Commercial Equipment Company of Charlotte, N.C., changed its name to Lake Shore Pacific Corp. to better reflect its nationwide service network.
Founded in 1964 as a leasing division of Johnson Motor Lines, CEC provided dedicated leasing services to Johnson’s customers after the Charlotte-based less-than-truckload carrier closed in 1980. The company entered the regional truckload business in 1989.
Lake Shore Pacific will operate two regional dry van trucking divisions: Lake Shore Carrier (formerly Special Transport Service), based in Charlotte and Pacific Carrier, based in Santa Clara, Calif.
Both companies were acquired in 1994 by Edward S. Riss, chairman of Riss Cos., an intermodal transportation and logistics group based in Kansas City, Mo.
Lake Shore Carrier operates east of the Mississippi River and has terminal locations in Chicago; Newark, Ohio; Delmar, N.Y.; Petersburg, Va.; and Charlotte.
Former CEC President Mark A. Deere will lead Lake Shore Carrier.
Pacific Carrier, founded in 1990, provides truckload transportation service to customers in California, Arizona and Nevada.
Combined revenue of the Lake Shore companies is about $30 million annually, Riss said.
