Visionary Vehicles Completes Inland U.S. Shipping and Transportation Distribution System
Distribution and Auto Service (DAS) is Awarded the Contract to Handle Inland North American Logistics for Transporting Visionary Vehicles Cars to All U.S. Visionary Vehicles Dealerships.
NEW YORK, Sept. 20 -- Malcolm Bricklin, Founder and CEO of Visionary Vehicles LLC, and Per Arneberg, Vice Chairman of Visionary Vehicles, LLC announced that Distribution and Auto Service (DAS) will handle the North American ports of entry processing, and transportation of all Visionary Vehicles cars in North America.
"DAS will play a key role in the development of our vehicle point of entry processing and transportation infrastructure, ensuring that we are able to give our dealers exceptional support," said Mr. Arneberg. "We are thrilled to have them join the Visionary Vehicles' family."
DAS, headquartered in Wilmington, California, with operations strategically located throughout North America, has 1,200 employees and currently handles 1.6 million vehicles annually.
Visionary Vehicles plans to begin importing an annual volume of 250,000 Chery cars from Wuhu, China commencing mid 2007 through FRAM Shipping, Ltd., Visionary Vehicles' transportation and logistics partner. Once the cars have entered North America, DAS will be responsible for distributing them throughout Visionary Vehicles' North American dealership network.
Mr. Bricklin said, "I have complete confidence in Per Arneberg's coordination of our logistics. His ability to find just the right partners is evidenced by the choice of DAS. We look forward to working with them."
"We are delighted to have been selected by Visionary Vehicles to play such an integral role in bringing these exciting, new products to the North American market," says Christopher Connor, Chief Executive Officer for Distribution and Auto Service.
The automobiles will arrive in selected North American ports and DAS will be responsible for the vehicle receipt at port of entry, vehicle preparation and inspection, and distribution to Visionary Vehicles dealer network.
About Visionary Vehicles
Visionary Vehicles and Chery Automobile Company have a plan to eventually sell 2,000,000 units in North America with the first 1,000,000 units to be manufactured at the large, expansive Chery factory in Wuhu, China and the next (additional) 1,000,000 units to be manufactured at new Visionary Vehicles/Chery facilities in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.vvcars.com/.
About Distribution and Auto Service
Established in 1969, DAS provides vehicle processing and logistics services to the automotive industry. The company operates facilities in Smyrna, TN, Canton, MS, Newport News, VA, Jacksonville, FL, Elizabeth, NJ, Lafayette, IN and Los Angeles, CA. Its Canadian subsidiary, Annacis Auto Terminals, is located in Delta, B.C. (Canada). Together, DAS and Annacis Auto Terminals handle 1.6 million vehicles annually, and employ 1,200 employees. DAS was acquired on April 30, 2005 by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines Americas from Nissan North America, Inc. Annacis Auto Terminals was also included in the acquisition. With the acquisition, Wallenius Wilhelmsen is now positioned to offer independent, value-added logistics management services to finished vehicle manufacturers in North America.