Given a seemingly endless truck parking shortage and little happening at federal and state levels when it comes to solutions -- though there are bright spots here and there -- two distinct models of private parking providers are emerging. In many ways, they parallel the business-model difference between asset-based trucking companies who might also broker freight and the non-asset 3PLs that broker everything.
While other parking providers have been in the news over the last couple years for cannibalizing formerly free spaces in truck stops, a more quietly operated company called Freight Ninja has been experiencing big growth by providing professionally managed and owned, secured parking throughout the United States. Some of the security features offered at the company's properties: full perimeter fencing, secured-gate access, lights, AI-monitored cameras.
Established in greater Chicago by company CEO John Borsellino, a third-generation fleet manager, the company offers back-end monitoring, according to Neal Revane, director of marketing. I met Neal back in the Spring at the Mid-America Trucking Show, and he explained how it all worked.
”At the yards we can’t physically be at, the company also staffs someone on the back end so they’ll be able to watch" through cameras installed on-site, Revane said. "And if they see criminal activity they’ll be able to get on the loud speaker and say something. We’re really trying to do a big push for security."
Neal Revane
[Related: Formerly free spaces now pay-to-park: Is this the future of truck parking]
For truckers who park at Freight Ninja sites, they're paying month-to-month for access -- no getting locked into a long-term contract. The company makes no claim to being a one-size-fits-all parking provider. They have no viable one-night-stand option, for instance, which has been more the purview of those who have adopted the broker model. You pay by the month, so the company's more of an option for an owner-operator, for example, who lives or commonly delivers to and lays over near a large freight hub with limited parking options otherwise.
Growth of the Freight Ninja network has been swift since the company launched just a couple year ago, yet it started almost accidentally.
The headquarters is in Lombard, Illinois. "We have three to four acres of open land on our site," Revane said, "so people would come in and ask, 'Hey, can we park here? Can we pay for parking? Can we park our whole truck and trailer?' So the wheels started to spin in [John Borsellino’s] head."
States where locations in the network exist are earmarked on the map here with the company logo. The expansion from Illinois stems from start-up in 2023.
In an edition of the Logistics Lounge podcast, CEO Borsellino differentiated the Freight Ninja model from the AirBnB-type providers who marshal parking sites for truckers with a myriad of site owners utilizing technology to advertise availability and facilitate booking.
Also, as Borsellino put it, “We don’t go to different truck stops and say ‘Let us bum 20 spots off of you and take a piece whether we sell it or not.'"
John Borsellino
They did what any growing company would and began to open more yards, Borsellino noted. "Drivers were walking in off the street: ‘Hey, I live here local. Can I pay you to park my rig?’“
[Related: Ohio Turnpike service plaza named top truck stop in the U.S.]
Revane told me at MATS that Freight Ninja facilities assign a "space for everybody. Everybody knows who’s parking where. We get calls saying, 'Hey, someone’s in so-and-so’s spot,' so there’s a lot of self-policing.”
If you're a paying customer, that designated space is yours every day of the month. Freight Ninja customers include a cross section of truckers, according to Revane: “Owner-operators, the ones that are on the road all the time. We do have national fleets that are parking their trailers in our yards. We have locals and over-the-roads parking with us.“
The company works with municipalities on zoning to "make sure the locations are zoned properly so we can have truck parking," he added, "getting into the nitty gritty with some of these municipalities to make sure we’re doing what’s in everyone’s best interests.”
The price per month varies by region. In Chicagoland, for instance, “price ranges from $175 to $225 per month," Revane said. "If you go out west [of Chicago] by us in Lombard, it’s $450 per month."
[Related: Outpost company aims to deliver on trucking parking network, small fleet growth]
For perspective, I called for a price for their Indianapolis location. I got a domestic customer service rep within a minute. He shot me a price for $200 a month for a tractor-trailer -- pay by the month, no long-term lease as Revane promised. Then he offered to text me his direct line. It was like being back in the 1990s.
According to a recent press release, the company now boasts more than 50 facilities with 300 acres of secured parking across the country. That’s room for 10,000 trucks, and that’s all since 2023.
According to Revane, that expansion is now going into overdrive with the majority acquisition of Freight Ninja by LAZ Parking. “This helps us immensely with back office and the tech behind the business and at our locations.”
For more information, find the company's blog at this link.
[Related: Ohio truck parking expansion plan will add 1,400 spaces]
