Dive Brief:
- East and Midwest regional parcel carrier LaserShip has expanded two New York City-area facilities and added automation to increase throughput and meet skyrocketing demand for last-mile delivery, the carrier announced Thursday.
- LaserShip will add roughly 140,000 square feet to its Secaucus, New Jersey, facility bringing it to 234,972 square feet. The carrier will increase its Mineola, New York, facility on Long Island by roughly 50,000 square feet to 85,000 square feet.
- Both facilities will use Hytrol automated conveyance systems to increase throughput by 4,000 packages per hour. LaserShip has also upped throughput at its sortation center in South Brunswick, New Jersey, from 7,000 to 31,000 packages per hour with automated package sorting technology.
Dive Insight:
The role of regional carriers in the e-commerce landscape has grown in 2020 as national carriers are stretched to their limits and have institute surcharges to compensate — spurring regional players to upgrade technology in line with their national competitors.
In addition to space and technology, LaserShip is recruiting thousands of workers across 20 states, according to the announcement. The regional carrier operates from Florida to New Hampshire and as far west as Kentucky.
National carriers are enforcing parcel volume maximums when present in contracts, said Tray Anderson, logistics and industrial lead for the Americas at Cushman & Wakefield. Even when contracts don't include volume limits, some shippers are experiencing refused pickups, Anderson said.
These refusals are a first for many in the industry, according to LaserShip Chief Commercial Officer Josh Dinneen. He told Supply Chain Dive last month that the shift toward regional carriers started in the spring when e-commerce volume began to climb, delivery performance faltered and national carriers dropped their service guarantees.
In January, regional carriers (including DHL) held roughly 4% of the small parcel market, according to Convey. By September, they had grabbed 30%.
