Houston.
For more information on Vanguard Truck Centers, visit the Web site www.vanguardtrucks.com.
By the numbers
An inland port could generate:
4,292
more jobs in Pima County by 2020
5,236
more jobs in Pima County by 2030
Grant would train transport workers
Innovation Frontier Arizona, a multiagency work-force-development group, has applied for a $2 million U.S. Department of Labor grant to develop curriculum and training for transportation and logistics workers in Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz and Yuma counties.
Innovation Frontier proposes a regional work-force-development initiative to give Southern Arizona a competitive advantage in the trade and transportation industry.
The transportation and logistics cluster is projected to add a significant number of jobs to the Southern Arizona economy in the next 10 years, according to the group's grant application.
"Rapid growth of freight activity through the U.S. and increased reliance on both domestic and overseas trade have increased the amount of transportation activity that occurs in the economy," the group's proposal said. "Southern Arizona's geographic position on the international border with Mexico, on the CANAMEX corridor and on the I-10 'Corridor of the Future' represents a competitive opportunity for the region."
Innovation Frontier Arizona says the lack of logistics training represents "a significant gap in our regional work-force system." It proposes a three-year effort to:
● Convene employers in the transportation and logistics cluster to identify work-force challenges and strategies to overcome them.
● Bring Cochise College, Pima Community College and Arizona Western College together to define degrees and certificates and develop specialized curriculum.
● Mobilize local work-force ("one stop") systems and establish a pipeline of trainees to enter logistics occupations by upgrading the skills of existing workers, retraining workers who have been laid off from other industries, and addressing barriers to employment among unemployed and underemployed populations. Pima County One Stop Career Center will manage the grant.
-- Gabriela Rico