IMC Companies added its eighth regional trucking branch with the addition of a new drayage and intermodal provider in the Pacific Northwest,
The third-party logistics and intermodal trucking provider said it launched Pacific Drayage Services (PDS) in August, 2019 to provide drayage and warehousing services to customers in the Seattle and Tacoma markets.
PDS will be equipped with a fleet of 150 new company-owned trucks and employee drivers, IMC said. The new fleet of Mack trucks was a $20 million capital expense. Justin Britten will serve as PDS operations manager.
“We’re committed to expanding our presence on the West Coast,” said Mark H. George, Chairman of IMC Companies. “This strategic growth means that we are able to serve our valued customers via every major rail and port facility in the United States.”
Seattle-Tacoma, the fifth largest U.S. port by total volume, has seen a few challenges this year as far as growth. Import volumes through July reached 815,264 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 2.4 percent and better than the flat growth seen for all U.S. West Coast imports.
But export container volumes are trending lower overall this year as the Pacific Northwest’s agriculture shippers face the blowback from the U.S. tariff war with China. Export volumes out of the region are down 4 percent to 527,558 TEUs through July.
The Memphis-based company’s other West Coast subsidiary, Progressive Transportation Services, serves the California ports market. IMC’s other companies include Atlantic Intermodal Services, DNJ Intermodal Services, Gulf Intermodal Services, H&M Intermodal, Intermodal Cartage Company, and Ohio Intermodal Services. IMC also has a chassis provisioning company, IMC Chassis Services.