Hub Group's logistics strategy. (Hub Group Inc.)

Yeager sees growth coming from `total logistics management services on a global basis.'

When Penn Central Railroad went bankrupt 25 years ago. Philip C. Yeager was forced to find a new line of work. So he and his wife, Joyce, moved to a Chicago suburb and opened a business in a 10-by-10-foot office.

They began working as shippers' agents -- middlemen between shippers and railroads for intermodal movements. Hub City Terminals handled 900 trailers its first year.

Since then, shippers' agents have grown up. They've become known as intermodal marketing companies, or IMCs.

The Hub Group Inc. is said to be the largest IMC, with annual sales approaching $1 billion. With 34 offices and 800 employees, Hub moved about 600,000 trailers last year.

To sustain growth, Hub is branching into other areas of transportation logistics. Yeager sees it as a necessary response to changing shipper needs.

The company recently reorganized its logistics operations and marketing efforts to keep up with demand for logistics management services that go far beyond simply being a middleman between shipper and railroad.

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