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.

Pilot Detroit doubles its footprint

Back in June I told you about the Pilot Houston station moving to a new space, and now the Detroit station has followed suit. As of a few weeks ago, all Pilot operations in Detroit are being housed at a new facility, more than double the size of their previous space. The move was necessitated by significant sustained growth across the station's domestic, international and home delivery business.

With this location change, the automotive group -- which was previously displaced due to a lack of room -- has moved back in with the rest of the Pilot group in Detroit.

I spoke with Zach Pollock, the station manager, who was very excited about the 12 dock doors in the new facility. The station recently launched a cartage trucking operation, which has been extremely successful thus far, but was limited by the old facility's limited number of docks. With this increased capacity, the team will be able to load and unload multiple trucks at once, increasing the flow of freight they can handle.

Congratulations to the team on the move!

Pilot Freight Services

114400 Metro Airport Center Dr., Suite 200

Romulus, MI 48174

Phone: 732-941-4030

FAX: 734-941-6667

Continue reading below for the press release we put out this morning on the news.

Pilot opens first European station

Back in January, I mentioned that there was big news coming for Pilot this year, including new locations both here in the states and abroad. After months of hard work by Gordon Branov, Gilles Auzanneau, Alexandra Ryan and many others, I am excited to announce that Pilot has opened its first European station, in Amsterdam.

Opening a full Pilot station in Amsterdam (AMS) will transform our company. Today, our customers' businesses often rely on international shipping or logistics. In order to offer the best possible customer service and transit times in Europe, as well as our sophisticated logistics solutions, we simply had to have our own people in place. And Amsterdam was the clear choice for where the first European station should go.

Amsterdam's Schipol airport and the Port of Rotterdam are two of the largest cargo portals in the world. Because of this, Amsterdam is home to enormous logistics programs, and is the perfect gateway to Western Europe. Its central location will allow us to offer overnight service to several major destinations, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland.

Additionally, AMS will give companies exporting freight from Europe easier access to our network in North America, Asia and many other countries around the world. While we expect much of the initial traffic through the Amsterdam station to be coming from the U.S. to European destinations, we anticipate that over time we'll see many more European companies taking advantage of our well-established domestic network.

The Amsterdam station will be managed by two Pilot veterans, Gilles Auzanneau and Alexandra Ryan. These long-time Pilot employees and international shipping experts are both previous winners of Pilot's Globetrotter award, and will bring the mix of operational and sales expertise that our customers expect from Pilot. The station will be overseen by our executive vice president of business development, Gordon Branov.

This is an important shift for Pilot. It marks our commitment to our international product, and stakes our claim as a global force in transportation and logistics. We expect AMS to lead to additional stations in other international locations. Stay tuned for more announcements later this year!

Pilot Houston moves up in the world

As Pilot has grown and expanded as a company, stations across the country have found it necessary to move to larger facilities to keep up with that growth. The latest station to make their move is Houston, which has moved into a new location, adjacent to the Houston Intercontinental Airport. The new facility features over 18,500 square feet of warehouse space (compared to 9,950 sq. ft. at the old location) and more than 3,000 sq. ft. of office space (up from 1,750).

I spoke with Brian Nelson, District Manager for the Houston station, who explained that recent growth—in terms of both business and personnel—precipitated this move. Over the past 12 to 15 months, the station has taken on at least five new warehousing customers, whose freight is shipped to the warehouse, where it is inventoried and stored, and eventually shipped out domestically.

In addition to obvious advantages of having more space to work with, Brian expressed to me that he is happy to be in a brand new space that is better equipped to host meetings with customers, and to showcase Pilot's offerings.

Congratulations to the team in Houston on the big move!

Pilot Freight Services

18951 Kenswick Drive, Suite 160

Humble, TX 77338

Phone: (281) 590-1197 

Fax: (281) 590-1582

How valuable is your 3PL?

After putting together her last article on how 3PLs can minimize risks and handle challenges, Gail Dutton from WT100 Magazine turned her attention to how 3PL providers can provide the most value to customers.

When I spoke with her on the topic, we discussed the importance of various factors in the 3PL relationship, including having a strong process in place and having good local knowledge, particularly in the case of international imports and exports.

As I told Gail, the key to success in the logistics process is to “partner with the right vendor and document expectations as well as how the process will actually work. Having a clear statement of work, and understanding what the customer wants, makes it easier to design an efficient system for them.”

To read the full article, head over to the WT100 website.