[PacificNW]

Thursday, November 1, 2007 - 3:03 PM PDT
Freightliner headquarters move still a possibility
Portland Business Journal - by Matthew Kish and Aliza Earnshaw Business Journal staff writers


Freightliner LLC left open the possibility of moving its corporate headquarters at a press conference Thursday, announcing the relocation of 341 sales and marketing jobs to the Charlotte, N.C., area.

The transfers will affect roughly one-tenth of the Portland-based company's local work force. The company employs roughly 2,540 white-collar workers and another 970 in its local manufacturing operations on Swan Island.

The affected employees will be moved in summer 2008 to a 150,000-square-foot office building in Ft. Mill, S.C., about 30 minutes south of Charlotte.

Affected workers will have the option of transferring or receiving severance packages.

The company made the decision in order to be closer to its customers, suppliers and dealers. The majority of its operations are in the Carolinas.

At the press conference, Freightliner CEO Chris Patterson said the company has options on land in South Carolina and did not rule out building a new corporate headquarters there "depending on the markets and our relationships with our affiliates." In press materials, he said the company expects to close on some land in South Carolina in the very near term.

The company has been discussing incentive packages with several states. Freightliner will not get the best deal unless it moves more than the 341 positions announced today, Patterson said, leading to speculation that the company is strongly considering moving its headquarters.

Sources tell affiliated publication the Charlotte Business Journal that Freightliner is in discussions to build a 300-acre, $400 million headquarters facility in York County.

In a closed session this morning, the York County Council in South Carolina considered a batch of economic incentives for industrial development, presumably for Freightliner. Such executive sessions are not open to the media.

Moving jobs to the East Coast will allow Freightliner to consolidate several operations. Freightliner operates three huge Charlotte-area plants, which at their busiest employ almost 7,000.

The facilities include the company's largest heavy-truck facility, which employs nearly 4,000 in Cleveland, N.C. A 616,000-square-foot medium-duty tractor facility in Mount Holly, N.C., once employed more than 1,500 workers. It also has a cab and chassis parts facility in Gastonia, N.C.

Talk of Freightliner moving jobs to the East Coast picked up steam Sept. 19 after the company released a statement saying it might move "several corporate functions" to an Eastern location.

Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler and Mayor Tom Potter subsequently met with Freightliner CEO Chris Patterson and other executives Oct. 3 to address the speculation.

At the time, Freightliner executives told the elected officials it would not be moving its headquarters in the near future, a sentiment that the company repeated this afternoon.