The Trucker Newspaper - December 15-31, 2015

34 • December 15-31, 2015 Business
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
CHICAGO — C.H. Robinson, a global logistics
provider, will expand its business operations
in Chicago by signing a seven-year lease
for a 235,000-square-foot commercial office
building and warehouse at 333 Howard Avenue
in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Approximately 150 employees will be based
at the new facility, which will open its doors in
early 2016.
“Chicago is one of the most important markets
in our global shipping network, thanks to
its connectivity to Class I rail, ocean shipping,
truck transportation and one of the world’s
leading airports,” said Mike Short, president of
Global Forwarding, C.H. Robinson. “This move
will enable our customers to have better access
to these transportation options, and will position
our company to build on our decade of rapid expansion
in Chicago.”
The Des Plaines deal comes on the heels of
the company’s announcement that it will build a
three-story, 207,000-square-foot office building
in Lincoln Park that will house more than 1,000
employees.
C.H. Robinson is the largest logistics company
in Chicago and will celebrate its 100th anniversary
of operations in the city next year. The
company has roughly doubled its Chicago-based
headcount since 2005, and its nearly 2,000 Chicago
employees account for almost 15 percent
of its global workforce.
The new facility will serve as a major hub for
both North American and international freight
consolidation operations. Everyday there are thousands
of partial shipments flowing through the
supply chain. Through C.H. Robinson’s freight
consolidation services, companies that book lessthan-full
loads of freight on trucks, ships, and airplanes
have their shipments packaged with other
loads to create efficiencies in the supply chain.
Short said C.H. Robinson’s Global Forwarding
division helps customers ship commercial
freight internationally via its vast network of
transportation providers. The division has more
than 3,200 employees in 100 company offices in
more than 30 countries.
Domestically, C.H. Robinson’s North American
Surface Transportation division provides full
truckload, less-than-truckload, temperature-controlled,
flatbed, and intermodal freight transportation
services and logistics solutions to companies
of all sizes in a wide variety of industries.
“We signed our first lease for a Chicagobased
freight consolidation facility 10 years ago,
and that building was 30,000 square feet,” said
Eric Shover, vice president of North America
global forwarding, C.H. Robinson. “The fact that
we just leased a facility with 235,000 square feet
speaks to the immense growth we’ve been able
to achieve in Chicago over the past decade, and
the aggressive plans we have for the future.”
The Des Plaines facility will also serve as
thetrucker.com
C.H. Robinson inks 7-year lease for 235,000-square-foot office building, warehouse
C.H. Robinson’s in-house TSA Certified Cargo
Screening facility (CCSF). This new facility
will include 36,726 square feet of warehouse
space equipped with state-of-the-art screening
technology. The TSA approved C.H. Robinson
as a CCSF in April 2012.
Since then, C.H. Robinson has provided a
dedicated air freight screening team which ensures
expeditious service to shippers. In addition, the facility
is tied directly to Navisphere, the company’s
global technology platform, allowing customers
to track their freight before, during, and after the
screening process, stated a company news release.
The lease was executed with Liberty Property
Trust which owns 50 buildings, offering
approximately 13 million square feet of space
in the Chicago/Milwaukee corridor. Property is
concentrated throughout the O’Hare submarket,
I-55 Corridor, the Aurora/I-88 submarket and the
Minooka/Elwood/I-80 Corridor, Central DuPage,
as well as in Southeastern Wisconsin. 8