Outsourced Logistics

Leading U.S. 3PL Opens 15-Acre Distribution Center

Eight Miles from LA/Long Beach Ports

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, NJ– National Retail Systems, Inc. (NRS), a leading provider of global logistics services to U.S. retailers and manufacturers, today announced it has opened a 15-acre distribution center in Compton, Calif., near both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. This most recent expansion of NRS’s West Coast operations brings the total amount of distribution facility space operated by the company in the LA/Long Beach area to more than 1.5 million square feet, all within 10 miles of the ports.

“It’s no secret that the U.S. retail industry is struggling right now,” said Raymond Wisniewski, NRS President. “But we are seeing selective growth from customers that are weathering the downturn well and positioning themselves for recovery. We plan to be the logistics provider that’s ready to meet their needs when the economy turns.”

NRS has expanded business with existing customers by offering integrated pier drayage, transload and DC bypass services on the West Coast linked with the company’s national retail distribution network. NRS also is adding new clients outside of the retail industry, including electronics and pharmaceuticals manufacturers, looking for fresh alternatives to reduce costs.

To complement the facility expansion, NRS recently deployed 115 Clean Air pier trucks to comply with the Clean Truck Program requirements at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The new pier fleet can handle 70,000 TEU imports per year. NRS plans to increase that fleet to handle 300,000 TEU imports per year.

NRS has been well established in Southern California for 25 years as an innovator and leader in DC bypass, cross-dock and value-added distribution services, including ticketing, pick and pack, labeling, inventory replenishment and warehouse management. The company operates an automated distribution center and additional facilities totaling 1.5 million square feet within a 10-mile range of the Port of Los Angeles. This strategic position allows NRS to integrate pier drayage directly into the retail supply chain, offering customers a turn-key distribution solution for speed and flexibility supported by NRS’s real-time visibility system.

ABOUT NRS

Since 1953, National Retail Systems Inc. has pioneered many of the retail logistics processes considered cutting edge today. The company operates an international network of transportation and distribution assets focused on one goal – delivering efficient and reliable logistics solutions to America’s leading brands. NRS delivers competitive supply chain advantage — from factory all the way to the store — through an exclusive joint venture with China logistics provider Sinotrans. SinoNRS and NRS offer factory pick-up in Asia; international consolidation; freight forwarding; value-added services; import management; transload; distribution and warehousing; DC bypass; nationwide full-truckload and LTL transportation; pool point services; dedicated fleets; yard management; and store delivery. For more information, visit www.nrsonline.com.

Media Contact:

Kimberly McCloskey

BSY Associates Inc.

(732) 817-0400 x28

Schuylkill Haven, PA– The Northeast Pennsylvania Manufacturers and Employers Association (MAEA) presented Evans Delivery Company with the “Energy Efficiencies/Environmental Improvements” Excellence Award at its annual awards dinner.

“Evans Delivery Company is a great example of a company that delivers market-leading solutions for environmental improvement,” said Darlene J. Robbins, MAEA President. “The Excellence Awards are an indicator that manufacturers and businesses are able to compete in today’s challenging economic times by developing innovative processes as well as product improvements and efficiencies, while maintaining a visible presence in the community,” she continued.

Evans Network launched an industry-wide environmental initiative, Export Coordination/ Optimization-Match (ECO-Match™), to make more productive use of resources by matching up to 75 percent of import and export shipments handled by the company. This program benefits shippers, drivers and the environment.

In addition to ECO-Match™, Evans Network is currently retrofitting its independent contractors’ trucks serving the Ports of Virginia with diesel multi-stage filters that have shown to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 percent.

“Our environmental initiatives are a source of pride and certainly a priority for our network,” said Mr. Albert “Bert” Evans, Jr., President and CEO of Evans Network of Companies. “We are honored to be recognized for these efforts and to be in the company of other organizations that actively seek innovative processes and get involved in our community.”

Evans Network provides transportation services in the intermodal container and trailer drayage, van truckload and flatbed markets with more than 80 service centers throughout the U.S. Evans Delivery Company is one of the five companies that make up the Evans Network.

MAEA selected three manufacturers and three service-providing firms for the Excellence Awards based on process innovation, environmental efficiencies, and community involvement.

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About The Evans Network of Companies

The Evans Network of Companies is a market-leading logistics partner with revenues over $185 million. The Evans Network has a fleet of over 1,350 tractors and 80 service centers throughout the country, providing transportation services in the intermodal container and trailer drayage, van truckload and flatbed markets encompassing six divisions: Evans Delivery Company, West Motor Freight, All Points Transport Corp., Hale Intermodal Trucking, Century Express and DM Transportation Management Services, a full service vendor inbound management company serving the Direct Marketing and Retail industries with over 350 clients. Evans Network provides customer-centric service and is dedicated to the safety and recognition of its network employees, agent partners and independent contractors. For more information, visit www.evansdelivery.com.

Interested in becoming an agent partner with the Evans Network? Call 1.877.39.EVANS

About MAEA

The Northeast PA Manufacturers and Employers Association serves companies within Carbon, Luzerne, Lackawanna, Northumberland, and Schuylkill counties. The organization offers a range of services in order to help local companies remain competitive, including wage / salary and benefit surveys, standard and customized training programs, roundtable meetings on a variety of topics, and legislative updates.

Media Contact:

Kimberly McCloskey

BSY Associates, Inc.

(732) 817-0400 x28

Container Shipping Technologies Launches First Real-Time Ocean Freight Invoice Audit Tool

Guaranteed to Eliminate Overpayments and Provide Revenue Generation,

and Cost Containment as a Recession Fighting Tool

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – With every shipper, ocean carrier, third party logistics provider and NVOCC trying to save money and gain new sources of revenue, Container Shipping Technologies Ltd. has launched the first real-time pre-audit tool dedicated exclusively to the ocean freight sector, which is guaranteed to eliminate invoice rating errors.

Known as RightRate℠, the proprietary web-based vessel/voyage invoice control system automatically monitors the accuracy of ocean freight invoices on behalf of shippers, ocean carriers, third party logistics providers and NVOCCs. The one-of-a-kind technology identifies discrepancies and resolves them in real-time, including invoicing errors that are under-billed or over-billed. This ensures accurate billing, improved earnings and helps avoid the time and cost of an invoice compliance audit. RightRate℠ also identifies deficit revenue billings at the container level, which contributes to improved carrier and NVOCC earnings.

The RightRate℠ dashboard instantly displays overcharges and undercharges in a US Dollar and non-US Dollar variance report, which is available 24 hours a day and is fully exportable to Excel.

According to Container Shipping Technologies’ founder, Steve Ferreira, there are no other solutions providers offering a pre-audit tool dedicated exclusively to the ocean freight sector. “We created RightRate℠ to detect and correct ocean freight invoice errors in real-time, thereby eliminating disputed overcharge claims, reducing post-audit dependency, preserving shippers’ cash, boosting carrier/NVOCC earnings and improving documentation. We believe in our system so much that we offer a money back guarantee if our customers’ return on investment is less than forecasted using RightRate℠.”  

From the shippers’ perspective, RightRate℠ offers cost avoidance as the invoice is corrected real-time before it is paid. From the carriers’ perspective, it generates revenue that is overlooked or incorrectly billed by the carriers’ documentation center. For NVOCCs it provides both cost containment and new revenue on the buy/sell side respectively. “And both carriers and NVOCCs benefit from documentation accuracy, which is key to gaining the trust of their shippers,” said Ferreira.  

“In developing our system over the past two years, we created many unique patent pending tools to ensure the accuracy of our data,” said Ferreira. “We have found that the top 500 importers/exporters average more than 100 invoice errors per month, which our tool continuously corrects in real-time. Ocean carriers are utilizing RightRate℠ to eliminate revenue leakage on undercharged invoices and as an earnings improvement tool. Our customers are also excited about the ‘green’ aspect of RightRate℠ as it is helping them go paperless.”

RightRate℠ operates as a support function to the client, not as a SaaS or on subscription. “Most clients today are resource sensitive – they don’t have time for long training sessions so we created a very simple system which takes about 30 minutes to learn. By running RightRate℠ out of the box, our customers see results the first day,” said Ferreira.

As founder of Container Shipping Technologies, Ferreira brings more than 28 years of experience in the ocean shipping and logistics industry to the company. He also founded Ocean Freight Refunds Inc. in 2004, a dedicated ocean freight post-audit company, and the industry’s only 100% ocean freight post-audit tool. He sold his first audit company, TradeCheck, LLC to the Profit Recovery Group (Public Company; PRGX; Financial Services industry).  Prior to that, Ferreira worked in both Asia and the United States with Sea-Land Service and United States Lines.

About Container Shipping Technologies Ltd.:

Container Shipping Technologies Ltd. has created the first real-time pre-audit tool dedicated exclusively to the ocean freight sector. The patent pending tool, RightRate℠, is guaranteed to eliminate invoice over-payment and under-payment and generate cost avoidance or earned revenues for its customers. For more information about Container Shipping Technologies, please contact Steve Ferreira at 646-312-7905 or   SteveF@vesselvoyage.com

ChemLogix LLC today announced that it will leverage solutions from Ariba, Inc., (Nasdaq: ARBA), the leading spend management solutions provider, to enhance its Freight Procurement Services.  As part of ongoing efforts to drive even greater savings for its customers, ChemLogix will deploy Ariba^® Sourcing^™ On-Demand in combination with its own unique market intelligence and industry rate benchmarks to help chemical shippers match shipments and traffic lanes with the best available carriers.  “Many chemical shippers are finding freight savings through on-line freight procurement,” notes Ed Hildebrandt, ChemLogix’ Senior Vice President of Operations.  “By combining our proprietary carrier rate database and up-to-date market intelligence with an RFQ management tool powered by Ariba’s sourcing solution, we can better assist clients in achieving significant freight savings in a shorter period of time.” A robust and flexible offering, Ariba Sourcing On-Demand combines the technology, expertise and services needed to create effective markets for a wide range of direct materials and indirect goods and services. Using integrated best practice processes, shippers can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their procurement operations and create value across their entire organization. Delivered as a hosted solution, Ariba Sourcing On-Demand requires no investments in special hardware and can be quickly and cost-effectively implemented across locations and geographies.  Prior to placing online bids to carriers, ChemLogix’ Freight Procurement Services uses its extensive rate database and dynamic market intelligence to benchmark current rates vs. “best in class” in the shipper’s lanes by mode. Using Ariba Sourcing along with mode based subject matter experts will enable ChemLogix to execute an RFQ and generate savings in half the time it takes to complete the conventional bid process.  After bidding is completed, multiple attribute optimization capabilities enable ChemLogix to recommend the best carrier mix and savings alternatives based on client service levels, capacity commitments and rates.    “This unique combination of capabilities and resources not only provides clients with an additional 1 – 2% savings outside of traditional bid performances, but also generates significant ROI in a condensed time, “states Hildebrandt. “ChemLogix has a long history of leveraging technology-based solutions and processes to deliver world-class services to chemical shippers across the globe,” said Jim Luna, Senior Manager, Business Development, Ariba. “By integrating Ariba’s on-demand sourcing solution with its offerings, ChemLogix can enhance and accelerate the results that its clients achieve.” For more information on ChemLogix Freight Procurement Services, go to http://www.chemlogix.com/solutions/freight-procurement, or contact Ken Vrtis at kvrtis@chemlogix.com or 630-579-8200 for an exploratory discussion and demonstration.

SANTA FE SPRINGS, California –  Weber Distribution, a leading third party logistics and supply chain management provider, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with SunOpta, a specialist in sourcing, processing and distributing natural and organic food products, to provide value-added services and distribute their organic product to nationwide chain stores on a weekly basis. From the production plant, Weber uses its fleet of 53-foot Great Dane trailers, featuring the latest generation of Thermo King SB210 Whisper reefer units, to carry the finished product to its 275,000 square foot Rancho Cucamonga, California-based distribution center. Once at the facility, which maintains 35-40 degree refrigerated rooms, Weber prepares product for shipment.

“It definitely showcases the fact that we are a true value-added logistics provider, along with other accounts like Buxton and California Innovations. We are very proud to be associated with a healthy, organic product like SunOpta – it’s a fantastic company and we are excited to be a part of their growing success.”About SunOpta Inc.

For more information about Weber Distribution and its services, please call 877-624-2700 or visit www.weberdistribution.com. # # # #