PAM KEEPS ON TRUCKIN’ CEO Joe Vitiritto talks driver shortages, acquisitions and expansion

By Mark Carter

Like all trucking companies, Tontitown’s PAM Transport has learned to roll with the industry punches. Last year, it acquired New York carrier Metropolitan to expand its presence in the Northeast, and the company continues to make inroads into Mexico. By 2018, the company was leading all domestic carriers at the port of Laredo with more than 300 crossings per day to and from major Mexican markets.

Indeed, PAM is in cautious expansion mode, explained CEO Joe Vitiritto, who joined the firm in 2020.

Vitiritto has spent the whole of his career in trucking, starting out as a dedicated manager for Schneider and a terminal manager for Colton before moving up to SVP for Knight Transportation and then taking the same role for the merged Knight-Swift in Phoenix.

AMP: How is the industry handling the workforce shortage, and what is PAM doing to counter it?

Joe Vitiritto: Trucking has been dealing with a workforce shortage with drivers for many years. The pandemic exacerbated the issue. There has been some movement in the right direction, but mainly because of the impact of a changing economic and freight environment coupled with some supply chain issues getting resolved. But because of the longer-term trends of growing tonnage and the ever-increasing average age of truck drivers, we will continue to have issues with a shortage.

At PAM, we have hired and trained new drivers for a long time. It has helped us navigate this, but it still is challenging. There are just not enough people wanting to drive a truck over the road as a career. The industry is trying to overcome it, but there isn’t a silver bullet strategy to navigating our industry’s workforce shortage.

AMP: Discuss the Met acquisition and PAM’s expansion into the Northeast.

Vitiritto: Met was a solid multigenerational, privately run truck- ing company, founded almost 90 years before we acquired it. Like so many other smaller trucking companies, there was just not a desire for the next generation to take over and continue to run the company.

Vitiritto guided PAM safely through the pandemic, and though a soft freight market in the first quarter of 2023 resulted in an earnings loss, PAM managed a 1 percent revenue bump to $221.7 million.

Launched by Paul Allen Maestri in 1980, the company that bears his initials started with fived used Freightliner tractors and 15 trailers. Six years later, Maestri took the company public. In the ensuing decades, PAM’s fleet has grown to include 2,000 tractors, 6,000 trailers and 2,400 drivers.

Vitiritto visited with AMP about the ongoing shortage of drivers, how the Met acquisition infused the company with expansion confidence, possible future expansion markets and the secret to PAM’s success.

By acquiring the business and running it as a separate entity, we were able to add coverage into an area where we didn’t have much coverage, maintain their brand identity and culture while helping them with economies of scale and best practices. They have a very experienced workforce and leadership team, which was a key part of the decision.

This also gave us access to additional customers that we didn’t have a relationship with before the acquisition.

It also has given us the confidence to go out and do more strategic acquisitions in the future.

AMP: What does the company look for in a new market or expansion target?

Vitiritto: There must be significant opportunity in the business segment or the geographical region of the potential expansion. We also look at the size of the addressable market and the competition. But the other factor we look for is sustainability of that expansion, and then we evaluate the ability to get the type of returns that our shareholders will expect. And can we diversify our customer base while still providing a high level of service? We also want to grow in areas that we know will give our people the opportunity for both personal and professional growth.

AMP: Will Mexican markets remain a priority, and are there new markets being considered?

Vitiritto: Because of nearshoring and onshoring, we believe Mexico is a critical growth market for us for many years to come. We also see that as global trade continues to evolve, there could be opportunities in the future in Central and South America. We also see Canada as on opportunity for growth at some point.

AMP: The company celebrated its 40th anniversary the same year you joined the team. What are some of the factors behind PAM’s success over multiple decades?

Vitiritto: I would say that our people are a big factor. You couple that with a long-term majority shareholder that is committed to growth and the long term, and you have a great recipe.

AMP: What attracted you to PAM? Any previous ties to Arkansas?

Vitiritto: I had been to Arkansas to visit customers in the past, had been to the University of Arkansas to recruit potential employees, and was always impressed with the talented people we hired, but had no additional ties. Since coming here, I realized quickly how friendly and hard-working the people in Arkansas are. I have lived in a lot of areas over my career and can say that Arkansas people are my kind of people.

It was a decision that I couldn’t pass up coming to PAM. There are not many public trucking companies, which limits the opportunity to be a CEO in our industry, and the plus was that it was in Arkansas.