Retail 3PL specialist opens Charleston DC

Regal Logistics has expanded its warehousing footprint near the Port of Charleston to 800,000-square feet with the opening of a second facility.    Regal Logistics has opened a second distribution center near the Port of Charleston, nearly doubling its capacity in the area.
   The company, whose customers include Walmart, Target, JCPenny, Sears/Kmart, Kohl’s, Toys “R” Us, and Amazon, said the 350,000-square foot facility will meet growing demand for all-water East Coast supply routes resulting from the opening of the expanded Panama Canal this summer. It cited Charleston’s efficient terminals and deep water as factors in its siting decision.
   The distribution center is located next to Regal’s existing facility, four miles from the port’s Wando Welch Terminal. The third-party logistics provider entered the Charleston market in 2010.
   Regal now operates 2.3 million square feet of warehouse space in Seattle, Los Angeles and Charleston. Nationwide services include inventory management, pick & pack, consolidation, cross docking, transloading, drop shipping, transportation, and drayage.
   The expansion of distribution center capacity in Charleston is contributing to the strong growth in container volume at the port, which has experienced double-digit container growth the past two years and about 30 percent growth since 2011. Having import DCs close gives large shippers the ability to deconsolidate cargo, transload it into larger domestic containers and quickly route merchandise to regional DCs and stores.
   Last week, Lineage Logistics opened a large cold-storage facility near the Port of Charleston, giving shippers of perishable products more options for safely handling imports and exports through the port.