PACER, GILBERT WEST ENTER JOINT VENTURE

PACER, GILBERT WEST ENTER JOINT VENTURE    Logistics and transportation providers Pacer International Inc. and Gilbert West Inc. have entered into an alliance in which Pacer's less-than-truckload transportation division is transferring its Los Angeles-based business to Gilbert.
   Meanwhile, Gilbert West will use Pacer's cartage division to pick up a portion of the Los Angeles-origin shipments and deliver them to a Gilbert facility for consolidation eastward. Pacer will also participate with Gilbert in local Los Angeles Basin harbor drayage operations through Pacer's Harbor Rail Transfer division.
   Pacer's LTL operations, which were inherited by Pacer as part of an earlier transaction, had been limited to Los Angeles-origin cargo. Gilbert's LTL operation is inbound as well as outbound, which will better serve shippers of LTL cargo, said Don Orris, president and chief executive officer.
   “At the same time, this enables Pacer to focus on the logistics capabilities it has been building for its customers, such as intermodal marketing services, consolidation, truck brokerage (full truckload) and supply-chain management,” Orris added.
      The companies said that most of the Pacer employees dedicated to the LTL operations are being offered jobs at Gilbert.