NOTED: Supply Chain Highlights
GOOD WORKS: Averitt associates and customers held their annual toy drive to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Now in its fifth year, the effort has provided thousands of toys to children undergoing treatment at St. Jude.
Milestones
• Cargo Care Solutions, a maritime supplier of cargo access equipment, container lashing systems, cargo pumps, and hydraulics, celebrates its 40th anniversary.
• Robotic handling solutions company Cimcorp marks its 50th anniversary.
• SJF Material Handling, a full-service turnkey provider of warehouse solutions, celebrates its 45th anniversary.
SEALED DEALS
↑ Atlas Air Worldwide entered a multi-year partnership with the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team. Under the agreement, Atlas will serve as the team’s official logistics partner, facilitating airfreight transportation to Formula One events around the world.
• Locus Robotics and The Quality Group (TQG) partnered to deploy the LocusOne mobile robotics platform at TQG’s new fulfillment center in Elsdorf, Germany.
• Continental Tire is migrating to the latest version of John Galt Solutions’ cloud-based Atlas Planning Platform to further its digital supply chain transformation, tackle growing market complexity, and support its continued growth.
↑ Non-alcoholic craft beer company Athletic Brewing implemented Loadsmart’s ShipperGuide TMS and Opendock solutions to optimize its logistics operation and reduce costs.
• Mary Ann’s Specialty Foods selected QAD Advanced Scheduling to further automate and enhance its production scheduling capabilities, including scheduling management and workflow optimization.
• ODW Logistics implemented a data-driven freight management strategy to help Sabrosura Foods optimize its transportation network by improving shipment consolidation and carrier selection.
UP THE CHAIN
David Parrott
← Ports of Indiana hired maritime logistics executive David Parrott to serve as the statewide port authority’s chief operating officer. Parrott has worked in the marine industry for 30 years.
Ian Walsh
→ Ian Walsh was appointed CEO of DH Aero. He brings 35-plus years of executive leadership across the U.S. Marine Corps, commercial and general aviation, defense, and industrial end markets.
Janet Karika
← Janet Karika joined Logic’s Advisory Board. She is the former NASA chief of staff and a retired U.S. Air Force officer specializing in space system acquisitions.
Jerry Greiner
→ Jerry Greiner was named the new vice president of business operations, procurement and fleet management for Transervice Logistics Inc.
Amanda Weisiger Cornelson
← Weisiger Group promoted Amanda Weisiger Cornelson to president, transitioning the company to its fourth generation of family leadership. The ownership shift to Cornelson and her sisters creates one of the largest privately held women-owned businesses in the Southeast.
RECOGNITION
↑ Yang Ming was honored with the 2024 Sustainability Partner Award – Energy Efficiency by Norfolk Southern Corporation. The award recognizes companies or suppliers who optimized energy efficiency management and achieved progress in 2023.
• For the fourth consecutive year, CarriersEdge named Leonard’s Express one of North America’s Top 20 Fleets to Drive For.
• Logistics Plus recognized six LTL carriers for superior performance and partnership in 2024 as part of its annual scorecard review: Pitt Ohio, Estes Express, Ward Transport & Logistics, Dayton Freight, RIST Transport, and Lake Erie Trucking.
↑ The Rotary Club of Gainesville named Syfan Logistics CEO Jim Syfan its Man of the Year, recognizing his significant contributions to both the business community and local philanthropy.
INVESTMENTS
↑ Apptronik, an AI-powered humanoid robotics company, announced the successful closing of a $350 million Series A funding round co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from Google. The new funding fuels the deployment of Apollo—its humanoid robot.
• Backed by $2 million in seed funding led by Ivy Ventures, Tusk Logistics’ Tusk Operations Platform cuts the manual overhead of working with multiple alternative carriers, enabling shippers to boost margins, enhance delivery speed and reliability, and scale their operations.
• Desteia secured $8 million in a seed funding round led by Autotech Ventures, Nazca, and Village Global, positioning the company to provide new artificial intelligence tools and graph theory.
M&A
↑ DHL eCommerce entered the Saudi Arabian market by acquiring equity stake in parcel logistics company AJEX.
• Wize Solutions acquired York Warehouse Equipment Erectors, a Phoenix-based warehousing company.
• Wabash acquired TrailerHawk.ai, a provider of advanced cargo security and smart access management technologies.
• Arvato purchased Carbel LLC, a full-service 3PL provider, and United Customs Services, which offers complete import and export solutions.
• Tenstreet acquired TextLocate, a provider of driver communications for third-party logistic providers.
↑ Canada Cartage will acquire Walmart Fleet ULC, which transports local goods to support communities across Canada and services Walmart’s more than 400 stores from coast-to-coast.
• Kezzler purchased Scanbuy’s Smart Packaging and QR Code consumer engagement business.
In Memoriam
↑ Tony Pereira, founder of Aeronet Worldwide, passed away on Feb. 9, 2025. In 1982, armed with $100, a Buick LeSabre, and the help of his 18-year-old son Alex, he began making pickups and deliveries in California’s Silicon Valley, developing the company now known as Aeronet. Today, Aeronet has 11 locations across the U.S., about 200 associates, and dozens of international joint venture partnerships around the world.