Associated Freezers, Atlas Plan to Merge Associated Freezers Ltd and Atlas Cold Storage plan to merge and form Canada's largest-and North America's third-largest-temperature-controlled distribution network, with 31 facilities and nearly 115 million cubic feet of temperature controlled storage space across North America. The new company likely will be named Atlas Cold Storage Ltd; the transaction is expected to close in July.
This merger will provide a network that stretches from coast to coast across Canada, and through the Midwest and southeastern United States. Services will include high-volume order assembly distribution to large-scale blast-freezing operations, and advanced supply chain and information technology solutions.
Patrick A Gouveia, current chief executive officer of Atlas, has been proposed as CEO of the merged company, and Andrew Peters, currently chief financial officer at Atlas, has been proposed as CFO.
Refrigerated Warehouse Set for Corpus Christi The Port of Corpus Christi and Berkshire Cold Storage have joined forces to build a 99,520-sq-ft refrigerated warehouse on the Gulf of Mexico that will serve import/export markets of North America, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, and Africa.
This warehouse will provide a 33-ft-high ceiling, three rooms (two of which can be converted to chill space), refrigeration control from "20" F, blast-freeze capability, a repack room, and six-high racked storage (14,500-pallet capacity). Rail and truck docks are enclosed and temperature-controlled, with rail service by the Union Pacific Railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, and Texas-Mexican Railway Co. Interstate 37 and United States Hwy 181 are less than one mile away. Ships can dock less than 60 feet from the warehouse, which is within the port's Foreign Trade Zone and adjacent to a RO/RO ramp.
Daymark Adds Pre-Coolers at Florida Facility Daymark Group has added 12 custom-made pre-coolers at its new 14,700-sq-ft consolidation facility in Miami FL. These pre-coolers can process 200 to 240 boxes of floral products per hour, and can simultaneously pre-cool boxes straight across and sideways. Flowers pre-cooled at the Miami facility are shipped throughout the Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest.
Interactive Driver Training Program on CD-ROM Liberty Mutual Group recently introduced its Decision Driving CD-ROM interactive training program. The company developed the program to help improve a driver's ability to see hazards before they become dangerous and to choose the best course of action to avoid accidents.
The narrated CD-ROM training program combines full-motion, full-screen video with computer graphics. The training program's interactive module format enables employees to learn at their own pace and receive immediate feedback. Another key feature of the training program is the built-in administration function that allows users to record and report their test scores.
This program can be purchased by phoning 800-320-7581. Cost of the two-CD set is $995. Liberty Mutual commercial insurance customers receive a 10% discount on single copy purchases and additional discounts on volume purchases. Also available is the Decision Driving CD-ROM 'truck only' version.
Road Manager Acquires A & A Truck Services Greensboro NC-based Road Manager Financial Services Inc has acquired the assets of A & A Truck Services Inc of Grand Prairie TX. Founded in 1976, A & A provides the trucking industry with fuel tax reporting, licensing, permitting, and other business-related services. The purchase agreement, signed April 10, 2000, became effective April 1, 2000.
This acquisition will provide Road Manager Financial Services with an expansion in both revenue and number of customers served, and will add another 30 employees to its workforce. Garry Allen, owner and founder of A & A, will continue to manage the Texas operation.
Sterling Compass Points Fleets to Efficiency Sterling Truck Corp introduced its Sterling Compass Fleet Support Program to enable fleet customers to manage their breakdown and maintenance parts and service purchases efficiently. The program can be used by fleets whether they operate locally, nationally-or both.
The backbone of the program is a centralized billing service provided to qualified fleet customers. Members of Sterling Compass are guaranteed consistent "not to exceed" pricing for parts and service at all participating Sterling dealers in the United States and Canada. This means participating fleets no longer have to keep separate accounts with different service providers in locations across North America-Sterling Compass has the network waiting for them.
Participating fleets receive one monthly centralized billing statement for all parts and services purchased using the Sterling Compass charge card. Payments are made with electronic funds transfer, so fleets no longer have to mail several checks each month to different service providers. Fleets control the process by authorizing card users, providing purchase order requirements and by setting buying limits.
The program's billing and reporting system provides fleets with customized sales reports by dealer, shop location, vendor, part number, and product class information.
Sterling Compass is open to all fleets with 25 or more power units, regardless of the makes of trucks operated.
PNV, Williams Sign Contract PNV Inc has agreed to provide its information and communications services for 10 years exclusively to Williams TravelCenters, a travel center operator and subsidiary of Williams, an energy and communications company based in Tulsa OK. With this agreement, PNV now has agreements with almost 75% of the nation's 1,100 full-service truckstops.
To date, PNV has exclusive contracts with 14 of 15 major truckstop operators including Travel Centers of America, Pilot Corporation, Petro Shopping Center, and now Williams TravelCenters.
Williams currently operates 30 ultra-modern TravelCenters and 14 Travel Stops in locations on Interstates. By the end of 2000, the TravelCenter network is expected to more than double the number of its locations and reach from Arizona to the East Coast.
US Foodservice Inc to Deploy VoiceLogistics Voxware Inc has announced that US Foodservice Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dutch-based Royal Ahold, has selected Voxware's VoiceLogistics suite of software, hardware, and services for pilot deployment in one its United States warehouse operations and a potential rollout to six other sites.
VoiceLogistics will provide voice prompts to guide users in picking operations throughout freezer, cooler, and dry zones of the warehouse, and will allow users to voice-in responses, confirmations, product status, quality, quantity, and catch weights.
