New organization to develop solutions for managing purchased transportation from ocean carriers
Redwood City, CA — February 20, 2004 — Menlo Worldwide has formed a new organization to develop solutions for managing purchased transportation from ocean carriers.
Menlo, a group of heavy freight transportation, logistics and global supply chain services companies, said that the Vector Menlo Shipper's Association (VMSA) will combine the buying power, global infrastructure and carrier relationships of Menlo Worldwide Forwarding, Menlo Worldwide Logistics and Vector SCM (Supply Chain Management) to purchase and manage transportation in a more creative manner.
Customers will not be direct members of the association, but Menlo said that they would benefit from the value delivered by VMSA through the member companies. VMSA will work to bring to carriers volumes that will complement the carriers' own needs for balancing equipment and capacity.
This, together with technology solutions being developed to manage service contracts, will allow the costing infrastructure to be readily available to member companies, enabling them to be very responsive to customer demands for quick turnaround on requests for quotes (RFQs), Menlo said.
VMSA expects to begin working with its first customers in April 2004. Other opportunities will evolve on a gradual basis, Menlo said, with all RFQs for ocean services being processed by the VMSA by the end of 2004. Global accounts based in North America will be among the first to benefit from the newly formed association, according to Menlo.
In addition to centralizing the purchase of transportation and creating a fast-to-market structure, the Vector Menlo organization will provide such value-added services as supply chain security assessment, contract management and strategic planning, and network modeling and engineering based on multiple customer profiles of volume, Menlo said.
The executive and operating management team of the VMSA will be comprised of representatives and staffers from the three member companies, Menlo Worldwide Forwarding, Menlo Worldwide Logistics and Vector SCM.
Menlo Worldwide was formed in December 2001 and is the parent corporation of Menlo Worldwide Forwarding (formerly Emery Forwarding), Menlo Worldwide Logistics, Vector SCM, Menlo Worldwide Technologies, Menlo Worldwide Expedite! and Menlo Worldwide Trade Services. The companies operating under the Menlo Worldwide brand have revenues of $2.9 billion and employ more than 12,000 people.
Menlo Worldwide is based in Redwood City, Calif. and is a business segment of CNF, a $5.1 billion management company of global supply chain services that also has businesses in regional trucking and trailer manufacturing. CNF is located in Palo Alto, Calif.
