“The shift of Pacer's LTL business to Gilbert West will benefit both shippers and consignees by a significant reduction in transit times,” Richard Gilbert, CEO of Gilbert Group of Companies, said.
At the same time, Gilbert West will utilize the services of Pacer's cartage division to pick up a portion of the Los Angeles-origin shipments and deliver them to a Gilbert facility in the City of Commerce, CA for consolidation and eastward movement.
In addition, Pacer and Gilbert West will jointly participate in local Los Angeles Basin harbor drayage operations through Pacer's Harbor Rail Transfer division. This is one of several such strategic alliances enjoyed by both companies with various other logistic service providers.
"These collaborations will help maximize the assets and service strengths of both organizations," said Don Orris, Pacer's president & CEO. "At the same time, this enables Pacer to focus on the logistics capabilities it has been building for its customers, such as intermodal marketing services, consolidation, truck brokerage and supply-chain management."
Orris said that Pacer's LTL operations, which were inherited by Pacer as part of an earlier acquisition, have historically been limited to Los Angeles-origin cargo, and that Gilbert's LTL operation is inbound as well as outbound and will better serve shippers of LTL cargo.
In conjunction with the transferred LTL business, the companies said that most of the Pacer employees currently dedicated to LTL operations are being offered jobs at Gilbert. The two organizations are situated in close proximity, with Gilbert in City of Commerce and Pacer's LTL unit in Compton, CA.
