LOGISTICS BRIEFS

Expanding logistics services led Merchants Terminal Corp., Baltimore, Md., to change its name to MTC Logistics, officials said. Founded in 1928, Merchants began offering storage lockers to local merchants and area food processors. Today, officials say the MTC's four refrigerated distribution centers in Maryland and Delaware provide a wide range of temperature-controlled logistics services for foods reaching two-thirds of the United States as well as global markets.

"We continue to add the breadth and depth of our logistics services and the new name, MTC Logistics, is a clear signal to our clients and the market of our evolution as company," said Harry Halpert, MTC president. "From our transportation division, MLogistics -- to our core refrigerated warehousing business -- we deliver substantial benefits to our existing and prospective clients.

"We continue to invest in the industry as evidenced by the recent opening of a state-of-the-art international distribution center at the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal," he continued. "And we are positioned for stable growth for years to come."

In other news MTC Logistics said it hired Susan Thomas as director of logistics. Thomas has more than 20 years of industry experience and most recently managed international logistics for Daimler Trucks of North America / Aerotek


Greatwide Logistics Services, a national provider of third-party logistics services, said it "substantially increased the operations capacity and capabilities" of its transportation operations center (TOC) in Dallas. Officials say the newly expanded TOC is responsible for transportation management of a large part of Greatwide’s 5,000-truck fleet. Greatwide says it is the only major dedicated contract carriage provider to centrally dispatch and optimize capacity between clients and local operating centers.

Greatwide says it manages all transportation functions out of the TOC, including procurement, planning, dispatch, execution and distribution, as well as back-office functions such as billing, settlements and accounts. Officials say Greatwide extracts data from the transportation management platform and transfers it into its custom internal freight board to optimize loads and reduce empty miles. In addition to the TOC, Greatwide personnel also are on site at customers’ facilities to better manage immediate needs and provide driver support.