The private equity-backed warehousing and transportation provider Partners Warehouse has acquired PSS Distribution Services, a third-party logistics (3PL) provider specializing in warehousing, distribution, and value-added services on the East Coast, the company said today.
The move expands Partners Warehouse’s reach from its current territories, which stretch from its Elwood, Illinois, headquarters to its two million square feet of warehousing and rail transloading facilities across eight locations in Illinois, California, and Dallas.
In addition to adding East Coast operations to that footprint, the move will also strengthen Partners’ expertise in the food and ingredients sector, enhance its service capabilities, and improve the business’ capacity to support existing and new clients who require a service provider with a national footprint, the company said.
From its headquarters in Jamesburg, New Jersey, PSS brings experience across industries including food, grocery, retail, food service, direct store distribution (DSD), and e-commerce. The company is known for its state-of-the-art facilities and food-grade warehousing options.
“This acquisition marks a significant milestone in Partners Warehouse’s expansion strategy,” Nick Antoine, Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and Managing Partner of Red Arts Capital, said in a release. “The addition of PSS enables us to grow our capacity and broaden our service offerings, delivering greater value to our clients at a time when demand for warehousing space continues to rise.”
Third-party logistics (3PL) providers’ share of large real estate leases across the U.S. rose significantly through the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same time last year, as more retailers and wholesalers have been outsourcing their warehouse and distribution operations to 3PLs, according to a report from real estate firm CBRE.
Specifically, 3PLs’ share of bulk industrial leasing activity—covering leases of 100,000 square feet or more—rose to 34.1% through Q3 of this year from 30.6% through Q3 last year. By raw numbers, 3PLs have accounted for 498 bulk leases so far this year, up by 9% from the 457 at this time last year.
By category, 3PLs’ share of 34.1% ranked above other occupier types such as: general retail and wholesale (26.6), food and beverage (9.0), automobiles, tires, and parts (7.9), manufacturing (6.2), building materials and construction (5.6), e-commerce only (5.6), medical (2.7), and undisclosed (2.3).
On a quarterly basis, bulk leasing by 3PLs has steadily increased this year, reversing the steadily decreasing trend of 2023. CBRE pointed to three main reasons for that resurgence:
Import Flexibility. Labor disruptions, extreme weather patterns, and geopolitical uncertainty have led many companies to diversify their import locations. Using 3PLs allows for more inventory flexibility, a key component to retailer success in times of uncertainty.
Capital Allocation/Preservation. Warehousing and distribution of goods is expensive, draining capital resources for transportation costs, rent, or labor. But outsourcing to 3PLs provides companies with more flexibility to increase or decrease their inventories without any risk of signing their own lease commitments. And using a 3PL also allows companies to switch supply chain costs from capital to operational expenses.
Focus on Core Competency. Outsourcing their logistics operations to 3PLs allows companies to focus on core business competencies that drive revenue, such as product development, sales, and customer service.
Looking into the future, these same trends will continue to drive 3PL warehouse demand, CBRE said. Economic, geopolitical and supply chain uncertainty will remain prevalent in the coming quarters but will not diminish the need to effectively manage inventory levels.
E-commerce delivery specialist Doddle--which was recently bought by the supply chain software vendor Blue Yonder--will work with FedEx Corp. to expand their network of return drop-off points and enable a “frictionless” product returns experience for U.S. consumers.
The deal links nearly 2,000 drop-off points at FedEx Office locations across the country with Inmar Post-Purchase Solutions, a joint venture between Inmar and Doddle. Blue Yonder acquired Doddle in 2023, saying the British tech firm would add capabilities in final mile, returns management, and reverse logistics solutions.
According to the partners, the newly expanded package-free drop-off network offers retailers and brands the opportunity to reduce costs and provide their customers with a positive returns experience. It addresses a frequent bone of contention between shoppers and stores—a recent Inmar survey revealed that 60% of online consumers would no longer shop with a merchant after a single poor returns experience.
“We are excited to team with Inmar to bring more convenience to the returns experience for their customers,” Ryan Kelly, vice president of commercialization at FedEx, said in a release. “We provide an exceptional label-less, package-less experience at FedEx Office and we are always looking for ways to help merchants solve their most pressing post-purchase challenges.”
Editor's note:This article was revised on August 15 for clarity.
Located in the Dallas-Fort Worth “metroplex” region, the new warehouse is the company’s second in the area, following the company’s purchase of Lone Star Cold Storage of Richardson, Texas, in 2022.
Both DCs feature blast freezing, case picking, kitting, and labeling. The Burleson facility, located adjacent to I-35, has 53 dock doors and an average clear height of 55 feet. It includes multiple rooms convertible to -20° F and is well-suited for a wide range of frozen and refrigerated food and other perishable products, the company said.
“Our Richardson facility is on the Dallas side of the DFW market and Burleson is on the Fort Worth side of the market, so now we can provide our customers with cooler, freezer, deep-freeze, blast freezing, case picking, and a broad range of other temperature-controlled services from both sides of the market,” said West Hutchison, President and CEO of Vertical Cold Storage.
South Dakota-based Vertical Cold Storage is backed by the real estate investment firm Platform Ventures. That wealthy backing has helped to fund a number of recent acquisitions, such as its 2023 deal to buy the Indiana cold warehouse operator MWCold, its 2022 move to acquire three warehouses from United States Cold Storage, and its 2021 takeover of Chicago’s Liberty Cold Storage.
Novi, Michigan-based Lineage said eligible U.S. team members will receive a one-time award of stock or restricted stock units. Those “Starting LINE Awards”—named as a nod to the company’s new ticker symbol—will reach the vast majority of Lineage’s more than 16,000 U.S. team members, the company said.
Founded in 2008 as a venture capital-backed firm with an appetite for acquisitions, Lineage is now valued at $18 billion and calls itself the world’s largest global temperature-controlled warehousing REIT (real estate investment trust). The company is responsible for storing, handling, and transporting food products across the U.S. and around the globe, operating more than 480 warehouses in 19 countries.
On top of this one-time award, the company will also launch a program of ongoing equity-based awards to further incentivize an ownership mentality for Lineage team members, the firm said. When it launches next year, the “Lineage Legacies” program will grant eligible team members restricted stock units that will vest over time on an ongoing basis.
“Time and again, the Lineage team steps up to serve in the face of whatever is thrown at them—which has included a global pandemic where they served as essential workers to help keep the world fed. I am proud of this team every day but today especially I am honored to reward them for their dedicated service,” Greg Lehmkuhl, president and CEO of Lineage, said in a release.
The policy came as a unanimous vote by the commission, holding that Amazon was a “distributor” of products that are defective or fail to meet federal consumer product safety standards, and therefore bears legal responsibility for their recall. More than 400,000 products are subject to this order: specifically, faulty carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, hairdryers without electrocution protection, and children’s sleepwear that violated federal flammability standards.
The Commission determined that these products, listed on Amazon.com and sold by third-party sellers using the Fulfilled by Amazon program, pose a “substantial product hazard” under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). Further, Amazon failed to notify the public about these hazardous products and did not take adequate steps to encourage its customers to return or destroy them, thereby leaving consumers at substantial risk of injury, the CPSC said.
Amazon did not reply to a request for comment.
According to the CPSC, Amazon had argued before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and the Commission that it was not a distributor and bore no responsibility for the safety of the products sold under its Fulfilled by Amazon program.
However, under the Commission’s Decision and Order, Amazon must now submit proposed plans to notify consumers and the public about the hazardous products, and to remove the products from commerce by incentivizing their return or destruction. The Commission will consider Amazon’s proposed plans and address them in a second order in this case.
"This is clearly the right decision,” Oriene Shin, policy counsel for Consumer Reports, said in a release. “There’s no good reason for a company to be exempt from these sensible requirements just because it hosts an online marketplace; otherwise, products that could injure or kill people might slip through the cracks. Consumers are affected either way, and need the company to step up.”
According to Consumer Reports, the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), a federal product safety law passed in 1972, empowers the CPSC with the authority to file a lawsuit and conduct an adjudicative proceeding to require a manufacturer, distributor, or seller to carry out a safety recall. This proceeding can lead to a mandatory recall order requiring a company to take various actions, such as notifying the public, offering consumers a sufficient remedy, providing monthly recall progress reports, and destroying defective products in its possession.