Wabash Inks Long-Term Agreements With Key Carrier, Supplier
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Wabash announced two long-term agreements, one with a carrier to create an extended backlog and one with a supplier to enhance supply surety.
Wabash and Ryerson, a value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, reached a 10-year agreement.
Wabash reached a multiyear supply agreement with J.B. Hunt Transport Services.
“We selected Ryerson as a strategic supplier partner because its footprint and business strategy is aligned with our vision,” Richard Mansilla, vice president of global procurement at Wabash, said in a release. “We believe this partnership with Ryerson will help us address our wide range of metal needs in the short- to medium-term to aid in Wabash’s production of DuraPlate dry van trailers, Acutherm refrigerated trailers and truck bodies with EcoNex Technology, tank trailers and platform trailers.”
Ryerson has supplied Wabash with steel, stainless steel, and aluminum for more than 10 years. (Ryerson)
Ryerson has supplied Wabash with steel, stainless steel and aluminum for more than 10 years and is a three-time Wabash supplier award winner, the Lafayette, Ind.-based company noted.
Wabash said the agreement with Lowell, Ark.-based J.B. Hunt marks a strategic shift in how Wabash is intentionally building a backlog with strategic customers that are interested in jointly planning demand for a period that looks beyond the next 12 months.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services ranks No. 4 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America.
“Wabash has undergone substantial change over the last two years to create the right organizational structure to enable this type of strategic progress that positions Wabash to create value at the center of an ecosystem of customers, suppliers and partners,” Wabash CEO Brent Yeagy said. “The collaborative nature of multiyear demand planning builds upon our improved pricing construct to generate another important proof point of how we are structurally improving the foundation of our company by smoothing out demand cycles that drive unnecessary variability through the entire supply chain. We’re strategically managing our backlog and enabling our customers’ success from first- to final-mile, and we’re pleased to start this new path forward with J.B. Hunt.”
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The long-term order agreement with J.B. Hunt couples with Wabash’s earlier 10-year agreement with aluminum supplier Hydro, to provide certainty that it can meet pent-up demand as its additional dry van capacity comes online in early 2023, Wabash reported.
“The trailers provided by Wabash over the next few years will help us expand capacity available for services like private fleet outsourcing and drop-and-hook freight,” said Nick Hobbs, chief operating officer and president of contract services at J.B. Hunt. “With an additional 15,000-plus trailers, we can improve the efficiency of our equipment so that assets are in the right place at the right time for available drivers. It’s essential to our mission of creating the most efficient transportation network in North America.”
