DC Velocity - June 2015

18 DC VELOCITY JUNE 2015 www.dcvelocity.com newsworthy

O’Neill Logistics has leased an 82,250-square-foot ware-house/distribution property in Avenel, N.J., adjacent to the third-party logistics firm’s headquarters. … Materialogic, a fulfillment and logistics service provider, recently moved to a new 163,000-square- foot distribution facility in Bridgeton, Mo. … NorthPoint Development will be constructing Inland Port XIV, an

822,104-square-foot speculative building at Logistics Park Kansas City. In addition to being the largest industrial building constructed on a speculative basis in the Kansas City market, the facility will be the first spec building to feature a 36-foot clear height.

ground breakers

team co-drivers, according to the report. Clowdis said he was never asked to conduct a follow-up survey.

ATA declined comment on the suit. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) said it couldn’t provide any insight since it represents independent contractors and most women drivers are part of teams.

Women account for about 5 percent of the country’s driver work force. With midsized to large fleets scrambling for qualified driver talent amid a looming multiyear shortage, advocates are touting women as a valuable labor resource. However, it seems unlikely their cause will be helped by the new allegations swirling around CRST.

“Carriers are doing everything possible to avoid any kind of harassment against their drivers, as no one would want their employees to have a negative experience within their company environment,” said Ellen Voie, president and CEO of the Women in Trucking Association Inc., in an e-mail. “Putting two unrelated individuals together in a truck is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially when the individuals are of [the] opposite gender.” CRST is one of the group’s members.

Desiree Wood, founder and president of Real Women in Trucking, another advocacy group, said in a post on DC VELOCITY’s website that the group has been fielding complaints about CRST’s policies since 2009 and that the calls “have not ceased.” In the post, Wood urged Voie to drop CRST and “other meat grinder carriers” from Women in Trucking’s corporate sponsor membership.

It is anybody’s guess as to the prevalence of sexual harassment in trucking. Truck driving is a tough, gritty business long dominated by men. Objectification of women would hardly be a news flash. To Friedman, the plaintiffs’ attorney, the issue is not whether the alleged incidents of harassment and assault occurred, but what policies, if any, CRST had in place to stop them or if, by its pattern of behavior, the company effectively encouraged harassment.

Friedman hinted that the story does not end with CRST. “I’m aware of other trucking companies where women drivers have made similar allegations,” he said. He would not identify the carriers, nor would he comment on whether they would be used in a jury trial if one comes to pass.

—Mark B. Solomon

Warehouse management system (WMS) developer HighJump Software Inc. has acquired cloud-based technology provider Nexternal Solutions in a move the companies said would create the first unified e-commerce platform and WMS.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. HighJump is
based in Minneapolis, while Nexternal is in Carlsbad, Calif.
The combination would create a unique hybrid software
solution for customers struggling to adapt to omnichannel
distribution, the companies claim. Though HighJump had pre-
viously rolled out some smaller “microcosms” of e-commerce
software, the Nexternal acquisition greatly expands its capa-
bilities by instantly upgrading to a full-featured cloud-based
package, said HighJump chief marketing officer Bill Ashburn.
“Even if we have something, we like to expand on it,”
Ashburn said in an interview. “We look for gaps we have in
our solution set, and we like to fill those gaps.”
Nexternal’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) approach will allow
HighJump to expand its offerings for customers who need
omnichannel distribution services by connecting manufac-
turers, distributors, and retailers with an order management
system that captures business-to-business and business-to-con-
sumer orders, according to the companies.

The Nexternal software platform allows small businesses to scale up to full e-commerce operations by acting as a single hub for all transactions related to pricing, promotions, order status, and customer care throughout the order management lifecycle, Nexternal said. Companies can use its platform to run call centers, generate and manage subscription orders, retrieve Amazon.com Marketplace orders, create club orders, and receive orders from other systems.