A&S Plans to Expand Operations

A logistics and transport company with close ties to Hunt Valley announced last week that it is expanding its operations with a new warehouse and truck terminal on the Baltimore waterfront.

A&S Services Group signed a five-year lease for a site at Dundalk’s Chesapeake Commerce Park for use as a warehouse and truck transportation center, A&S President Ken Buck told Cockeysville Patch late last week.

A&S operates a similar center at 103 Beaver Court in Hunt Valley, and has been a prominent player in the regional transport sector since its formation in 1982. Currently, the company operates a trucking fleet, four truck terminals, and three warehousing centers in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Buck said.

Much of A&S’ business is linked to the Baltimore port , according to Buck, so the expansion of the company to the waterfront site is a logical development for the company.

A&S customers are mostly large, well-known firms that use the port to import raw materials for their manufacturing processes, Buck said. In some cases, A&S customers rely on the port to bring in foreign-made consumer products for sale at retail outlets across the eastern and central sections of the country, he said.

Although Buck declined to discuss the company’s major customers, press reports and other sources indicate that A&S handles significant business for Hunt Valley-based and Fort Worth, TX-based Pier 1 Imports.

Complementing the Dundalk lease deal, A&S also recently purchased Den-El Transfer, a company that specializes to hauling cargo containers around the port of Baltimore, Buck said.

Including Den-El, the company is now operating a fleet of about 130 trucks, and employing a total of about 200 workers, he said.

Chesapeake Commerce Center executive John Mcsharry said the lease deal with A&S was a welcome development.

Under terms of the new lease, A&S occupies 161,415 square feet in the massive building at 5003 Holabird Ave., Mcsharry said. The building is new – constructed in 2008 – and is shared with a Berry Plastics facility, he said.

The building was erected as part of a 2006 development plan by Duke Realty Co. to convert the former Broening Highway General Motors plant to an industrial park devoted to cargo handling and other port-related commerce.

Since acquiring the GM plant, the old assembly buildings have been demolished and Duke has constructed several new buildings. Some parcels from the huge site were sold to MTC Logistic (formerly Merchants Terminal Corp.) and to the Maryland Port Administration.

Mcsharry said there are no current plans to construct additional new building on the site, although 122 acres remain available for future development.