CLEVELAND, OH – January 4, 2018 – ContainerPort Group, Inc. (CPG) and ASF Transportation Group, LLC (ASF) are pleased to announce a merging of the two enterprises effective January 1, 2018. The combination of CPG and ASF will form an intermodal drayage powerhouse with over 1,300 power units in most key markets east of the Rockies.
Michael Smith, founder and president of ASF Transportation, will move forward as President of ContainerPort Group, Inc. “We began a search process nearly two years ago to retire the late Russ Graef, who was a veteran of our company for 45 years,” said Fred Hunger, CPG’s Chairman. “Michael brings exactly the type of hands-on, genuine, and no-ego type of management style which we were patiently looking to bring to the organization. His executive leadership from the transportation space, combined with his entrepreneurial spirit is a perfect combination to lead our now 1,300 plus strong fleet, and our Midwest intermodal depot locations.”
“Kudos go out to Tim McNamara, head of the Transportation Infrastructure Practice at global search firm of Odgers Berndtson, who led the search process,” said Hunger. Prior to ASF, Michael worked with Southern Cal Transport, and also many years with Schneider National.
ASF Transportation - comprised of ASF Intermodal, ASF Truckload, ASF Brokerage, and Middle Bay Transportation - brings a fleet of nearly 600 independent contractors and a very talented group of managers, dispatchers, customer service and support teams to the combined enterprise. “We are very excited to join the CPG team in blending our respective strengths into a dominant force in the intermodal drayage space,” said Michael Smith. “Our strengths as a South, mid-Atlantic, and US Gulf operator are a great strategic fit to CPG’s strengths in the Midwest, mid and North Atlantic markets.”
The combined company, to be operated under the ContainerPort Group brand, will be comprised of 24 terminals, 1,300 plus trucks, and over 400 professionals. With this merger, the company remains focused on providing superior service to fulfill customers’ needs in intermodal drayage, depot, truckload and brokerage operations.
The merger involves only the Intermodal/Transportation arm of the ASF Group. The Forwarding/Ocean Division, trading as ASF Logistics and ASF Global, will remain independent and under the existing management structure.
The combination is effective January 1, 2018 – and the two companies will work, in parallel, until such time as it can provide for an orderly combination of the operations.
ContainerPort Group, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio is a leading service provider to the containerized cargo shipping industry and is celebrating its 47th year of operation. Today, CPG provides intermodal container trucking, inland CY Terminal and transloading operations, warehousing and logistics, and container repair, modification, sale and rental services.
About ASF
Based in Mobile, Alabama, ASF Intermodal is a full-service drayage provider and full transportation broker focused on providing common cargo, flat racks and overweight load freight services throughout the Southeastern United States through a strong network of import/export triangulation and port-to-door trucking. Services provided by ASF Intermodal include vendor management, chassis management, import/export triangulation, cargo management and flow optimization, transport management, cross-docking, trans-loading and distribution.
About ContainerPort Group
ContainerPort Group, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is a leading provider of services to the container shipping industry and is celebrating over forty-five years of operation. CPG provides both motor carrier services and terminal services (container depot, container yard, equipment maintenance) to ocean carriers, railroads, shippers/receivers, and freight intermediaries. CPG operates facilities and terminals in twenty distinct geographic markets throughout the Midwest, Ohio Valley, Northeast, Southeast and Gulf regions.
For more information, please visit www.containerport.com