Schneider Logistics Sells Freight Forwarding Operations to French Company

Schneider Logistics, a third-party logistics provider and part of the Schneider National enterprise, has agreed to sell its freight forwarding and customs house brokerage business in the United States and China to Norbert Dentressangle, a major European transportation, logistics and freight forwarding company based in Lyon, France.

The transaction, which is expected to be final by October 1, 2010, will not affect Schneider Logistics' other international supply chain services, including transloading, warehousing, distribution, port dray services, inland logistics management, supply chain management, brokerage or domestic China transportation services.

The company says there will be no job losses incurred through the sale, with all Schneider freight forwarding and customs house brokerage associates in the United States and China becoming employees of Norbert Dentressangle. The sale encompasses seven locations in the United States (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Atlanta, New York and Chicago) and two locations in China (Tianjin and Shanghai).

Norbert Dentressangle, founded in 1979, reported 2009 revenues of (U.S.) $3.5 billion. Today the company has 27,000 employees throughout 355 locations in 17 countries. The company has more than 6,900 tractors and 8,600 trailers, as well as 5.3 million square feet of warehouse space.

“As we continue to refine our Enterprise strategy, it has become clear that while freight forwarding and customs brokerage is an exciting business with significant potential, it is not part of the strategic focus on our core truckload, logistics and intermodal services,” explains Chris Lofgren, Schneider's CEO and president. “When making strategic decisions like this, our guiding principle is that our people deserve to be aligned with a company that shares our core values and plans to invest in the people, technology and resources to grow the business.”