Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (ODFL) is an American regional, inter-regional and national less than truckload shipping (LTL) company.

[4][5] The company has five primary product groups: Domestic, Expedited, People, Global, Household Services and Technology.

[8] Following passage of the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) began regulating the trucking industry.

[10] ODFL was initially granted a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) by the ICC to transport interstate freight on their original route between Richmond and Norfolk, but this freight had to be destined for transit outside the state of Virginia either internationally or interstate.

By the end of that year, ODFL was operating six tractor-trailers and 12 straight trucks and shortly thereafter moved to a dedicated seven-bay facility.

[13] In 1940, the company's drivers were successfully unionized under the Teamsters, this time supported by Earl Sr., at the behest of a large customer.

In the 1940s, ODFL switched from a navy blue and red livery for its tractors to the dark green color, which it continued to use throughout its history.

This was one of three routes Wilson had acquired from former ODFL competitor Hampton Roads Transport Company earlier that year.

[15] The company converted a disused lumber mill into a trucking terminal in 1942, to support the volume of business they were doing during the war.

The following year, it began a partnership with Globe Freight Airline, Inc. where ODFL distributed airfreight through Virginia.

With the deregulation of the trucking industry in the 1980s, Old Dominion extended its service area into Florida, Tennessee and California and also started serving the major markets of Chicago and Dallas.

These "P&D" trucks are driven by local drivers, who return to the service center at the end of the business day.