b'8American Journal of Transportation ajot.com(STORMcontinued from page 4) riencesfordriverstomakethem PalmerattributesCPGsperfor- want to stay with us. There are no mance to an increased level of com- magic bullets in that gun, he added. munications, in the form of shipmentIts hard work and it takes commu-updates,withcustomers.Wemakenications and creating experiences to sure that customers always have theretain drivers for the fleet.latest on the status of their contain- The driver experience CPG strives ers,hesaid.Wehaveaprimaryformirrorsitsapproachtocustom-focusofincreasingcommunicationsers.Itsreallyabouttransparency atalltouchpointswithcustomersandrespect,saidPalmer.Welet throughout the organization. drivers know what were experienc-AnotherreasonforCPGssuc- ing and what they can expect out of cess,accordingtoPalmer,hasbeena days work. Its important to have the deployment of technology, whichtheseconversationswithdriversso hesaid,aredesignedtomeetthethey can be prepared.needsofcustomersanddriversas well. Recruiting and retaining expe- e xPAndingt erminAlsrienced drivers has been yet anotherCPGs success in weathering the focus for the company. pandemicanditsrelatedcongestion is reflected in its recent investments t hed igitAld rAy in business expansion. The company Thedrayageindustryhasbeenrecentlyopenedthreenewdrayage increasinglydeployingdigitaltech- terminals in what are new markets forSeagirt Marine Terminal at the Port of Baltimore, MDnologies that promote operations in aCPGMinneapolis,NewOrleans, real-timeenvironment.Expertsnoteand Greer, South Carolina.(ACQUIREcontinued from page 6) officeratPorts America.Ourpart-that drayage has lagged behind someThesecameindirectresponsePorts America employs a highly trainedners at Oaktree and CPP Investments othertransportationsegmentsinthattocustomerrequests,saidPalmer.workforcewithexpertiseinprovidinghave always shared that commitment, regard, and Palmer acknowledged thatGreer is the site of a rapidly-growingpremiumandflexibleterminalopera- andwelookforwardtocontinuing it hasnt been as common in the past. inland port, and CPG is experiencingtionsandstevedoringservicesacrossour work with the support of the CPP CPG,whichrecentlycelebratedrapid growth in that market. these categories. Investmentsteamastheyincrease its50 th anniversaryinbusiness,hasMinneapolis and New Orleans rep- PortsAmericarepresentsthetheir ownership stake. We share a long-deployedtechnologiesthatincluderesent similar situations, with growthopportunitytocontinuetoinvestinterm vision for Ports America and are trackingandtracingofcontainers,incargoactivitybeingexperienceda high-quality operator that plays an(ACQUIREcontinued on page 9)chassis,andshipments,allwhichatthoselocations.Someofourimportant role in global trade, making help us to move faster, said Palmer,keycustomersapproachedusaboutthe Company a good fit for our long-and ultimately deliver better perfor- addingcapacityinthosemarketsasterminfrastructureinvestmentstrat- (JOINcontinued from page 7)mancetoourcustomers.CPGhasthey expanded their own networks,egy, said Scott Lawrence, Managingmerge the stevedoring services, bring-alsoinstalledlocation-trackingGPSsaid Palmer. Director, Head of Infrastructure, CPPing operations experience from ports, technology on all its equipment, elec- Atthesametime,CPGalsoInvestments. Terminal operators playterminal operators and drayage com-tronicdocumentationsystems,andannouncedearlierthisyearthatitacrucialroleascargodemandandpanies,soheunderstandsthevari-in-cabcamerastosupportcompanyhad sold its container yard operationstransportationrequirementscontinueous components and the supply chain safety goals. atseveralMidwestlocationstoITSto grow in response to the rapid andissues the country is facing.Technology has also been prolifer- ConGlobalLLC.Butthat,too,isadynamic changes in how individualsGPAsexpeditedinfrastructure ating elsewhere in the drayage industry,reflection of the companys expansionand businesses are buying and sellingprojectsincludeadding1.2million at the Port of Long Beach, for example,and success. products. Through further investment,twenty-foot equivalent container units whichannouncedrecentlythatdray- WeusedtobeaMidwestandPorts America can continue to meetof capacity by July 2022 and a total age truckers can now opt into a freeNortheastbasedcarrier,Palmerthese needs and we look forward toof 4.6 million TEUs of new container systemcalledTruck Alerttoreceiveexplained,andtheoperationsthatworking with CEO Mark Montgom- handling space by 2025.information, alerts, and updates aboutitsoldsupportedactivitiesinthoseery and the management team to sup- Iwouldliketogiveaspecial traffic conditions via text message. Theregions. As we expanded our foot- port the growth of the business in thethanks to the local leaders of the three system, said Mario Cordero, executiveprint by becoming more of a nationalupcoming years. member stevedoring operations, Mark director of the Port of Long Beach, isdrayage provider, we had an opportu- AtPortsAmerica,ourcom- Montgomery, Craig Mygatt and Mark designed to reduce road congestion bynity to sell the depots to a companymitmentandabilitytoprovideourKnudsen,fordoingagreatjobin providing truck drivers an opportunitythat is focused more on that segmentcustomerswithexcellent,safeser- structuring this exciting new organi-toimproveschedulingandenhanceof the business. We can focus more onviceandlong-term,strategicvaluezation and partnering with GPA as we turn times. trucking and logistics, which is whatinforms everything that we do, saidexpand our operations in Savannah, ANewJersey-basedtechnologywe really do best. MarkMontgomery,chiefexecutiveLynch said.company,BookYourCargo(BYC), recentlylaunchedthecloud-based DigitalDrayagePlatform,featur-buk ling artificial intelligence and machine a kelearning capabilities, to provide quotesr fb aand visibility. There has never been acriumore important time to find efficien- liciesthanrightnow,saidNimesho tModi, BYCs CEO, with the surge ofy yimports,shrinkingcapacity,andtheThe ultimate direct transfer lack of drivers creating drayage issuesfacility for international all over the world. cargo shipping.r etAiningd riversModi also claims that one of the most critical issues for drayage opera- REACHING GLOBAL MARKETStionsdomesticallyistheexodusofCOMPLETE RANGE OF MARITIME SERVICESdrivers and the lack of any real pipe- CARGO DIVERSIFICATIONline to recruit and retain new ones. LOGISTIC ADVANTAGE FOR FREIGHT MOBILITYCPG believes that it is performing#where opportunity docksbetter than most in that department. ForWWW.PORTPA.COM us,ournumber-onepriorityisattract- 221 Houston Avenue | Port Arthur Texas 77641 | 409-983.2011ing and retaining an experienced driver base,saidPalmer.Itsalsotheone thing that keeps me up at night.PalmersaidCPGoffersdrivers competitive rates, and we are work-ing very hard to make sure drivers are fairly compensated. Weve seen wages climb even though were dealing with unprecedented delays and congestion.Beyondcompensation,Palmer said that CPG strives to create expe-'