NOTED: Supply Chain Highlights

Good Works

• For the fourth consecutive year, Averitt Express donated more than $1 million to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This year’s $1.2 million represents the company’s largest ever donation to the hospital.
• Redwood Logistics contributed $209,125 to the Danny Did Foundation—a nonprofit organization that advances public awareness of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy and provides aid for those affected.
• As part of its 25th anniversary celebration, Combilift is donating its 75,000th truck—an Aisle Master articulated forklift—to Convoy of Hope, a non-profit humanitarian and disaster relief organization.
• Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL) ranks second among the 50 best-performing global companies for hiring refugees, finds Refugee Integration Insights. Through measures such as application training, mentoring programs, and internships, DPDHL prepares refugees for the work world and offers them employment prospects within or outside the company.

M & A

• GEODIS finalized its acquisition of trans-o-flex, a network for temperature-controlled pharmaceutical goods and express premium delivery.
• A.P. Moller-Maersk purchased Martin Bencher Group, a project logistics specialist that focuses on health, safety, security, and the environment.
• Expanding to operate 20 terminals along the Gulf Coast, East Coast, and inland river system, Enstructure acquired Richardson Companies, a breakbulk specialist with primary operations in Port Houston and the Port of Mobile.
• Trinity Industries purchased RSI Logistics, adding RSI’s rail technology, logistics services, and bulk terminal network to its railcar manufacturing, leasing, technology, and maintenance service.
• Knight-Swift acquired U.S. Xpress for approximately $808 million, excluding transaction costs. The deal is expected to close late in the second quarter or early third quarter of 2023.
• Expanding its air and sea freight network to cover Australia and New Zealand, DACHSER acquired ACA International—adding Australian offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney and New Zealand locations in Auckland, Hamilton, and Wellington.

Recognition

• Leanne Drummond, business development manager for CPC Logistics and Endrea Davisson, a professional driver for CFI, were among the more than 80 women named as the Women In Trucking Association’s 2023 Top Women to Watch in Transportation.
• IntelliTrans, a provider of global multi-modal solutions for optimizing bulk and break-bulk supply chain operations, won a 2023 Cloud Computing Product of the Year Award from TMC’s Cloud Computing magazine.
• The Truckload Carriers Association and CarriersEdge named Chief Carriers the Best Overall Fleet in the small carrier category, while C.A.T. won Best Overall Fleet in the large carrier category.

Green Seeds

• Arvato Supply Chain Solutions switched the energy supply of four distribution centers in Louisville, Kentucky, and one in Valencia, California, to green electricity sourced from wind and solar energy.
• CEVA Logistics will transition all its contract logistics and freight warehouses to greener electricity by 2025 by purchasing low-carbon electricity from local utility providers and increasing its own production of electricity using rooftop solar panels.
• Working with Trees for the Future, ATA Freight has now planted 272,000 lifetime trees in 106 forest gardens and restored 106 acres of land.

Milestone

• St. Onge Company celebrates its 40th anniversary. The company provides solutions to shippers’ supply chain needs in the automotive, consumer packaged goods, retail and ecommerce sectors. It also serves healthcare providers, including hospitals and clinics.

Sealed Deals

• Tovala, which delivers prepared food in 20 minutes, has gone live with the cloud-based SnapFulfil WMS suite in two distribution centers in Chicago and a 230,000-square-foot facility in Salt Lake City.
• Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has opened a 50,000-square-foot distribution center in Indianapolis to handle all contract logistics services for instrumentation company Endress+Hauser in North America.
• Samsonite teamed with ReverseLogix to provide a self-activated warranty and repair portal for Samsonite customers. The technology provides the luggage retailer with insight into specific parts or products being returned.
• Brazilian fashion retailer Pernambucanas selected Mojix to provide a SaaS-based traceability solution that enables real-time, item-level visibility across more than 500 stores and the company’s primary distribution center.
• WestRock, a provider of sustainable paper and packaging solutions, turned to Wagner Logistics to negotiate a cost-optimizing lease for its 160,000-square-foot warehouse in California and manage complete paper handling operations.
• ACI Brands, a supplier of consumer products, will deploy Tecsys’ SaaS-based Elite WMS. The platform will unify silos and supply chain operations, enabling the company to tap into system-driven technologies and automation solutions.
• Cardinal Health will install a Swisslog automation solution at its at-Home Solutions distribution center in Grove City, Ohio. The facility features 31,844 storage bins providing 83,000 cubic feet of storage for 14,154 SKUs.

In Memoriam

• Ralph L. “Larry” Roberts, Sr., founder of R+L Carriers, passed away on March 19, 2023. He started in the trucking business in 1965 with a single Ford truck, helping people move household furnishings.