Dive Brief:
- Fresh Del Monte has announced two logistics deals in the last month that leverage the produce giant’s supply chain assets, part of its effort to expand supply chain services amid high shipping prices and soaring demand.
- The produce company said last Tuesday it would partner with supply chain management firm Stord, allowing customers of the Atlanta-based company to use Del Monte’s cold storage infrastructure. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Del Monte, in partnership with Trinity Logistics, also announced earlier this month that it would expand its agreement with Happy Egg Co. As part of the deal, the egg producer will use Del Monte’s truck fleet and temperature-controlled warehouses to distribute and fulfill orders in five additional states, including Florida and California.
Dive Insight:
The partnerships with Happy Egg and Stord allow Fresh Del Monte to continue to grow its distribution network and better utilize assets including shipping vessels, warehouses and cold storage infrastructure. The produce company will be handling a suite of services for Happy Egg, including drayage, refrigerated warehouse services, refrigerated LTL distribution, last-mile delivery, cross-dock, ripening services, and truckload brokerage according to a release.
“We believe this is an exciting new chapter for the company offering additional revenue by making our reliable logistics infrastructure available to others,” Chief Operating Officer Mohammed Abbas said in a statement announcing the Happy Egg deal.
Fresh Del Monte has continued to grow its logistics arm as the company looks beyond produce to become an end-to-end supply chain provider. The company’s commercial cargo unit saw a 45% revenue increase in 2021 over the previous year. In the first quarter of Q2, the service saw gross profit increase by $5 million, according to a May earnings call.
The company has expanded services as a logistics provider, recently rebranding its ocean logistics arm Network Shipping to offer shipping options for a wider base of customers. Network Shipping has opened agencies in the U.S., Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru to support its expansion, and the business plans to double down on cold-chain cross-docking and port storage.
In addition to Network Shipping, the company also owns 27 warehouse facilities and a fleet of about 250 trucks through Tricont Trucking and Tricont Logistics, according to Wei Shan, director of operations at Fresh Del Monte. Tricont Trucking has expanded its driver base and is working to upgrade equipment such as tractors and trucks, Shan said.
“As disruptions in logistics and shipping continue to grow, the need to find agile and efficient solutions is greater than ever,” Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh, CEO of Fresh Del Monte, said in a May release. “We’re looking forward to offering our solutions to more people, giving them access to our robust, reliable distribution and logistics network that FDM customers have come to know and appreciate.”
