Pacer Opens 325,000-Sq.-Foot Cross-Dock Facility in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 1999--Pacer International said it has expanded its Southern California freight distribution and logistics capabilities with the opening of a state-of-the-art, 325,000-square-foot facility for cross-dock operations, transloading and warehousing of international and domestic shipments.

Located on the Alameda Corridor in Lynwood, California, and with easy access to the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports and airports and the rail yards east of downtown Los Angeles, the new facility is scheduled for occupancy on July 12.

"While Pacer has grown rapidly through acquisitions, we are also experiencing significant internal growth in our work for existing customers," said George Kirtley, vice president of marketing and sales for Pacer Logistics. "This new 83-door facility will enable us to provide expanded cross-dock and transloading operations for the large volumes of freight coming through Southern California."

Kirtley said Pacer has secured the facility under long-term lease through the building's developer and management firm, Sares-Regis Group, Irvine, and has customized it for cross-dock and transloading operations. It is situated on 20 acres on the Century Freeway (105), between the Long Beach (710) and Harbor (110) freeways. Pacer was represented by Matlow Kennedy, Long Beach.

Pacer Logistics is the Pacer unit that provides intermodal marketing, drayage, consolidation, cross-dock and other logistics services. The company's Los Angeles-area intermodal marketing personnel will be housed in the building.

Another Pacer unit, Pacer Stacktrain, operates the largest double-stack rail network for containerized freight in North America. Pacer acquired that unit on May 28 for $315 million.

Part of Pacer's Nationwide Capability

According to Greg Steiner, vice president of operations for Pacer Logistics, the new warehouse is part of Pacer's national distribution capability that includes facilities in Chicago, the New York metropolitan area, Atlanta and Dallas. All of these facilities are managed by the company, Steiner said.

Including the new facility, Pacer's warehousing capacity in the Los Angeles area now totals more than 925,000 square feet.

Pacer International provides a broad range of intermodal, trucking, warehousing and other logistics services on a retail basis, all available through a single organization. Pacer also operates the industry's most extensive double-stack rail system, Pacer Stacktrain, which it markets on a wholesale basis. Pacer International is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, and Pacer Stacktrain is headquartered in Oakland, California.

Notes to Editors:

(1) The following is provided to explain Pacer's cross-dock and transloading operations:

In its cross-dock operations, sometimes known as "freight manipulation," Pacer receives containerized freight that must be unloaded, sorted and segregated into purchase-order lots or stock-keeping-units, and shipped out to various predetermined customer locations -- such as the regional distribution centers of large retailers. Such firms use this service to distribute inbound consumer goods and general merchandise, according to Kirtley. Commodities benefiting from cross-dock services may include electronics and electronic components, toys, clothing and some raw materials.

For its transload customers, Pacer transfers incoming ocean freight from 40-foot ocean containers into larger-capacity 48- or 53-foot domestic containers that can then be moved inland by rail or truck. This frees the ocean container more rapidly for its return voyage than if the freight traveled to its inland destination in the ocean container, explained Kirtley.

(2) Issued by Steve Potash & Company, Oakland, tel. 510/261-1570