2024 was a year that tested the resilience of supply chains everywhere — port disruptions, unpredictable markets, and geopolitical conflicts kept us all on our toes. At Odyssey, we turned these challenges into opportunities to build stronger partnerships, deliver smarter solutions, and enhance the services we provide to our customers.
I’m proud to say that, amid all these challenges, Odyssey maintained its financial stability and continued to invest, primarily in IT solutions that help us respond more effectively to our customers’ needs. By streamlining complex processes to give customers clearer insights into their supply chains, we simplified their ability to shift demands and support longer-term success.
As the year ends, I’m grateful to our team — and especially to our customers — for helping create an impressive showcase of accomplishments across all our divisions.
Intermodal strength leading into an even stronger 2025
All the uncertainty of 2024 made Odyssey’s intermodal capability highly attractive to shippers looking for more cost-effective and eco-friendly ways of moving freight. Our long-term commitment to North American intermodal transportation solutions supported the opening of a new intermodal division headquarters in Lombard, Ill., to help strategically leverage major transportation hubs. This strengthened our ability to serve customers better and will prepare us for anticipated growth in our intermodal business.
Sustainability concerns also drove more and more customers to our intermodal division, who were drawn by our ability — powered by our CloverleafTM program — to use powerful technologies and data analysis to improve sustainability. Similarly, our trucking services focused on practical strategies, including enhanced route optimization to help customers mitigate detrimental impacts on the environment.
In the new year, we are certain that in addition to new highs, there will be market uncertainties and challenges to resource availability. Odyssey is here to help mitigate risks and disruptions through preparedness and risk management, and we’re looking forward to another year of delivering customer-centric solutions in 2025.
Deep ties support steady growth in Integrated Marine Logistics
In 2024, we also successfully provided unique solutions to our customers in the Jones Act lanes of Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Guam through our Integrated Marine Logistics division. During a visit to our Hawaii team earlier this year, I saw firsthand how Odyssey’s approach — blending local expertise with global resources — improves efficiency and responsiveness.
This strong connection to our local partners not only makes us a better logistics company, but also better community members. In 2024, we were honored to be a sponsor of the Mat-Su 2024 Arctic Winter Games — and in August, Odyssey was represented at the National Truck Driving Championships for the seventh year in a row, with Brian Dravis from our Kenai terminal competing in the Twins Division. We truly value these opportunities to deepen partnerships and customer relationships.
Building out Odyssey’s infrastructure
We celebrated several wins within our Transport & Warehouse division this year. Most recently, we opened another of our world-class warehouses — a new 40,000-square-footer in the Port of Caddo-Bossier in Shreveport, La.
With the one constant in the transportation and logistics industry being change, we focused on adapting to new challenges and leveraging them into opportunities. Odyssey continues to create, develop and adopt more flexible and scalable logistics systems to respond to fluctuating market demands dynamically and address challenges like inventory management and warehouse space constraints.
Managed Services expanding through strategic acquisition
This year, we celebrated 40 years of chemical sample fulfillment excellence, with more than 15 million samples shipped across the world. To address the growing demand for these specialized services, we announced in December the acquisition of OctoChem, Inc., which increases both our warehouse capacity and a number of value-added services to enhance our unique offering and better serve our chemical customers.
Will Schweda, senior vice president in Managed Services, was recognized as a Sales Mountain Mover by the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association (TMSA) and Barbara Slawter, senior vice president of our chemical ISO tank business, was named a recipient of the 2024 Women in Supply Chain Award from Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
Advancing visibility with smarter technology
Each division at Odyssey benefits from the power of technology, and 2024 was no exception. We made tremendous progress on our five-part technology roadmap, improving how we share data and enhancing visibility across operations.
We also conducted a full audit of our technology systems, allowing us to prioritize updates that align with our business goals and support long-term growth. By staying focused on what matters most to our customers, we’re building a foundation for success that will carry us into 2025 and beyond.
Looking ahead to 2025
With a strong growth roadmap across all four of our divisions this year, and increased collaboration between them all, 2024 was a year in which our company truly pulled together as One Odyssey — and 2025 looks to be a year of even greater momentum forward.
