GrubMarket recently completed the acquisition of Oakport Transportation, which offers refrigerated transportation, cold storage, and cross-docking services.
The Oakland, Calif.-based trucking company stores and ships produce throughout California, the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Nevada, plus selected routes throughout the rest of the U.S. for certain seasonal items.
GrubMarket said it plans to leverage Oakport’s facilities and logistics networks to address the supply-chain challenges introduced by recent trucking shortages, route congestion, and skyrocketing consumer demand for fresh food.
“We are excited to join the GrubMarket team and welcome the opportunities brought forth by GrubMarket’s robust technology platform and network,” said Sal Rizzo, CEO of Oakport Transportation. “We are constantly striving to be the most dependable trucking and logistics partner for our customers. We are thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares this same goal. We sincerely look forward to joining the GrubMarket team and bringing more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective logistics services to GrubMarket’s suppliers and end customers.”
The timing of this acquisition is of “paramount importance,” the company added. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed massive vulnerabilities in the supply-chain ecosystem, impacting and dislocating shipping routes, ports, warehouses, and trucking lines. The shortages in key transportation and logistics resources have spiked transportation costs and ultimately consumer prices. Oakport provides critical services such as load and LTL volume delivery, refrigerated storage for perishable goods, cross docking, and load consolidation.
After the acquisition, the business will continue to be managed by its current leadership team.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen the stress on global logistics brought about by COVID-19,” said Mike Xu, CEO of GrubMarket. “Moving perishable products around the country is complex and difficult, and requires predictability and precision. Oakport Transportation is a leader in providing high-quality transportation and logistics services. They are reliable and highly influential in the produce space, and we are excited for them to join the GrubMarket family.
“This acquisition enables GrubMarket to further strengthen our producer relationships on the West Coast, expand our internal fleets and warehouse capacity, and become a leader in transportation and logistics services for the underserved food producer and supplier market. Together, we will overcome the disruption plaguing the current supply chain and make a greater impact on the evolution and transformation of the American food supply chain industry.”
Oakport’s transportation and logistics offerings will be integrated into GrubMarket’s eCommerce and software product family, which already includes the WholesaleWare software suite, the company’s software-as-a-service platform that provides food industry wholesalers and distributors with seamless financial management, easy-to-use sales, and online ordering features, precise inventory management, lot traceability and tracking, grower accounting, and automated routing and logistics tools.
