JOHNSTON — The truckers of A. Duie Pyle came to town in their private cars, pickups and SUVs Friday morning, parking outside their new shipping terminal near the state’s Central Landfill.

They boarded transports and headed to their terminal in Webster, Mass.

There, they climbed into their pre-loaded trucks — Mack tractor-trailers with bright-orange rigs. After spending a full day hauling deliveries and picking up shipments, they drove the big rigs to their new home.

“We started the day in Webster,” Pyle’s chairman, Peter A. Latta, said. “We ended it in Johnston.”

Staffed with 60 to 65 employees and equipped with 35 to 40 trucks, the Johnston trucking operation was in full swing by yesterday, Latta said.

The general commodities that Pyle hauls — everything from oil paints and lighting fixtures to ink and paper — had arrived at the 47,000-square-foot facility on Friday, according to Latta.

Pyle moves such commodities between a network of terminals that dot the eastern United States and in Canada from Corpus Christi in the southeast to Newfoundland in the northeast and Vancouver in the west.

Drivers tend to make deliveries first thing in the morning and do pickups through the day.

Pyle, which was founded in 1924, has more than 12 terminals like the one in Johnston.

It helps move commodities for more than 100 companies such as Scotts, a maker of lawn products, and Alcoa.

Pyle has chosen to shift its Webster-based work force between Johnston and another terminal in Northborough, Mass., Latta said.

The construction of Pyle’s Johnston terminal was part of a phased project whose cost was estimated at about $11.6 million.

At the groundbreaking, town and state officials anticipated the creation of 120 full-time jobs during the first three years of the operation.

Latta said the company will continue to make hires as it grows. It has already hired several employees who live in Johnston, he said.

The company has already agreed to give $650,000 for a new fire station in western Johnston.

Also, Pyle will be exempt for the payment of “any and all municipal or excise taxes, assessments, fees, charges or payments…” according to the company’s tax deal with the town.

Latta’s company will pay real-estate taxes for the land it owns, according to the agreement.

Mayor Joseph M. Polisena said he toured Rhode Island Resource Recovery’s industrial park yesterday.

He said he noticed that Pyle had moved in and he also saw a lot of activity at FedEx’s new logistics facility.

mreynold@projo.com