Growth is real at virtual trucking firm

Calling Chicago “a transportation hub for America and an emerging tech center,” Echo Global Logistics CEO Doug Waggoner announced Thursday his company will double the number of employees it has in the city within two years.

Joined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel at Echo’s office, 600 W. Chicago Ave., Waggoner said 550 workers would move from Skokie; that, with other new hires, would bring the firm’s total presence in the Chicago to 1,600 employees.

Echo handles the transportation of products – but owns no trucks, trains, planes or ships. The company uses technology it developed to “efficiently move freight shipments using other people’s transportation,” Waggoner said. “We’re kind of like a virtual trucking company.”

Echo started with 10 employees and a borrowed conference room in 2005. Today, Echo has 30 offices around the country and 2,500 employees. In May, Echo acquired Command Transportation, one of the largest privately held truckload brokers and non-asset-based transportation providers in the United States in a $420 million deal.

“The combination of these two companies creates a real transportation powerhouse,” Waggoner said.

Echo’s new location has not been chosen. They need about double their current 100,000-square-foot space, Waggoner said.

Emanuel hopes other tech companies will be attracted to the city by Echo’s success.

“You can find the quality of work force, the technology, the development of what you want to see, and in this company, that Chicago is a place where you want to build,” he said.

The announcement came a day after the Chicago City Council approved the largest property tax hike in the history of the city. But Emanuel said the tax increase – most of which will be used to meet the city’s pension obligations – “gives companies the confidence that if the city is willing to face its challenges, it’s a city they want to be a part of.”