A Word From the Publisher here was a time not so long ago when if you needed something capable of providing all kinds of transportation services. shipped, you called a trucking company and worked out the Among the most aggressive players in the market is XPO Logistics T arrangements as best you could. Chairman Bradley Jacobs. Nowadays, it’s quite possible that your first call will not be to a freight Jacobs founded and built up four successful companies — Amerex Oil carrier but rather to a logistics company that may have no freight-hauling Associates, Hamilton Resources, United Waste and United Rentals — assets but has connections to those who do. before turning his attention to the logistics industry with It’s this change, made possible by the application of the purchase of Express-1 Solutions in September 2011. technology and a burst of innovation on the part of new He since has acquired eight companies and started up 18 business owners, that is driving incredible growth in the new operations. His goal is to turn XPO into a multibillion- market for third-party logistics services. dollar company within a few years. In this year’s edition of the Top 50 Logistics Companies, In a recent presentation to financial backers, Jacobs ex- senior features writer Daniel P. Bearth explores the plained why he picked logistics as his next big investment. boundaries between trucking and logistics and finds the “Let’s start with size,” he said. “Logistics worldwide is lines increasingly blurred. more than $3 trillion in annual revenue. In the United Dealing with trucking companies has never been as States alone, it’s about a trillion dollars.” simple as it appears. Now, more than ever, it seems that Furthermore, Jacobs said, the logistics pie is expanding. freight carriers are driven by operational concerns. To be Howard S. Abramson “It makes economic sense for most companies to utilize successful, fleets must be more selective about where third-party logistics services,” he explained. “Instead of they go and what they haul, because drivers are in short supply and the using internal staff to find freight or capacity, shippers and carriers are cost of buying and maintaining new equipment has risen. increasingly using brokers.” And shippers, who may have once had traffic managers on staff to help The logistics industry also is highly fragmented, Jacobs said, with more sort out their transportation options, are finding a whole new universe than 10,000 licensed brokers but fewer than 25 with annual revenue of of transportation intermediaries at their door eager to help: brokerage more than $200 million. firms that match loads with trucks, forwarders that acquire freight- While investors are staking a claim in the industry, so, too, are entre- hauling capacity from air and ocean carriers, warehousing and distribu- preneurs. Tommy Skinner, a former transportation manager, launched tion companies that manage inventory and truck operators that supply Shift Freight to provide less-than-truckload freight service for logistics dedicated capacity and specialized delivery services. companies. Shift Freight is growing at warp speed, and so are many other The growth of third-party logistics services is changing the very nature aggressive, tech-savvy firms that seem to be filling an important role in of trucking. meeting the needs of shippers and carriers. Two of the country’s best-known trucking companies — J.B. Hunt We believe this combination of investment and initiative will continue Transport Services and Schneider National Inc. — now rank among the to drive the growth of logistics and reshape the Top 50 Logistics largest logistics companies in North America. J.B. Hunt ranks No. 2, and Companies list for years to come. Schneider National ranks No. 10 on the Top 50 list. Both companies have bolstered their logistics credentials by expanding intermodal, freight bro- kerage and dedicated contract carriage services. Much of the change is being driven by private investors who are pour- ing money into logistics firms and, in the process, creating organizations ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND SOURCES The 2013 TRANSPORT TOPICS Top 50 Logistics Companies is a project of Transport Topics Publishing Group. Revenue estimates are provided by Armstrong & Associates, a logistics industry consulting firm. Senior Features Writer Daniel P. Bearth coordinated the project with assistance from Brandon Green. Cover design is by Transport Topics Publishing Group. TRANSPORT TOPICS’ Top Logistics 50 is sponsored online by N. AMERICAN REVENUE (in millions) RANK RANK NET 2013 2012 COMPANY GROSS EMPLOYEES INDUSTRY EXPERTISE/KEY CUSTOMERS DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES 1 Exel $2,500(e) 28,600 Automotive, chemicals, consumer packaged goods, energy, Warehousing and distribution, transportation management, 1 Westerville, Ohio $4,500 engineering, manufacturing, life sciences, health care, retail, dedicated contract carriage, supply chain consulting, order (Deutsche Post DHL, Bonn, Germany) computers and electronics fulfillment, service parts delivery, returned goods management, John Gilbert, CEO Americas manufacturing parts assembly, product packaging Customers include: 7-Eleven, Bristol Myers Squibb, Chrysler, www.exel.com Johnson & Johnson, DuPont, Nextel, Novartis, Office Depot, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, ThinkGeek, Unilever, Volkswagen 9 J.B. Hunt Transport Services $2,110(e) 11,918 General merchandise and specialty retail, building products, Intermodal, dedicated contract carriage, freight brokerage, 2 Lowell, Ark. $4,607 food and beverage, forest and paper products, rubber and residential and commercial delivery Nasdaq: JBHT plastic products, automotive, pharmaceuticals John Roberts, CEO Customers include: Cornerstone Brands, Certainteed Corp., www.jbhunt.com Jack in the Box, Home Depot, PPG, Sports Authority, Lowe’s, Tacony, Goodyear, Guardian Building Products, Southern States, Whirlpool 4 Ryder Supply Chain Solutions $1,945 13,711 Aerospace and defense, automotive, construction and building Dedicated contract carriage, transportation management, 3 Miami $2,281 materials, consumer packaged goods, energy and utilities, food and warehousing and distribution, order fulfillment, returned goods (Ryder System Inc.) beverage, management, product assembly and packaging, freight John Williford, President computers and electronics, industrial manufacturing, retail payment and auditing, freight brokerage, cross-border services, supply chain consulting www.ryderscs.com Customers include: CVS/Caremark, Kraft Foods, Mazda, PepsiCo, Pilot Pen Mexico, Procter & Gamble, Stonyfield Farm, Shell 3 Ceva Logistics $1,825(e) 18,881 Automotive, consumer packaged goods, retail, health care, Transportation management, warehousing and distribution, 4 Houston $2,787 energy, industrial, computers and electronics supply chain consulting, air and ocean freight forwarding, (Ceva Group PLC, Hoofddorp, The Nether- customs brokerage, freight brokerage, order fulfillment, parts lands) Customers include: NA assembly and product packaging, returned goods management, Marvin Schlanger, CEO service parts repair and delivery, residential and commercial delivery www.cevalogistics.com 2 UPS Supply Chain Solutions $1,793 NA Health care, retail, industrial manufacturing, government, Air and ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, 5 Alpharetta, Ga. $9,147 computers and electronics, automotive, business services transportation management, warehousing and distribution, (UPS Inc.) supply chain consulting, dedicated contract carriage, Scott Davis, Chairman and CEO Customers include: Advanced BioHealing, Embraer, Philips intermodal, freight brokerage, service parts delivery and repair Healthcare, Spring, Triumph Motorcycles, Toshiba services, order fulfillment, returns management, financial www.ups-scs.com services (e) = estimate NA = Not Applicable or Not Available TRANSPORT TOPICS’ Top Logistics 50 is sponsored online by N. AMERICAN REVENUE (in millions) RANK RANK NET 2013 2012 COMPANY GROSS EMPLOYEES INDUSTRY EXPERTISE/KEY CUSTOMERS DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES 5 C.H. Robinson Worldwide $1,718 11,297 Food and beverage, retail, paper products, manufacturing Freight brokerage, transportation management, air and ocean 6 Eden Prairie, Minn. $11,359 freight forwarding, supply chain consulting, dedicated contract Nasdaq: CHRW Customers include: NA carriage, warehousing, produce sourcing; includes operations John Wiehoff, Chairman and CEO of Apreo Logistics S.A. (Poland) and Phoenix International Freight Services acquired in October and November 2012, www.chrobinson.com respectively Not AmeriCold $1,580(e) 12,000 NA Warehousing and distribution, transportation management, 7 Ranked Atlanta NA assembly and packaging, freight brokerage, direct store delivery, Jeffrey Gault, CEO Customers include: NA expedited transportation, vendor management, supply chain consulting www.americold.com 7 DB Schenker USA $1,247 (e) 6,000 Automotive, computers and electronics, aerospace and airlines, Air and ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, 8 Freeport, N.Y. $4,034 (e) health care, retail, consumer goods, manufacturing, perishables transportation management, service parts delivery, product (Deutsche Bahn AG, Essen, Germany) packaging, order fulfillment, warehousing and distribution, Heiner Murmann, CEO Customers include: NA garment on hangar, project management, supply chain consulting www.dbschenkerusa.com 8 Neovia Logistics $1,170 (e) 5,000 Industrial, automotive, mining, aerospace and defense, oil and Warehousing and distribution, transportation management,