You could call it a classic case of serendipity. Agricultural cooperative Ocean Spray had just hit a major milestone in its supply chain sustainability program when it received an unexpected proposal that promised to take its carbon reduction efforts to the next level.
As part of a network redesign, the Massachusetts-based producer of fruit juice and food—most notably its iconic cranberry juice—had recently opened a new DC in Lakeland, Fla., to serve customers in the Southeast. By centralizing supply closer to clients, the company had already slashed millions of miles out of its distribution network, cutting both freight costs and carbon emissions.
But soon after the Lakeland facility opened in 2011, Ocean Spray was approached by Wheels Clipper, an Illinois-based third-party logistics service provider (3PL) that specializes in intermodal, truckload, and refrigerated shipping. The 3PL had an intriguing business proposition for the cooperative. One of its clients, Tropicana, which is also one of Ocean Spray's competitors in the fruit juice business, was already shipping fresh fruit by boxcar on CSX Transportation trains from Florida to New Jersey—and sending empty boxcars back to Florida. Since much of Ocean Spray's Lakeland-bound freight originated in Bordentown, N.J., Wheels Clipper suggested that Ocean Spray could take advantage of that backhaul capacity. That would mean a substantial savings in both transportation costs and carbon emissions.