Distribution Centers

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

   The Sahil Group and Sahil Freight Express will open the 44,000-square-foot packaging and warehousing facility in Mumbai by Sept. 1.    The owners are currently looking for a joint-venture partner to help operate the facility, which is located near the Mumbai and Nhava Sheva ports. In specific the partner should specialize in delivering packaging to customers in India and globally, primarily in the healthcare, automotive, telecommunications and aviation industries, an...

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

   Early aircraft retirement, a $1.7-billion profit improvement program and improvement in its express segment are reasons why Cowen and Co. is anticipating slightly better performance from FedEx stocks when the company releases its fiscal fourth-quarter numbers Wednesday morning.    Cowen predicts a lower earnings-per-share number than most analysts, but sees the steps FedEx is taking in the market as hallmarks of an improving company. Modal shift is affecting FedEx, but Cowen still ...

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

   Austrian crane manufacturer Liebherr has opened a new $20 million sales and service center in Miami off Okeechobee and the Florida Turnpike.    It will serve as a major hub for Liebherr’s maritime cranes division and further strengthen its business relations to Central and South America and the Caribbean regions, said Gernot Schranz, president of Liebherr Nenzing Crane Co.    Liebherr called the 430,000-square-foot property ideal, stating the port of Miami and Miami Inter...

Thursday, June 13, 2013

   Switzerland-based Interroll has purchased Portec, a conveyor belt manufacturer based in Colorado, for an undisclosed amount.    The cash purchase is expected to close on July 1.    The acquisition is in line with Interroll’s strategic growth plans and gives the company a better foothold in the United States. The company, which counts Amazon and Coca-Cola as customers, also plans to open a 90,000-square-foot facility in Atlanta later this year.    "The product p...

Monday, June 10, 2013

   TNT Express plans to layoff 850 workers in Italy and combine its smaller operations in the country into larger outposts at strategic locations.    The moves, which are part of the company’s "Deliver!" reorganization program, will affect 20 Italian facilities.    Service levels and network connectivity will not be affected by the downsizing, company officials said. TNT Express is also planning on investing in depot sorting and IT at the remaining facilities.    ...

Monday, June 10, 2013

   Horizon Lines named William A. Hamlin executive vice president and chief operating officer.    Hamlin joined Horizon in March 2011 as senior vice president of operations from Jamian McElroy & Hamlin, a consulting firm specializing in transportation and infrastructure, domestic and international security and environmental issues. He served as a partner at the firm from 2009 to 2011.    Prior to that, he held various executive positions with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdin...

Friday, May 31, 2013

   UPS has made a “significant expansion” to its Asian healthcare network by opening a 22,000-square-meter healthcare facility in Hangzhou, China, according to a press statement.    The new facility, which was designed to meet the specific needs of pharmaceutical companies, features a fully automated tracking system. It is staffed by an on-site quality assurance team.    "With many healthcare companies demanding rigorous supply chain solutions in China, we are seeing increas...

Thursday, May 30, 2013

   PECO Pallet has opened a new depot in Hazleton, Pa.    The facility, located about 95 miles north of Philadelphia, offers services such as sorting, repairing, storing, and reissuing of pallets. It will be fully ramped up by July 1, the company said.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

   Wal-Mart Stores has pleaded guilty to illegally disposing of hazardous materials at its U.S. retail stores and will pay $81 million for its six negligent violations of the Clean Water Act, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.    In a related case, the company pleaded guilty in Missouri to disposing of pesticides that had been returned by customers in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. All in all, the company pleaded guilty in three cri...

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

   DHL Supply Chain will invest 140 million euros ($180 million) in its Southeast Asian operations, adding seven new facilities among other projects, by 2015.    The seven new facilities will be located in parts of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and will all be open by the end of the year. The company has already completed a 17,000-square-foot facility in Cimanggis, Indonesia.    In addition to new developments, the company plans to invest in new information ...

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

   Luxair Cargo has opened the 4-million-euro ($5.12 million), 3,000-square-meter Healthcare and Pharma Center expansion at Luxembourg Airport on the strength of increased pharmaceutical business with Panalpina.     Built within the company’s existing facility, the new development includes both a “controlled-room temperature” area and a space where the temperature is kept between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius.     Over the past four years, Panalpina has seen a steady inc...

Friday, May 24, 2013

   Americold, a temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics provider to the food industry, appointed Jed Milstein to executive vice president and chief human resources officer, and Jeff Hogarth to senior vice president for Asia-Pacific.    Milstein joins Americold after serving as executive vice president of human resources for TransCentra, a billing and payments provider. Prior to this, he was the head of HR for Cerberus Operations and Advisory Co.    Hogarth, a 23-yea...

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

   DHL Supply Chain announced that it will invest INR 650 million ($11.7 million) in its new 320,000-square-foot warehouse in Luhari, Delhi, anchored by Proctor & Gamble.    The company is planning additional facilities in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Chennai in 2013.    The new facility, and the forthcoming construction, is part of the INR 6.85 billion DHL pledged to invest in India last year to strengthen the logistics market. DHL has already built 350,000 square feet of ...

Monday, May 20, 2013

   Port Logistics Group has added two new facilities spanning more than 1.1 million square feet to its retail distribution campus in City of Industry, Calif. The development now boasts more than 2.5 million square feet of space.    The first new building, a 350,000-square-foot facility, will house new and existing clients. A 775,000-square-foot development has also been built for three new clients.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

   The world's largest wholesale technology distributor Ingram Micro said this week it is opening a new facility in Costa Rica for its Ingram Micro Mobility mobile device lifecycle services and logistics solutions subsidiary.    The facility is designed to support Ingram Micro Mobility’s growing business in Latin America. Initially, the facility will be fully dedicated to supporting the company’s mobile device lifecycle services, specifically device recovery and technical repair. &nb...

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

   FedEx Trade Networks has broken ground on an 83,000-square-foot facility at the Riverview Solar Technology Park in Tonawanda, N.Y.    The first wave of employees is set to move in near the end of this year.    FedEx is paying $5.2 million to build the 22-acre facility, which will include 55,000 square feet of office space. New York State has committed $2.56 million in tax credits to the project, and FedEx will receive another $1.9 million in tax relief from Erie County. ...

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

   Yusen Logistics (Americas) will open a new 229,000-square-foot warehouse in Chicago on May 20 that will employ 170 people.    The warehouse will include 185,000 square feet dedicated to distribution and container freight station services, a climate-controlled area of 15,000 square feet, with separate freezer and refrigerated units totaling 3,000 square feet to accommodate the company’s growing perishables customer base.    The new facility is located near the cargo entra...

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

   This fall, Weiss-Rohlig will relocate its North American headquarters to an 87,975-square-foot facility currently under construction in Elk Grove Village, Ill.    Upon completion of the building, which is under construction by CenterPoint Properties, Weiss-Rohlig will initially lease 57 percent of the space.    The move will bring Weiss-Rohlig, currently based in Des Plaines, Ill., closer to Chicago O’Hare International Airport. - Jon Ross

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

   CEVA has opened the 20,000-square-meter "City of Pharma," a healthcare warehousing and handling facility, in Stradella, Italy.    The area can be doubled in a short time to address future market demands, the company said.    The integrated logistics hub places many different companies from the same industry in one location. According to a press release, this configuration will allow CEVA to better respond to fluctuations in the market. City of Pharma takes an approa...

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

   National Retail Systems is adding transloading to the suite of logistics services it performs for Pep Boys, a large automotive aftermarket service and retail parts chain.    NRS said Tuesday it will deconsolidate ocean containers at its Pooler cross-dock facility four miles from the Port of Savannah and repack them into larger, 53-foot containers for the trip to Pep Boys' distribution center in Atlanta.    The third-party logistics provider currently handles domesti...

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

   Kuehne + Nagel has broken ground on a 30,000-square-meter expansion to its 45,000-square-meter facility in Geel, Belgium, to further support its contract logistics business in the country.    Completion of the 20,000-square-meter first phase of the project is slated for October. This additional space will be used partly for two clients secured last year — a coffee machine supplier and a toy manufacturer. The second phase, which will be specifically geared toward the pharmaceutical...

Friday, April 26, 2013

   UTi Worldwide has opened a new multi-client logistics center in New Taipei City, Taiwan.    The facility, measuring 461,000 square feet, is located about 20 minutes from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and just off Taiwan’s Highway 2 for quick access to the island’s main distribution channels.    “This facility is adaptable to the requirements of several industries such as pharmaceutical, healthcare, and wine and spirits which may require temperature-controlled...

Thursday, April 25, 2013

   UPS has acquired Budapest-based pharmaceutical logistics firm CEMELOG, a move that will help expand the integrator’s growing healthcare arm, for an undisclosed amount.    Officials expect to close the deal in the second quarter.    The 14-year-old European company boasts a number of large healthcare brands as clients and will help UPS gain a foothold in Central and Eastern Europe, according to a UPS release. The acquisition adds three distribution facilities, for&nb...

Thursday, April 25, 2013

   Paul Fisher, president and chief executive officer of industrial real estate developer CenterPoint Properties Trust, announced his retirement.    Fisher was one of the founders of the company in 1993, serving as chief financial officer prior to being named president in 2004. In 2006, the then publicly listed CenterPoint was privatized, with Fisher continuing to serve as president until his appointment as CEO in 2011.    “After more than 20 years of helping build a great f...

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

   Pacer International/Ocean World Lines has appointed Al Benki to senior vice president of international logistics in the United States and Europe.    He formerly served as the company’s senior vice president of international logistics for Asia and Europe.    Taking Benki’s place in Asia is Danny Yang, who will serve as managing director for Asia.    Benson Chua has become Pacer International/OWL’s managing director in China, while Andrew Luk continues to manage t...

Friday, April 19, 2013

   Home furnishings retailer IKEA this week switched on a large solar energy system installed at its distribution center in Perryville, Md.    The 768,972-square-foot photovoltaic (PV) array consists of a 2,674.9-kilowatt system, built with 18,576 panels, and is the state’s largest rooftop array. The IKEA distribution center will produce about 3,397,178 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, the equivalent of reducing 2,397 tons of carbon dioxide, eliminating the emissions...

Friday, April 19, 2013

   Retail giant Walmart said it plans to procure about 7 billion kilowatts of electricity from renewable sources, such as solar and wind power, or 600 percent over its current use of these energy types by Dec. 31, 2020, according to an announcement made this week by Mike Duke, the company’s president and chief executive officer.    Walmart also plans to reduce the kilowatt-hour per square foot of energy required to power its buildings globally by 20 percent compared to 2010 leve...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

   The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) this week launched a new interactive online mapping application, PhillyFreightFinder.    The application is aimed at highlighting the region's freight network, denoting major freight routes, such as highways, rivers and rail lines, and key hubs of employment and goods movement, including ports and freight centers. The application is interactive, allowing the viewer to explore more than 350 individual features, each with a th...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

   OnTrac has moved into a new facility in Commerce, Calif., that is six-times larger than its previous home, and recently hired 50 more workers.    This expansion, according to a press release, is due in part to rapid growth of the company’s overnight services.    Aside from being bigger, the new facility allows OnTrac to reach all of California and most of the large areas in Arizona and Nevada overnight. Customers in Washington, Utah, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado can now be...

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

   Michigan-based truck equipment manufacturer Adrian Steel will move into an 11-acre, 32,000-square-foot facility in Kansas City in September.    The $4.7 million development will be used to supply parts to the Ford Motor Co.    The company will install interiors for the Ford Transit commercial vans.    “The continued investment from auto manufacturing giants including Ford and GM makes the K.C. region a very attractive location for suppliers to the auto industry,...

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

   Dachser has opened its first bonded container freight station and bonded warehouse in the United States near the Miami International Airport.    According to the third party logistics company, the new development will allow it to offer a broader range of services.    Staff at the facility will handle import deconsolidations, in-bond cargoes, and combine domestic freight with in-bond shipments for export ocean containers.    Last month, Dacsher re...

Friday, April 05, 2013

   Damco, the logistics services arm of A.P. Moller-Maersk, has opened a 16,000-square-meter warehouse in Cambodia, adding to its first facility in the Southeast Asian country which opened in August 2011.    The development marks Damco’s continued interest in this emerging market.    From the new facility, Damco will provide customers with inventory management, radio-frequency scanning, order processing, vendor and carrier management, and inventory management...

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

   DHL will break ground this month in Tokyo on the 44,000-square-meter Sagamihara Logistics Center, a development that will spur $50 million in investment over the next 10 years, according to the express carrier.    The facility, which will increase DHL Supply Chain’s warehouse space in Japan by 20 percent, will be ready by March 2014.     DHL will lease the building for 10 years starting in April 2014.    The multi-user hub facility will be g...

Thursday, March 28, 2013

   TAGG Logistics will consolidate its three sites around St. Louis next month by opening a 200,000-square-foot facility next to the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.    The development will include multiple kitting and assembly lines, warehouse management and high-volume order-picking systems, and a bulk distribution space.    More than half of its business flow is international ocean activity, but officials have said it would like to move more into the air freight ...

Thursday, March 28, 2013

   Hillwood Properties is adding on to its 17,000-acre master-planned complex AllianceTexas, building the 1.2-million-square-foot industrial speculation property Alliance Center North 1 as part of the Fort Worth development's 650-acre industrial development.    At full buildout, Alliance Center North will span 9 million square feet of industrial space.    Project design is currently underway, and Hillwood expects to break ground this summer. The project is in line with Hillw...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

   The radio frequency identification (RFID) companies SML Group and Nordic ID have joined forces, the companies said in a statement Tuesday.    SML is a global supplier of brand identification labels and RFID data solutions, while Nordic ID is a RFID technology specialist.    The new bundled solutions offer Nordic ID RFID handheld readers that have been configured to run with SML’s ViziT retail and supply chain applications. The initial package is designed for in-plant appl...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

   DHL Global Forwarding has opened a 1,000-square-meter facility in Barcelona targeting the distribution of life sciences and healthcare shipments in Spain and Southern Europe.    The new facility is complaint with the European Commission's new standards on the transport of medicine and is a qualified Envirotainer provider. Two-thirds of the facility's space is reserved for goods needing a temperature range between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius, and the remaining space is cooled to...

Friday, March 22, 2013

   Local government and industry officials at three ports on the opposite end of the spectrum in California are lobbying members of Congress and U.S. Customs to adjust how the agency is implementing forced budget cuts because reductions in manpower to clear cargo are beginning to harm the maritime industry, with potential losses of millions of dollars per day just around the corner.     Port stakeholders say their unique circumstances mean that Customs and Border Protection's ini...

Thursday, March 21, 2013

   CenterPoint Properties broke ground this week on a new ACE Hardware distribution center at Wilmer, Texas.    The 450,000-square-foot facility will be situated on 31.3 acres within the 59.9-acre Sunridge Business Park.    The facility will be leased by ACE for 10 years, and is located about 10 miles outside Dallas, along the LBJ Freeway (Interstate-45). The site is also positioned a half mile from Union Pacific’s Dallas intermodal hub. ACE estimates it will bring in ...

Thursday, March 21, 2013

   At the end of last month, Ryder System surpassed its goal of hiring 1,000 veterans by the end of the year, a pledge made in November 2011 as part of the federal government’s Hiring Our Heroes program.    Ten percent of Ryder’s workforce now consists of veterans. The veterans now working at Ryder serve as truck drivers, diesel mechanics and warehouse employees. These employees have been equipped with logistical, management, mechanical and teamwork experience by t...

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

   The supply chain consultant and logistics services provider Spinnaker has hired Mike O’Donnell as vice president of sales.    O’Donnell will be responsible for expanding Spinnaker’s client base and infrastructure in existing and new markets, along with driving strategic initiatives for the company’s warehouse and distribution services.    He has 25 years of experience in third-party supply chain services, including design, strategy, marketing, sales and operations, and ha...

Friday, March 15, 2013

   ModusLink is moving to a 15,200-square-meter distribution center in Venray, the Netherlands, that will employ between 350 and 500 people to replace its current location in Apeldoorn.    The new facility will be up and running by July.    Company officials were weighing different options for Europe, including opening a facility in the Czech Republic or Germany. In the end, the Netherlands offered what the company needed as a centrally located European logistics hub. ...

Friday, March 15, 2013

   RIDEMAKERZ, a toy car company, has begun distributing products to its Anaheim store from Regal Logistics's new Los Angeles distribution center.    The 1.6-million-square-foot DC will allow flexible options for distributing the toys, which are imported from China.    Regal is also providing RIDEMAKERZ with warehousing and other value-added services.    “We moved all our warehousing and fulfillment operations for our Southern California store t...

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

   DHL has broken ground on an AED 100 million ($27 million) facility near Dubai intended to support ground operations in the Middle East and North Africa and allowing for increased service speed in the region.    The facility is expected to open during the fall of 2014.    The 185,844-square-foot development will include a 78,285-square-foot sorting and loading area and an office space spanning more than 46,000 square feet. DHL officials will install the new...

Monday, March 11, 2013

   DB Schenker Logistics has opened a new cross-docking terminal in Pruszcz Gdański in the greater Gdansk area.    Schenker said the new facility is close to roads linking Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot and will allow it to further develop business operations in Poland and other parts of Europe.    Schenker said its previous terminal was located in the center of Gdynia and that the new facility will reduce the traffic volume in the city.

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

   Panalpina experienced declining air freight revenue in 2012, transporting 6 percent less tonnage than in 2011, but gains from the ocean freight and logistics side left the firm left it with a gross profit of CHF 1.46 billion ($1.54 billion), flat from last year.    There was some growth on the air freight side in perishables and fashion shipments, but high-tech and telecommunications shipments, some of Panalpina’s most active cargoes in this business, experienced tonnage...

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

   Supply Chain Solutions, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based logistics services firm, will lease 38,500 square feet at a warehouse in Lafayette, Ind., near Interstate 65, as part of its ongoing Midwest expansion.    The five-year lease comes with expansion opportunities up to 147,000 square feet. Supply Chain Solutions is relocating its Chicago warehouse to Lafayette to better serve the needs of its client SMG - Shandong Special Industry Group Co., LTD. of China.    The 24-dock-do...

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

   U.S. Customs is using plans for how to resume business in the wake of a natural or man-made disaster as a guideline for dealing with the forced budget cuts that went into effect March 1, the agency said in a memo over the weekend outlining how it will try to minimize the impact of the sequester process.    Officials reiterated that they are eliminating overtime work and personnel will begin to to lose a day per pay period in unpaid leave in mid-April. Their strategy redirects...

Friday, March 01, 2013

   The $754 million hit that U.S. Customs will take to its budget through Oct. 1 under the automatic federal budget cuts that kick in today will significantly decrease the efficiency of port operations, agency officials have told industry stakeholders in a series of outreach sessions.    Customs and Border Protection leaders on Friday held a conference call with several trade associations to outline where they were making cutbacks and how the reduced manpower would impact operat...

Friday, March 01, 2013

   Third party logistics provider Sunland Distribution has acquired a 722,000-square-foot warehouse located off Interstates 85 and 385 in Simpsonville, S.C.    The 32-acre property along with the building was purchased from TGC, LLC. Built in phases from 1968 to 1993, the facility was once a distribution center for Pillowtex Corp. The facility will continue to be an operating base for Sunland’s Scotts Miracle-Gro account and serve as its new headquarters.    Financial terms...

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

   Two wind turbines were installed this week at the Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) bottling plant in Cabazon, Calif., which will provide 30 percent of the facility’s electricity.    “Hosting wind turbines at our bottling plants is a critical step for Nestlé Waters to support the increased use of renewable energy,” said Michael Washburn, vice president of sustainability for NWNA, in a statement Tuesday. “This latest effort in conjunction with our partnership with Foundation W...

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

   DHL Supply Chain will invest 40 million euros ($52 million) in Indonesia during the next few years, more than doubling its vehicle fleet, increasing its employment base by nearly two thirds, and expanding its warehouse space by more than half.    The additions are all meant to tap into an estimated double-digit growth in the supply chain industry nationwide.    The first of the warehouse investments is a newly opened 17,000-square-meter facility in Cimanggis that wi...

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

   The logistics software company Descartes Systems Group said Tuesday that Great Lakes Wine & Spirits, a leading distributor of wines, spirits and beer in Michigan, is using Descartes Mobile for Android to improve delivery performance across its fleet.    Descartes Mobile is a cloud-based solution within Descartes' integrated Routing, Mobile and Telematics offering, part of the provider's logistics technology platform.    "Integrating real-time field data is critical t...

Monday, February 25, 2013

   NewAge Software & Solutions, a provider of enterprise applications for freight forwarding and logistics companies, has moved into the North American market, led by industry veterans Michael Sinclair and Charles Chute.    New Age was established in 2003 and currently has users in 36 countries, including forwarders, non-vessel-operating common carriers, consolidators, 3PLs, warehouse operators, and customs brokers.    NewAge’s ERP technology suite is designed to facili...

Thursday, February 21, 2013

   Matson Logistics, a provider of multimodal transportation, warehousing, and distribution services, has obtained distribution center space in Savannah, Ga.    “Our new operation expands on our ability to move retail goods in through the Port of Savannah,” said Mark Ferzacca, assistant vice president of sales for Matson Logistics Warehousing, in a statement. “More companies are using East Coast distribution centers to have their product closer to a rapidly growing regional market.” ...

Thursday, February 21, 2013

   DB Schenker Logistics is the new logistics service provider for SolarEdge, a Netherlands-based solar power company.    Schenker will operate the company's European distribution facility and oversee the dissemination of its products throughout Europe using the Schenker land transportation network.    Schenker has handled SolarEdge's inbound and outbound traffic from Israel since July 2010.    "We are looking forward to further developing and establishing a globa...

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

   At 11 p.m. on Feb. 16, 30 armed men forced their way into a warehouse in the Sao Paulo-based industrial park Centro Logistico Brasil, stealing an unknown number of tablet computers and smartphones, according to FreightWatch International.    Analysts are calling it one of the largest thefts in Brazil.     The suspects, who gained access to the building by masquerading as security guards, used nine cars and six trucks to make off with the goods. Intruders, who we...

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

   The California-based technology developer Cargo Data Corp. said Monday it has developed two radio frequency solutions designed to automate in-transit temperature-monitoring programs.    The solutions are aimed at the many perishable-receiving operations that rely on conventional digital temperature recorders, which must be connected to a computer running proprietary software to view and print a temperature chart/graph, the company said.    “Once data is downloa...

Monday, February 18, 2013

   Developer CenterPoint Properties last week said it recently closed the $83 million acquisition of a 1.5 million-square-foot distribution center occupied by bookstore Barnes & Noble in Monroe, N.J.    It was the largest amount ever paid by Chicago-based CenterPoint for a single building and brings its holdings in the New Jersey market to 2.9 million square feet.    Barnes & Nobles' lease for its e-commerce fulfillment center runs...

Monday, February 18, 2013

   The logistics services company Port Logistics Group has entered a partnership with TAGSYS RFID, a global provider of item-level inventory management systems.    The agreement will enable Port Logistics Group to offer radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions to its customers at their U.S. gateway facilities. The companies will also partner on development and deployment of TAGSYS' RFID solutions and its integration to Port Logistics Group’s proprietary EventTracker WMS.  ...