New Flyer Industries, which makes heavy-duty transit buses in the US and Canada, has bought the Orion aftermarket parts business from Daimler Buses North America (DBNA) for $29m.
The move follows an investment of C$517m ($501m) in New Flyer by bus maker Marcopolo.
Orion’s parts business supports almost 10,000 buses in operation across the two countries and generated revenue $54m in 2012. It uses Detroit Diesel Parts Distribution Center as its logistics provider.
Under the terms of the deal with DBNA New Flyer has bought Orion’s aftermarket parts inventory, its accounts receivable and assumed obligations under its parts contracts with bus customers.
It has also bought an exclusive licence to use DBNA’s part designs for the buses, as well as entering into an agreement to be the exclusive supplier of parts required by DBNA for customer warranty support.
The companies have also entered into a transition services agreement for an interim period following the purchase, during which time the business will be integrated into New Flyer’s four existing parts distribution centers in Canada and the US.
“This announcement follows on the co-operative relationship we have developed with Daimler Buses North America,” explained Paul Soubry, New Flyer’s president and CEO. “In the last eight months we have assumed two Orion bus manufacturing contracts: one for New York City Transit and the other for King County Metro in Seattle for a total of 194 firm bus orders and options for an additional 291 buses (for a total of 485 equivalent units).”
McGregor to deliver on Grimaldi build
The MacGregor division of cargo handling giant Cargotec has received a large order to deliver MacGregor RoRo cargo access equipment for five new container/ro-ro (ConRo) vessels being built at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea. The vessels are being delivered to Italian-based forwarder Grimaldi in 2015.
This delivery is in addition to the five G4 ConRo vessels Grimaldi has ordered from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in China for its Atlantic Container Lines subsidiary, also to be delivered in 2015 (read more here). According to Grimaldi's commercial and logistics director, Costantino Baldissara, the vessels are part of a total investment of around €1.1 billion in 16 new ships
"This order builds on the long-term partnership with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard. MacGregor's advanced technology and quality, as well as strong local presence, played key role during the negotiations," explained Magnus Sjöberg, sales director for MacGregor RoRo.
SmartAuction adds ShipCarsNow
SmartAuction, the online auction site for second hand vehicles used by car dealerships and wholesalers, has added Union Pacific’s subsidiary ShipCarsNow as a transport provider.
ShipCarsNow provides transport throughout the US via door-to-door rail and direct truck services. According to Union Pacific it is networked with other Class I railroads and more than 7,000 trucks to provide users with a wide network to transport cars safely. It is supported by 24/7 customer service.
“ShipCarsNow’s presence on SmartAuction underscores our commitment to making auto transport a seamless option for online buyers and sellers,” said Marty Coalson, president of ShipCarsNow. “This provides online buyers and sellers with more options, and makes it easy for dealers to ship inventory across the state or coast-to-coast with a company they trust.”
SmartAuction is a unit of Ally Financial and lists more than 16,000 vehicles daily.
“We’re pleased to add ShipCarsNow to the SmartAuction platform and provide our users an additional resource to obtain competitive price quotes for their transportation needs," said Steve Kapusta, vice president of SmartAuction. “As the used vehicle market continues to gain momentum, adding the ShipCarsNow team to SmartAuction provides another value-added service to help dealers find the right vehicles for their marketplace.”
DS Smith Packaging awarded for auto solutions
UK packaging provider DS Smith Packaging has won a total of eight awards at the Worldstar Packaging Awards, including two given to its Industrial Division in recognition of packaging for cylinder heads and engines.
The Cylinder Head pack, developed the company’s Oldbury facility in the UK, provides open access for automated loading and unloading, while securely positioning the cylinder heads.
Meanwhile, the Engine Shipper pack is designed to ship two car engines from the UK to China and has been tested to a compression load of 6,000kg. The pack improves the capacity of an FEU container by 22% and the overall use of containers has decreased by 18%, which translates into a saving of around £350,000 per year ($530,000).
“Our customer had initially considered other forms of traditional packaging to transport both the car engines and cylinder heads, including plastics, steel and wooden containers,” said Peter Foot, Marketing & Innovation director at the company’s Industrial Division. “However, they chose to go with DS Smith Packaging and heavy duty corrugated board due to our innovative design solutions to these challenging packaging requirements, and our track record of success in the automotive sector. The end result involves creativity as well as awareness of the environmental impact of both the product and the process behind it.”
The Worldstar Packaging Awards is hosted by the World Packaging Organisation, an international federation of national packaging institutes.
The Worldstar awards follow DS Smith Packaging’s success in 2012 when it took honours at the UK Packaging Awards, StarPack Green Apple Environment Awards and POPAI Awards.
