Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 8

67 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 8 EVERGREEN FOREST PRODUCTS INC . “Between 2005 and 2015, we grew our truck fleet from around 20 trucks to over 70 trucks. Last year (2020), we opened another terminal in Ackerman, Mississippi, which added a further 20 trucks to our fleet.” Evergreen deals exclusively in transporting wood byproducts like sawdust, bark, shavings, and chips – a factor that has helped the company streamline its operations and cut its operating costs through resulting efficiencies. “The main reason we do not haul logs is the cost of insurance,” says Edwards. “Focusing on byproducts helped us avoid this cost and enabled us to focus on becoming the best at transporting wood byproducts.” The company’s customer base mainly comprises lumber mills that contract it to transport its wood byproducts to third-party customers, including other mills, chicken farms, or facilities that use boilers. Evergreen also contracts with value-addition companies like the paper mill and manufacturer Clearwater Paper, hauling their byproducts to other customers in the wood supply chain. Evergreen’s headquarters are in Chapman, Alabama, with several terminals spread across the state and adjacent states of Georgia and Mississippi. Close to 90 percent of its trucks are company owned and driven by full-time employees. The remaining 10 percent of the fleet is filled by contract truckers who own the trucks and come in to provide extra capacity when the firm is handling larger loads or during high season. Employee retention at the company is higher than the trucking industry average, and there is a good reason why. As Edwards explains, “We don’t have a lot of employee turnover because our drivers usually have families and the type of work that we offer allows them to go home and