US Univar’s private truck fleet provides agility during supply chain chaos – CEO

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Supply chain constraints have affected every segment of business and industry amid surging demand following the reopening of economies after the pandemic, but US chemicals distributor Univar Solutions said owning its own fleet has been advantageous from a business sense during the chaos.

Speaking during a conference call to discuss third quarter earnings, president and CEO David Jukes said one reason the company outpaced previous years’ sales and margins was due in large part “to our extensive network of facilities and the advantage of our own fleet of trucks, allowing us to provide security of supply to our customers”.

According to trucking services publication FleetOwner, Univar has more than 700 trucks and almost 1,500 trailers in its fleet.

Trucking services publication Bulk Transporter said Univar has the industry’s largest private transportation fleet.

Trucking issues are nothing new and have been atop a long list of supply chain concerns.

“We own our fleet,” Jukes said. “That gives us a distinct advantage over so-called asset-wide distributors who have to go out after third parties and fight in the marketplace.”

The company said it anticipates the supply chain strains will continue to be a challenge going forward as strong demand is expected to persist.

“We thought that some supply chain disruption on globally traded products may have unblocked itself – but it didn’t, it got worse,” the CEO said. “We see continued strong demand even though supply chains are still a challenge.”

Jukes said the company will actively manage prices as the situation eases.

“I feel very confident about our ability to manage price on the way down as well as we did on the way up,” he said.

In terms of growth, Jukes said the company will continue to look at opportunities for inorganic growth and tuck-in acquisitions, like its deal in Brazil with Solvay.

Univar will be Solvay’s distribution partner for the agrochemical market in Brazil, the companies announced in August.

The new agreement covers Solvay’s product line for agrochemical defensives, adjuvants and fertilizers and will serve the rapidly growing agricultural sector in Brazil.

It is the first time Solvay has named a distributor for this market in the country.