Over the past few years, SecurSpace has grown from a niche marketplace with a handful of locations in Los Angeles to a nationwide network of hundreds of facilities offering on-demand access to yard space.
ConGlobal was one of the early contributors to the SecurSpace marketplace, listing their facility in Los Angeles ahead of the SecurSpace launch in August 2018, eventually expanding to Chicago, Oakland, and beyond. The SecurSpace partnership with ConGlobal is a great example of what is possible when combining latent industrial real estate with an innovative platform capable of facilitating and tracking an unlimited number of parking and storage customers and transactions.
ConGlobal offers a range of intermodal, depot, auto, drayage, and maintenance & repair services. Since intermodal hubs are typically located in major metropolitan areas, the real estate required to offer these services can be costly. Maximizing the use of the space to drive ROI is among the company’s highest priorities.
While most of the space is committed to ConGlobal’s core business, their yards are often not fully utilized. They need the ability to flex for seasonal purposes while accounting for the growth of the business. Optimization would require opportunities to generate revenue on a short-term basis while not over-committing and hindering core operations.
One possible solution is working with motor carriers, 3PLs and shippers that use the additional space to park and store shipping containers, trucks and dry-van trailers. Not only does ConGlobal have the necessary real estate, but also provides a depot service, meaning an operation is already in place to accommodate in-gating and out-gating equipment. Prior to adopting SecurSpace, ConGlobal would use this option opportunistically with larger, long-term customers. The benefit was not only the additional revenue but the simplicity of working with a single customer, making tracking equipment and collecting payment easier. The downside is that longer-term deals can significantly reduce flexibility in the yard and circumvent the lucrative short-term spot market, two major deterrents.
Most drayage trucking companies are small and medium sized businesses (SMB’s) that are priced out of real estate near major ports. In an ideal world, ConGlobal could work with these SMB’s to give them access to space that would help them run their businesses more efficiently while generating higher margins on a per space basis relative to larger block deals. Small, short-term commitments also ensure ConGlobal maintains control over their real estate and increases the likelihood of reaching maximum utilization.
The challenge with extending this service to smaller trucking companies is that managing so many transactions is a logistical nightmare. The specifics for each transaction – the company, number of spaces, reservation dates and more – would need to be collected. Contracts would need to be in place, invoices sent, and payments tracked. Usage also has to be recorded, as overuse of the reserved space is common. Customer support would need to be available to address any issues that arise. All of this must be in place to handle dozens if not hundreds of customers that are booking for only a few days or months at a time.
As a result, it simply was not possible for ConGlobal to take advantage of this opportunity without scaling their operation considerably.
ConGlobal's Los Angeles, CA Location
Understanding that the market for moving freight is incredibly fragmented, SecurSpace built a solution that would maximize the use of a facility like ConGlobal’s, addressing the complex nature of providing on-demand access to yard space to so many buyers. SecurSpace aggregates the administrative, legal, and financial aspects of parking and storage into a single platform, allowing buyers to book the space they need when they need it. By streamlining these business processes, SecurSpace suppliers only need to handle the on-the-ground operation, which for ConGlobal was already in place thanks to their depot service.
Here’s how the SecurSpace platform simplifies the transactional nature of parking and storing freight equipment:
When ConGlobal first listed in 2018, wheeled storage at their facilities was nearly non-existent. Since joining the marketplace, over 7,600 bookings have been placed at ConGlobal facilities generating total revenue of over $49 million. Since the operation was already in place to accommodate this new business, additional operational costs have been minimal, meaning marketplace revenue has had a material impact on ConGlobal’s profitability.
The SecurSpace marketplace is an excellent option for anyone that has extra capacity in their yard. How much you can earn as a SecurSpace supplier is dependent on several factors – where you are located, the pricing in your area, how much space you have available, and if your facility is secure with 24/7 access.
If you are responsible for operating or managing a yard located near a major seaport or rail hub, the SecurSpace-ConGlobal story is particularly relevant. Markets like Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, New York City, and Miami are demand-heavy, meaning it’s possible to realize the financial benefits of listing almost immediately.
As this example has shown, the potential upside to listing available parking and storage capacity with SecurSpace is substantial and the risk is limited – listing is free and our request-based system ensures you maintain control of your real estate.
– Los Angeles, CA
– Oakland, CA
– Oakland, CA – Wilbur
– Haslet Yard (Fort Worth, TX)
– Galena Park, TX
– Kansas City Depot (Gardner, KS)
– 24/7 Secure Yard near the BNSF (Forest View, IL)
– Atlanta Container Depot (Atlanta, GA)
– Leatherman Terminal Container Yard (Charleston, SC)
– Chesapeake Depot (Chesapeake, VA)
– Jacksonville Container Depot (Jacksonville, FL)
SecurSpace helps transportation, warehousing, and industrial facility owners connect with 6,000+ nationwide users renting daily and monthly parking and storage.
– Fully Optimize Yard Space
– Attract and Convert New Renters
– Reduce Workload & Headaches
Click here to register as a Supplier.