Nine quarters of growth and counting

Over the past several years, we've seen more and more of our competitors scale back their operations, lay off employees, and in some cases, close their doors entirely. But for the ninth consecutive quarter, Pilot has seen year-over-year revenue growth -- not a small feat when the economy is still struggling to rebound.

Today, we announced our numbers for the first quarter, which reflected growth across the company, thanks to another three months of amazing work from the entire Pilot team. A couple of highlights include 71 percent year-over-year growth for our special services business, and an almost 20 percent increase for our government business. 

With numbers like these, broad-based growth across the company as a whole, and the U.S. economy showing more signs of improvement, I can tell you that it's going to be another great year for Pilot.

Pilot customer jumps into the Shark Tank

Last year, Pilot's San Diego station started working with a Pacific Beach-based company called Tower Paddle Boards, handling their entire supply chain from the import of their products from overseas to warehousing and domestic distribution. The startup sells stand up paddleboards direct-to-consumer, taking a unique, web-based approach to this fast-growing market.

Next week, Tower will gain a whole new level of exposure when founder Stephan Aarstol appears on ABC's popular show, "Shark Tank," where they will ask the "sharks" to invest in the company.

Everyone at Pilot is extremely excited for Tower, and we're rooting for a bidding war among the investors!

Tune in on March 16th at 8/7c to check out the show. Good luck, Stephan!

Hello, Toronto!

Last year, we opened our first international station in Amsterdam, and promised that there would be more to come. True to that promise, this month we have officially opened our first Canadian station, in Toronto.

Because of its status as the U.S.'s largest trading partner, Canada has been extremely important for us over the years. We will continue to work with Concord Transportation, our Canadian partner -- but having our own physical location in the Toronto will allow us to provide more hands-on customer service to our customers shipping into and out of the region. Additionally, because Toronto is one of the largest import/export hubs in North America, we'll be opening up additional options to our U.S. customers who would benefit from exporting their shipments via this city.

We've tapped Andy Harris, who has over twenty years of experience in the freight forwarding industry, to manage the station. Heading up customer service/operations is JoAnne Stoddart, a new addition to the Pilot team, whose strong background in international shipping will be a great asset. More staff will be added in the coming weeks to support Andy and JoAnne.

Congratulations to everyone involved in getting the Toronto station off the ground!

Pilot's momentum continues into 2012

A year ago, I announced that 2010 was the year that Pilot broke all of its personal revenue and volume records. After a year like that, most companies would expect -- and be content -- to level off. Not Pilot. The numbers are in, and we have once again blown away our old records with $491 million in revenue for the year, up 16 percent from 2010. 

That number would have been impossible without every single one of our business segments marking significant gains for the year. Congratulations are in order for everyone for making this growth possible, and a special recognition goes to Larry Wenrich and the government group, which grew its revenue by an unbelievable 65 percent over the previous year. The work that they've done with both existing and new customers to serve U.S. interests at home and abroad clearly has not gone unnoticed.

As if these numbers weren't exciting enough on their own, I'm even more impressed by the fact that while we handled more volume in 2011 than ever before, we did so while achieving our best ever performance numbers. So not only did Pilot continue to grow, we also continued to deliver the excellent service our customers have come to expect. And that deserves a big round of applause all around.

After a year like that, where do we go from here? Nowhere but up.

Closing out Q3 and looking ahead to the holidays

As the holidays approach and we prepare for our busiest time of the year -- thanks to the huge growth of our home delivery business over the past few years -- I'm excited to close out yet another strong quarter at Pilot. As we announced today (check out the press release below), Q3 was the seventh consecutive quarter in which our revenue grew, keeping us on pace to have our biggest year ever.

Special congratulations goes to two groups: government services, which was up a whopping 46 percent over Q3 of 2010, and special services, who almost matched that number, with 44 percent year-over-year growth. Both teams have had great success in landing new accounts, as well as getting additional business from current customers. Great job to everyone involved!

Pilot Seattle sets revenue record

As the third quarter comes to a close and we gear up to handle record volumes of home delivery business this holiday season, I want to congratulate the folks in our Seattle station, who had a phenomenal month in August. The station brought in $6.27 million in revenue for the month, beating out the previous company-wide monthly record by about $500,000.

I spoke with Seattle station owner Patrick Allen, who credited the station's success to strong numbers from established customers, as well as landing several new clients. I personally visited there last month, and every employee in the office is totally focused on customer experience, and on spreading the word that there is something special at Pilot. The atmosphere is electric. Patrick has long talked about how proud he is of his whole team, and that pride shows in the way they handled the unprecedented volume.

Congratulations to the Seattle team, and we look forward to seeing who will set the next record!

Maneuvering freight through challenging international areas

Every month, Inbound Logistics magazine runs a “10 Tips” column, offering advice on a specific topic related to shipping and logistics. For the July issue, they asked us to put together some industry tips on “Maneuvering Freight Through Challenging International Areas.” I put together some of my thoughts on the subject, which were published this week.

I gave suggestions on locating an airport with customs facilities, finding local agents, navigating security and border issues, and various other tactics. These tips should be helpful to anyone looking to move freight into areas like Japan, with its continuing earthquake/tsunami recovery, or countries like Iraq or Afghanistan, where war has made transportation much more difficult.

To read my full list of tips, check out the piece on Inbound Logistics’ website. And if you have any questions on the topic, feel free to leave a comment and I'll be happy to get back to you.