DUBLIN, Ga. — A new truck sales and service center opened in Dublin, and Laurens County leaders say it's helping to solidify Dublin as a logistics hub.
Dublin's new Peterbilt truck service is filling the void for truck drivers who are traveling between Macon and Savannah.
Danny Starley, the branch manager at the Dublin Peterbilt, says, "Everybody we've talked to in the area was really excited about us coming here and saying, 'Man, I'm tired of driving to Jackson or Atlanta or Macon every time I need to get my truck worked on.'"
Peterbilt Sales Service Center is near I-16 on Highway 257. They work on all trucks from old to new.
"Dublin's kind of a truck town. There's a lot of trucks coming down the 441 corridor and up the I-16 corridor with the expansion of the port down in Savannah. We saw that this area was really going to explode, so we wanted to hurry up and get down here," Starley said.
Ryan Waldrep is the President of the Dublin/Laurens Development Authority.
"People want to come to Dublin and Laurens County for a number of reasons: health care, education, workforce, and employment are big reasons. This is going to add another one with the service opportunities for big trucks," Waldrep said.
Waldrep says Peterbilt will have a broad reach throughout the region, "Its location being able to bring in products from overseas through the ports authority down in Savannah, and get them to the major marketplaces, whether that's here in Dublin, Macon, Atlanta."
The expansion will add 15 to 25 jobs. Starley says their technicians make $30 to $50 an hour. Currently, Peterbilt is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but in the future, they hope to expand to 24 hours.
Peterbilt started in Jackson, and they now have eight locations in Georgia.
Click on "Careers" and there will be a list of all the jobs they have posted.
Starley says they are always looking for technicians.