Stanley Takes to the Rails

February 8, 2012  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on February 9, 2012

Case goods vendor Stanley Furniture Co. (NASDAQ-GS: STLY) announced it is using the Port of Virginia's new rail service to Greensboro, N.C.

The move improves supply chain efficiencies and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the transportation of its furniture shipments from the Port of Virginia to the company's Martinsville, Va., warehouse facility.

Stanley says it is the first and only furniture brand to use the rail service, which began operations in October, and the company estimates that the new rail service will result in an overall supply chain cost benefit on all containers that pass through the port. Virginia-based companies that use the rail service also are eligible to receive a port tax credit from the Commonwealth of Virginia, further contributing to Stanley's overall cost reductions.
 
"The opening of the new Norfolk-Greensboro rail line provided us with a unique opportunity to simultaneously decrease our carbon footprint and improve our total supply chain efficiencies," said Steve Wolfe, Stanley's vice president of global supply chain and logistics. "We recognized the financial and sustainability benefits of participating in this type of rail program immediately and spent the last few months working to ensure that each of our shipping partners would participate. Because all of Stanley's imported products enter into the United States at the Port of Virginia, the supply chain benefits are significant, and we expect to use the service for 100 percent of Stanley's shipments by the end of February."
 
Before Stanley began using the new rail service on Jan. 15, it relied on standard container trucking services to carry its shipments the approximately 250 miles from Norfolk to Martinsville. With the opening of the rail line, the company is now able to transport the containers via train to Greensboro, where they are loaded onto trucking drayage services for the roughly 50-mile journey from Greensboro to Martinsville. Rail transportation allows a greater number of containers to be moved at a time and produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than trucks. This new service helps Stanley reduce transportation costs and increase its sustainability by minimizing the number of miles that each container travels by truck. In addition, the company is exploring the use of its private fleet to handle the container moves from Greensboro, which would result in additional efficiencies and enhanced sustainability benefits.
 
"As one of the first brands to utilize the Port of Virginia's new Greensboro rail service, Stanley Furniture has demonstrated how the adoption of new transportation methods can have a positive impact on both a company's bottom line and the environment," said Daniel LeGrande, mid-Atlantic area manager for Virginia International Terminals, the operating company for the Virginia Port Authority. "We hope that other Virginia- and Carolina-based furniture companies will follow Stanley's industry-leading example and realize the benefits of using our new rail line in the coming months."