Trucking giant Old Dominion Freight Line has tripled the size of its Colorado Springs terminal to handle the growing volume of freight shipped in and out of southern Colorado.

The Thomasville, N.C.-based company spent $10.5 million to build the 25,000-square-foot facility northwest of South Academy Boulevard and Milton Proby Parkway that opened in May. The terminal has 51 doors to load and unload freight, which is three times as many as a facility that Old Dominion had leased in Fountain. The 11.5-acre site gives the company room to expand the facility with 40 more doors as freight volumes grow, said Chris Kelley, a regional vice president for the company.

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“Although the expansion wasn’t anticipated for 5-7 years, it could be sooner than expected with our record growth,” Kelley said. The company already uses 70% of the terminal’s capacity as freight volumes across the company grow; Old Dominion last month reported its second-quarter shipments grew by one-third from a year earlier, boosting revenue by nearly 50% to a record $1.32 billion and nearly doubling profits. The company specializes in shipments that fill up less than a full semitrailer.

Kelley said much of the growth has come from shipments to and from Amazon’s new 3.7 million-square-foot fulfillment center near the Colorado Springs Airport, Target’s distribution center in Pueblo and several distribution centers in southern Colorado. Amazon’s five-story center, about 4 miles east of Old Dominion’s terminal, will employ 2,500 people and stock more than 20 million items.

Old Dominion has hired five additional employees at the terminal since it opened, and plans to hire 10 in the next year to give it 40 workers; the company especially needs drivers amid a nationwide shortage.

The company has posted openings on its website for drivers who make local pickups and deliveries and earn a starting wage of $28.70 an hour, or nearly $60,000 a year. The company also has posted openings for forklift operators and dock workers with a starting wage of $17 an hour.

The new terminal is one of six facilities Old Dominion has opened this year in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, part of a $1.7 billion expansion that increased the number of freight doors by 50% during the past 10 years.

The company bought the site of the Colorado Springs terminal in 2019 for $1.85 million from Springs Waste Systems and started construction on the building just before the COVID-19 pandemic triggered widespread online purchasing that sent freight shipping volumes soaring.

Old Dominion employs 23,000 to operate 248 terminals nationwide, including in Denver and Grand Junction.