Volume 3  Issue 2 July 23, 2007

Niche Shipper

Riverside Logistics started 11 years ago as a spin-off of a paper company, but transformed itself into a fast-growth company by managing medical-equipment supply chains.
 

By Peter Galuszka
 

In a cargo bay of a big warehouse near Richmond International Airport, workers in hospital garb reload cardboard boxes. They put in plastic bags containing surgical cloth, followed by packages of plastic tubes. Should they need a completely sterile environment, they can work in a special aluminum hut a few steps away. Later, a fork lift will move the repackaged boxes for truck shipment to hospitals from Richmond to Denver.

This kind of highly specialized loading and supply chain management, with a heavy emphasis on smaller loads, has proved a winner for Riverside Logistics. Making use of the Greater Richmond area’s strategic location along the East Coast and its Mid-Atlantic region, the fast-growing logistical services company has carved out a niche in handling specialty shipments.

 

Oaken wine barrels

Since its founding in 1996, the Midlothian firm has hauled a smorgasbord of goods ranging from Central American bottled beer to gravel to meticulously crafted wine casks of fine oak from France. Over the past three years, business has been so strong -- surging from $8.5 million in sales in 2004 to a projected $19.4 million this year -- that the company has had to triple its warehouse space.

Keith Hamlett, Riverside’s CEO, has ambitions to grow corporate sales to $25 million within another three years. Says Hamlett: “It’s all organic growth.” More.

Attention to detail

Overnite's transformation to UPS Freight is complete.

by Chip Jones

Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Before UPS Freight could change its corporate culture, it had to make sure its truck drivers could change their socks.

"I couldn't tell you how many phone calls I got about brown socks," Gordon Mackenzie, the company's president, recently recalled with a laugh.

Sock etiquette was one of many wrinkles that had to be ironed out last year after Overnite Corp., the Richmond-based trucking company, was acquired for $1.25 billion by United Parcel Service Inc.

About 6,000 truck drivers were fitted with uniforms that combined Overnite's gray with UPS' brown. More.

(This article was republished with permission from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.)

Change in Direction Helps Growth

Chesterfield's PeakLogix reaps reward after retooling its business model.

By AARON KREMER
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Three years.

That's how long management at PeakLogix says it took for a new business model and snazzy new name to take off.

Back in 2000, the Chesterfield County-based company went by the name New Dominion Equipment Co. and primarily sold racks and logistics equipment used to store goods inside warehouses. The company, for a time, also had installation crews on the payroll.

But then the Internet added more competition to the marketplace, and Dominion started to lose sales to lower-priced online vendors.

"We needed to change direction and change the culture of the business -- get away from commodities and provide more value," said Ron Rechenbach, who started the company in 1989 with Robert Giberson.

Thus began a period of contemplation and a rebranding effort. The company hired Richmond's RightMinds for $250,000 to assess the company's strengths and help find a new niche. More.

(This article was republished with permission from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.)

Packing Gas

DSCR has awarded a $6.25 billion contract to transform distribution of military petroleum, lubricants and compressed gases.

Defense Supply Center Richmond officials signed a contract May 2 with a maximum value of $6.25 billion for the privatization of chemicals, petroleum, oils and lubricants with Science Applications International Corporation of Fairfield, N.J. The five-year base firm-fixed (unrestricted) contract with an additional five-year option is the second awarded this week by DSCR for commodities privatization mandated by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission decision.

“Privatization will reduce infrastructure and generate savings associated with procurement, storage and transportation of these commodities by placing these requirements on the contractor” said Charles Bates, BRAC program analyst, DSCR BRAC Office. “Warfighters will benefit by receiving their supplies from the contractor, who will provide direct delivery from their stock.” More.

In related developments, DSCR has awarded a contract potentially worth $2 billion over 10 years to Haas TCM of West Chester, Pa., for the privatization of compressed gases and cylinders. More.

NEWS

Jungheinrich Opens New U.S. Headquarters. The Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp. has moved its U.S. corporate headquarters to a 70,000 square-foot facility close to the original site in Richmond. Jungheinrich also expanded some existing departments, created new ones and unified all the departments under one roof. (April 4, 2007) More.

Port Adds Eimskip. Eim- skip, an Icelandic ocean container and bulk carrier, has begun providing service between the Port of Richmond and the following ports: Halifax, Nova Scotia; Argentina, Newfoundland; and Reykjavik, Iceland. (June 2007) More. 

Estes Opens Northeast Terminal. Estes Express Lines, a provider of regional and long-haul services, has opened a 37-door facility in Lewiston, Maine. The terminal will employ 38 and serve as the state’s expanded operations center. (February 27, 2007) More.

Navigation Channel Gets Permit. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has granted a permit for the Port of Richmond’s turning basin expansion project. The FY06 Energy and Water Act has approved $975,000 of the $1.4 million needed for construction. (June 2007) More.

Terminal Tonnage Up. Although overall tonnage at the Port of Richmond was flat in calendar year 2006, non-waterborne tonnage increased 52 percent, primarily due to the 65 percent increase in rail tonnage during the year. (June 2007) More.

O&M Merger Complete. Owens & Minor has successfully transferred $122 million in inventory, customer contracts and 10 leased warehouse facilities of the $169 million acute-care distribution business acquired from McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc. (March 28, 2007) More.

Riverside Secures New Client. Riverside Logistics has been hired by Asheboro Paper & Packaging, a North Carolina packaging supplier, to provide warehousing services of Asheboro products. (June 4, 2007) More.

O&M signs with DOD. Owens & Minor has renewed its existing multi-year contract for medical and surgical supply distribution services to the U.S. Department of Defense. (June 15, 2007) More.

LMR Wins AG Support Contract. Logistics Management Resources, Inc. has been awarded a contract to provide support to the Adjutant General, Human Resource Directorate at Fort Lee, Va. (June 13, 2007) More.

Spec Ops Wins Contract. Spec Ops, Inc. will provide tactical command and control hardware, displays and communications equipment for Jefferson County, Ala.’s first Mobile Emergency Operations Center. (June 2007) More.

Getloaded.com Kicks off Beta Site. Getloaded.com, an Internet load board for the transportation industry, has upgraded the search capabilities of its website, making it easier to post truck loads and pinpoint truck postings from city to city. (March 20, 2007) More.

Jungheinrich Upgrades Turret Truck. The Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp. has introduced the EKX 513-515 80 electric volt turret truck, which can get up to 13 hours of run time. (April 17, 2007).

More.

Brink’s Appoints Pirate Board Member.
The Brink’s Company, a global provider of security and risk management services, has elected Thomas R. Hudson Jr., managing member of Pirate Capital, to the Brink’s board of directors. Pirate, a hedge fund that owns 8.5 percent of Brink’s stock, had urged the company to explore strategic alternatives, including the sale of the company, to increase shareholder value. (February 8, 2007) More.

DSCR Changes Command. Defense Supply Center Richmond, the aviation supply and demand chain manager for nearly 1.25 million repair parts and operating supply items in the U.S. military, has changed command from Rear Adm. Mark F. Heinrich to Air Force Brig. Gen. Andrew E. Busch. (June 18, 2007) More.

O&M Hires CFO. Owens & Minor has appointed James L. Bierman as chief financial officer. (May 29, 2007) More.

ICL Installs New Management Team. Independent Container Line, the anchor tenant at the Port of Richmond, has appointed a new CEO, John Kirkland. (June 2007) More.