COVER STORY | LOCAL PROFILE
Lake Erie Transportation, headquartered at 3025 West 17th Street in Erie, Pennsylvania, is a comprehensive provider of regional asset-based trucking, thirdparty North American logistics and expedite, heavy duty truck maintenance, and crossdock warehouse services. Shown here are the company’s leadership team (from left): Director of Business Development Denton Sauers, President and CEO Chuck Sites, Director of Operations Tina Sites and Vice President Adam Gaton.
Trucking, Logistics Firm Delivers 5th Year of Success Under New Ownership Chuck Sites knows the importance of going the extra mile. As president and chief executive officer of Erie, Pennsylvaniabased Lake Erie Transportation (LET) — the parent company of Lake Erie Trucking, Lake Erie Crossdock and Lake Erie Logistics — Sites and his team have navigated new ownership and the challenges of the COVID pandemic, and achieved operational success, marking a historic revenue year in 2021. In fact, Lake Erie Transportation, LLC’s journey has been 50-plus years in the making. Its division Lake Erie Trucking is one of the oldest locally owned trucking companies in the Erie region started by Erie businessman Joe Benacci and his late uncle. The business would operate from 1967 till 1998 when Benacci would buy Dodsworth Trucking and go on to form Lake Erie Logistics in 2004 when an enthusiastic Sites joined his team. In 2016, Sites and partners bought Lake Erie Logistics. They then revived the name Lake Erie Trucking in 2017, paving the way for Lake Erie Transportation to begin operating the following year. “Our fifth year of ownership is a big accomplishment for us in that we’re carrying on the company name. We’re carrying on the trucking company that was started by the Benacci family many years ago,” Sites explains. “For us, it’s about a renewal of the company and taking it to the next generation.” With more than 30 years of industry experience, Sites certainly has the knowledge, experience and team to guide it. The Pittsburgh native grew up in the trucking industry where his father worked in small parcel delivery, often joining him on routes as a kid. Sites’ first jobs were delivering freight, and he even continued to hold down a delivery job while he
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AUGUST 2021 • mbabizmag.com
majored in transportation management at Robert Morris. “That’s basically the way I worked my way through college,” he says. After working for several transportation firms in the Pittsburgh area, Sites eventually met Benacci through a mutual friend. Benacci, then owner of TWL, had purchased Dodsworth Trucking and needed an expert for his less-thantruckload (LTL) operation, recruiting Sites to join his team. On July 5, 2004, Sites became a minority partner in then Lake Erie Logistics (doing business as Dodsworth) — which turned out to be one of the best moves of his career. During his tenure, Sites served as vice president of Operations, gaining valuable leadership experience that would help him strike out to form Lake Erie Transportation years later. “I have a lot of respect for Joe Benacci, and I want to recognize that,” Sites says. “Without him, we wouldn’t be here.” Chuck Sites is the president and CEO of Lake Erie Transportation.
