Kenco bulks up transportation services arm to meet e-commerce demand

Third party logistics provider (3PL) Kenco Logistics is predicting big growth in its transportation services sector, and announced today it will expand its footprint in that area by adding new leadership, hiring dozens of staff, and expanding its infrastructure.

Kenco expects volumes in its transportation services business unit to double year-over-year from 2018 to 2019, thanks in part to to the continuing expansion of e-commerce sales nationwide, the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company said.

To meet that booming demand, Kenco plans to add up to 30 new employees in 2020 to support one of the fastest growing segments of the transportation business unit, the company's non-asset offering, which includes transportation management, freight audit, and payment and brokerage. Kenco also buffed up its leadership suite for that division, announcing it had hired industry veteran Mike McClelland away from truckload company Knight Transportation Inc. to become Kenco's new senior vice president of transportation.

On the infrastructure side, Kenco is also enhancing its asset-based transportation services, establishing "white glove" service centers in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; Denver, Colorado; and Orlando, Florida. The facilities will provide residential delivery, product set up, and removal of all packaging and older products.

According to Kenco, those moves will combine to differentiate its position in the market by allowing customers to tap its expertise as needed, without outsourcing their entire transportation functions, and to deploy "cradle-to-grave" management of each shipment.

"With e-commerce orders of furniture and home goods increasing, the need for White Glove services is growing," Kenco President and CEO Denis Reilly said in a release. "As a White Glove service provider, Kenco becomes an extension of our clients' service teams, ensuring that delivery to the end user is a positive experience."

The move is Kenco's latest investment in its capabilities since its October announcement that it had expanded its "supply chain innovation lab," allowing it to test potential tech solutions such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), fulfillment bots, AI-driven smart glass picking software, and warehouse management system (WMS) software.

In 2018, #ecommerce furniture and home good sales were expected to exceed $50 billion and to represent one of the fastest growing product categories. Find out how this affects #WhiteGlove service providers in our latest blog post ????? ????: https://t.co/tunBry7D5m pic.twitter.com/EwVmIyOJ32

— KENCO (@KencoGroup) November 14, 2019