A&R Logistics acquires Virginia site

A&R Logistics acquires Virginia site    A&R Logistics, one of the nation’s largest providers of logistics services to shippers of plastics and other dry bulk materials, has acquired a 64-acre site in Chesapeake, Va., that will be used for transloading, warehousing, packaging, and other services.
   Morris, Ill.-based A&R said one of the attractions of the former NOVA Chemical site, is its proximity to marine terminals in the Hampton Roads region run by the Virginia Ports Authority and A.P. Moller – Maersk affiliate APM Terminals.
   Because of the weak dollar, U.S. plastic exports are booming, said Jeff O’Connor, president of A&R Logistics.
   While most resin exports move through the U.S. Gulf close to manufacturers, he said there are still substantial quantities of plastic made in the South and Midwest that are shipped to domestic customers or exported through East Coast ports.
   “We needed to have a facility on the Eastern Seaboard,” he said. A&R’s network of 22 facilities include warehouses in South Carolina and Massachusetts.
   If the dollar strengthens and plastic imports increase, he also notes that the Chesapeake facility would be well situated to receive imported products.
   O’Connor said the NOVA site is larger than many of A&R’s other terminals, and that it will provide opportunities for the company to expand into ancillary services such as compounding — the addition of fillers, colorants or other additives to plastic resin.
   The NOVA plant includes a 45,000-square-foot plastic-compounding facility with production capacity of 110 million pounds annually, a 70,000-square-foot warehouse and packaging facility in conjunction with a 65-car on-site rail yard and 15 million pounds of available silo storage. It is served by multiple rail providers.
   “The property offers us a unique opportunity to add more value to the current scope of services we provide to our customers,” said Jim Bedeker, chief executive officer of A&R Logistics. “The rail and port access combined with a facility infrastructure specific to the dry bulk business just doesn’t get any better than this.”
   “While the facility will no longer be manufacturing polystyrene resin, we intend to begin ramping up the compounding, rail and silo operations as quickly as possible,” O’Connor said.
   A&R manages a fleet of about 700 tractors and 1,100 bulk and dry van trailers. The company has about 900 employees.