Keep on truckin’: Semi dealership and service shop opens in Dickinson

• Nelson International

Nelson International Technician James Varner works on a semi Monday at the company’s Dickinson location. The 60-year-old company is slowly expanding westward with the addition of its Dickinson shop. Headquartered in Willmar, Minn., other locations include Fargo and Bismarck.

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Dickinson once again has an International dealership and service shop after Nelson International opened their facility earlier this summer.

The 60-year-old business headquartered in Willmar, Minn., opened up shop in Dickinson at the end of June after more than a year of construction.

The company decided to expand into the Dickinson market because of the need it noticed in the Oil Patch, owner Ryan Nelson said.

“There seems to be a huge opportunity out in western North Dakota,” he said.

The company purchased 17 acres of land and built from scratch starting May 2011, Nelson said.

There was an International associate in Dickinson, but they sold out, leaving a need in the community, Nelson said.

After the decision was made to open up in Dickinson, the next hurdle the company faced was housing its workers, he said.

“It’s not just the cost of setting the building up and getting that ready for business, it’s all the other costs of moving people in, hiring people and also building them housing,” he said.

Parts Manager Matt Peterson came out to Dickinson after being with the company for nine years and working in the Fargo and Bismarck locations.

“One main goal is to just not disappoint and keep things looking new for as long as they can look new,” he said. “It’s tough, you know, dirty mechanics working in grease.”

The Dickinson location is the most modern, Nelson said.

“It’s nice to have a new shop,” Dickinson General Manager Jim Pilarski said.

The shop will service any brand of semi they are able to, and not just International, Nelson said.

Nelson International is a second-generation operation started by Nelson’s father in Willmar, Minn. It expanded to Fargo and Bismarck when it bought out another dealership in 1986. Dickinson is the first major expansion since that time.

“There’s a lot of heavy trucks in the oil field,” Nelson said. “People will tow trucks to Fargo to get them fixed. A $3,000 tow bill, they won’t even bat an eye at to get a truck fixed.”

Tags: oil, news, business, semis