Ryder announces Chicago expansion, with new Aurora-based distribution center

Miami-based freight transportation and logistics services provider Ryder System Inc. announced earlier this month that it is taking steps to expand its Chicagoland multiclient warehouse network.

The company has added a 400,000 square-foot Aurora, Ill.-based distribution center, which opened its doors in August. Ryder officials said that this new distribution center is part of a six-building campus comprised of 2.4 million square-feet, which Ryder said mainly serves consumer packaged goods (CPG) shippers, including: food and beverage, food ingredients, health and beauty, household products, and general retail merchandise.

And it added that this new facility includes omnichannel fulfillment capabilities, food-grade certifications, ambient temperature controls, 56 dock doors, and 26 trailer stalls. Ryder’s campus in Aurora has 335 dock doors, 175 cross-dock doors, and 257 trailer stalls. It also has rail access and is within a one-day truck drive for more than half of the U.S. population. What’s more, Ryder said its Chicago-area footprint is now made up of 11 multiclient warehouses and 23 dedicated customer warehouses, for a collective 17 million square-feet.

Darin Cooprider, Ryder senior vice president of consumer-packaged goods, told LM that Ryder made a strategic decision in 2021 to expand its multichannel warehousing capabilities with the acquisition of Midwest Warehouse & Distribution System.

“With that acquisition, we gained nine multiclient warehouses, primarily in the greater Chicago area,” he said. “Then, in December of 2022, we built a tenth multiclient distribution center also in Chicagoland. So, this newest facility makes 11. Customers are increasingly looking for greater flexibility to enable them to respond to seasonal and market changes. Multiclient warehouses provide that, and they support growth with the ability to scale. Additionally, multi-client warehouse environments are a great entry point for new customers looking for a 3PL that can meet their needs now and in the future. So, as our customers’ businesses grow and evolve, we can seamlessly transition them from multi-client warehouses to dedicated facilities.”

When asked about the biggest benefits of the Chicago area for Ryder’s shipper customers, Cooprider said that the greater Chicago area is relatively central the U.S. with access to numerous interstates and railroads, several airports, and water access to the Great Lakes, making it geographically one of the best locations for distribution.

“We now have six multiclient warehouses within a five-mile radius, and we have about a thousand employees within a 10-to-15-minute commute, which allows us to pool resources to account for our customers’ seasonal and market fluctuations,” he said. “And, Chicagoland offers a dense labor force for recruitment.”

As for the main competitive advantages of this location from a Ryder perspective, Cooprider explained that in addition to the central location, access to a robust intermodal transportation network, and a campus-like environment that enables the sharing of resources, Ryder customers also have access to RyderShare, the company’s visibility and collaboration platform allows customers to see across their end-to-end supply chain—inbound, outbound, and within the four walls of the warehouse—so they can prevent costly delays and find efficiency gains.