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10 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com COVER STORY DECEMBER 14.2015 ECONOMIC CLOUDS CAST long shadows across the transportation landscape as the U.S. economic recovery limps toward its eighth year in 2016. Bulging inventories, weak consumer sales, drop- ping freight demand, driver shortages and excess truck capacity brew up a wintry pall of gloom. But at Old Dominion Freight Line's headquar- ters in Thomasville, North Carolina, the summer sun still shines. "Today, going forward, I think our opportunities for continued profi table growth are tremendous," CEO David Congdon said after rededicating his headquarters on Nov. 4. "I want to take the company as far as we can go. There's no set limit to what we become or how large we can become. We have 6 or 7 percent of U.S. LTL market share, and there's no reason why we can't double our market share within our OD domestic network." That may seem outrageously optimistic at a time when the U.S. economy is sputtering. But ODFL has consistently demonstrated an ability to increase revenue and profi t in good times and bad. The U.S. economy may be weak, but Old Dominion Freight Line shows there's still plenty of room for growth in LTL trucking By William B. Cassidy ROAD WARRIORS