Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, California, which is pre-building (framing) homes in California for use by hurricane victims in the Gulf region, said that Pacer International has agreed to provide delivery of as many as 15 to 18 pre-built housing units for displaced families.
The donation to Habitat's 'Operation Home Delivery' program, valued at more than $18,000, will facilitate the efficient and on-time delivery of homes for final assembly and construction both in Dallas, where many refugees will settle permanently, and also in Louisiana.
'This donation of logistics and transportation services from Pacer allows us to invest in more lumber to build additional homes,' said Charlie Walker, director of Operation Home Delivery for Habitat in Orange County. 'Our goal is to aid and assist the victims of the hurricanes to rebuild their lives and communities through decent, affordable housing.'
Door-to-door service offered
'Although Habitat is a very special customer, and the shipments themselves may be a bit unusual, our commitment -- as with any customer -- will be to move the freight on a customized, reliable basis to precisely where it is needed,' said Peter Mettra, executive vice president for Marketing & Transportation Purchasing at Pacer Stacktrain, a division of Pacer that provides intermodal equipment and arranges intermodal rail transportation.
'In this case, we'll be picking up and containerizing framed houses from a Southern California sports stadium, where volunteers are building them; and some of the houses will be delivered directly to actual building sites in the Gulf Region. In the truest sense, these will be 'door-to-door' deliveries.'
Pacer expects to accommodate three framed houses in a single 53-foot shipping container, and shipments to Dallas or Louisiana will be staggered to conform to the availability of the houses -- which are being built in California locations by Habitat's volunteers.
Mettra added that multiple Pacer operating units will combine strengths to meet the needs of the humanitarian project, just as they do to develop end-to-end logistical solutions for commercial customers. He said Pacer Global Logistics, the company's logistics arm, is providing the planning and management; Pacer Stacktrain is providing the containers and the long-haul rail transportation; and Pacer Cartage, the local trucking unit, is providing the door-step pickups and deliveries at both ends.
'Through the kindness of organizations like Pacer International, we are on the road to changing the lives of many families who have been affected,' stated Habitat's Charlie Walker.
