For the third consecutive year, Pacer Stacktrain, Pacer's wholesale intermodal services unit, has won a gold medal in the "Rail/Intermodal Services" category. And Pacer Transport, the specialized trucking services provider, also achieved a gold medal, joining the top ranks of "Truckload" providers for the first time.
According to Tom Shurstad, president of Pacer International, the Pacer Stacktrain unit achieved the highest weighted score of all double-stack providers in the intermodal category. "We are especially gratified," he added, "that Pacer Stacktrain also won the highest rating for 'overall value' among all competitors in the category. This indicates that Pacer's ongoing investment in equipment, systems, and people is resulting in continuing operating excellence and customer satisfaction, and it is particularly noteworthy that the ballots were cast by actual buyers of logistics services." He said the Stacktrain unit's growth this year has been a key driver of overall Pacer growth.
John Hickerson, who is chief executive officer of Pacer Transport, credited his employees and the unit's contracted owner-operator drivers with earning the confidence of customers. "Recently," he said, "one of our major customers, General Electric, singled out Pacer Transport for its reputation of 'reliability and service' and awarded us an extremely time-critical assignment for that reason. We are also working diligently to build a strong safety record on the highways."
Pacer Transport provides specialized and heavy-haul trucking, as well as van or trailer services. It is part of Pacer's retail logistics arm, Pacer Global Logistics, which provides a full portfolio of supply-chain services to manufacturers and retailers.
The 2006 Quest for Quality Awards were presented at an awards dinner in October in San Antonio, Texas. The awards are based on some 6,300 responses from qualified buyers of eight categories of transportation and logistics services. Buyers rank the service providers for their on-time performance, information technology, customer service, equipment and operations, and overall value.
Accepting the awards for Pacer were Jean Krafft, assistant vice president for Business Development Strategy, and David Herrod, director of Business Development West, both representing Pacer Stacktrain; and Mark Weber, vice president for Terminal Operations of Pacer Transport.
