Regional parcel delivery carriers LaserShip and OnTrac, a combined entity which earlier this year launched a transcontinental ground delivery network, have opened a sortation hub in southern New Jersey to support next-day deliveries from southern Maine to southern Virginia.

The facility, located in Logan Township near Philadelphia, will provide ground residential deliveries at deeply discounted rates, according to a person familiar with the matter. Deliveries will be faster and at better prices than what is currently offered by the national delivery carriers, the person said.

The combined entity already operates a hub in south Brunswick, New Jersey, which supports transcontinental operations that were launched in August. The transcontinental service connects LaserTrac’s sizable Eastern system, which extends as far west as Indianapolis and Little Rock, Arkansas, with OnTrac’s West Coast network, which covers all of California and goes as far east as Colorado.

The combined entity plans to expand into Texas during the first quarter of 2023 and will eventually enter Chicago. A time frame for the Chicago expansion hasn’t been disclosed. 

Once the Chicago market is developed, the entity said it will cover about 85% of the U.S. population with day-definite deliveries. Service between New Jersey and California will operate within a three-to-four-day window.

It is not clear when, or even if, the entity will fill out the rest of the country, which consists of relatively sparsely populated states in the Upper Midwest.

Vienna, Virginia-based LaserShip’s parent, private equity firm American Securities LLC, acquired Chandler, Arizona-based OnTrac in October 2021 for $1.3 billion. The intent when the deal was announced was to combine the companies to create a new national parcel-delivery network.

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