Amware Logistics LLC brings ParcelPort into the fold

Earlier this month, Amware Logistics Services LLC, a third-party logistics (3PL) services provider focusing on warehousing and transportation, said it acquired ParcelPort LLC.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Amware officials said that ParcelPort will be integrated into Amware Logistics Services LLC as Amware Fulfillment Services.

ParcelPort is a 3PL offering shared fulfillment services, dedicated warehouse management, parcel/less-than-truckload, and local transportation and delivery services and performs high-volume product and literature fulfillment from warehouses in North Haven, Ct., Easton, Pa., Atlanta, Ga., and Phoenix, Az.

The company is focused on various high growth, e-commerce and direct marketing segments, including pharmaceutical, nutriceutical, fashion accessory, and “green” home products, and its service offerings are comprised of order fulfillment services, front-end e-commerce gateways, order entry/management applications, and leveraged transportation services, said Amware officials.

“This provides an opportunity for us to operation a combined type of operation, with business-to-business warehousing with high volume business-to-consumer order volume so we can combine the labor and equipment benefits of having both in one building,” said Vincent Gulisano, Parcel Port CEO (and now president of Amware).

With Amware’s strength as a 3PL in B2B warehousing and a focus on process control and high quality, Gulisano said that made it a good match for ParcelPort on the fulfillment side.

The roughly 100 ParcelPort employees will be joining Amware, said Gulisano. Prior to this deal, Amware had about 200 customers and ParcelPort had about 30. Companies focused on e-commerce and direct order fulfillment are ParcelPort’s typical customers, he explained.

And with e-commerce sales showing a 16 percent increase to $194 billion in 2011, according to United States Department of Commerce data, Amware CEO Mark Wilhelm pointed out in a statement that the capabilities of fulfillment companies have not kept pace with e-commerce sales, whereas Amware Fulfillment Services is able to provide direct marketers with what he said is a world-class fulfillment operation without large capital investments for systems and automation.

Gulisano noted that true growth on these fronts in recent years, and as a result many warehousing companies cannot figure out how to handle the volume and processes which direct fulfillment and e-commerce require.

“A lot of these companies can do 100 orders per day of a half truckload, but they cannot do 1,000 orders a day out of a warehouse of one carton with several different pieces in it,” he said. “Being able to manage that volume from a technology standpoint and a warehouse standpoint is where they need some work.”