specialreport
BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Collaboration
By working with
a competitor to
boost transportation
efficiency, Ocean
Spray cut freight
costs by 40 percent
and greenhouse
gases by 20 percent
in one major lane.
bears fruit
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 from 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 ship-
