American Metal Market, May 20, 2002

By Scott Robertson

PITTSBURGH — Ohio Coatings Co., Yorkville, Ohio, has signed a user agreement with BestTransport.com Inc., Columbus, Ohio.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. No official start date has been set, but officials from both companies expect Ohio Coatings to begin using the system by year-end.

BestTransport president J. Vincent Ciroli said that Ohio Coatings’ shipping lanes would “overlay nicely with our existing shippers, providing a win/win situation for the BestTransport carrier community and Ohio Coatings’ existing carriers.”

Ohio Coatings is a tin-plating company that is a joint venture of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., Wheeling, W.Va., and Dong Yang Tinplate of South Korea.

BestTransport is an application service provider of transportation and logistics management for shippers and carriers. Its customer base includes shippers in the metals and lumber industries.

Phil Withum, general manager, commercial, for Ohio Coatings, said his company expected to experience inherent cost savings and efficiencies as a result of the deal.

Ohio Coatings said it did not believe it was building a disconnect with its carriers and customers. “The BestTransport transportation management concept allows us to maintain and strengthen our relationships with our existing customer base,” Withum said. “That’s the `online’ with our customers that we want to maintain and be able to continue to manage, and it’s something that we’re not willing to relinquish to a third party.”

Withum said another benefit for his company that lies in the link with BestTransport was the exposure Ohio Coatings would receive with other carriers in the BestTransport community. “We’re expecting to get more exposure, especially in our non-routine lanes and for hot loads,” he said.

Reproduced with permission from American Metal Market.
© 2002 American Metal Market LLC, a subsidiary of Metal Bulletin Plc. All rights reserved.