Van Line Logistics Forum

Jeff and anyone else interested,

Good question. You are bound to hear a lot of talk about this latest development from Sirva. Let me give you a little past history and future info that should help you understand what is happening with North American.

First you need to understand the past history at this Van Line. North American has in the past been one of the highest quality van lines in business. In the last year much has changed for this organization though. Years ago NAVL was acquired by SIRVA a global parent of different transportation businesses. SIRVA also acquired Allied, Global and several other Van Line related businesses. A few years ago SIRVA announced that they would be going public with the ownership of these businesses and soon shareholders would be in control. For a Van Line this is a difficult transition to perform. With individual agents all working to stay profitable it was quickly realized that this new arrangement would reduce profitability and force agents into a harder working relationship.

HISTORY
That is exactly what happened. Many agents struggled to make a profit while the publicly owned parent company was pushing for higher returns and seeking lower costs with the agents. After a few years of this tug of war the shareholders realized that it was futile to fight the agents, and maintain a high level of return. So SIRVA announced that they would leave the Logistics Market. That meant that the NAVL name was up for sale.

PRESENT TIME
The only real bidders for the company were UniGroup (United & Mayflower), Atlas, and Several NAVL Agents that specialized in Logistics. UniGroup already controlled a large piece of the business, and acquiring a loosing company was obviously not a good move. The NAVL Agents that specialized in this business had everything on the line. If NAVL went under they would have no more national affiliation and they would be forced to move to other Van Lines. Their customers would be faced with a new system and not much of a reason to stay with these agents. So this small group of 40 agents decided that to survive they would have to acquire the NAVL Name and Company.

What does this Mean?
NAVL was at one time a group of over 300 agents nationwide that provided service for the Logistics business. Now with less than 50 agents, there is not even an agent for every state let alone rural areas. This means that much of the delivery areas in the U.S. will be covered by old NAVL agents or other Van Line agents that agree to a workable rate plan. Many other areas could fall into a non contract area where rates are hourly and very expensive. For customers this is not acceptable, prices could change constantly and service could have hiccups and failures. Claims will be difficult if not impossible and rates will begin to rise.

Bottom Line
It is difficult to tell how these agents will operate with the changes ahead. Many large businesses have already decided that it is not worth the risk and have begun looking else where. Smaller businesses are sometimes willing to take a risk for savings and ride out the storm. In the end it is the choice of the customer. The only obvious fact is that, when you are shopping for a High Value Carrier it is odd when you accept the lowest performer.