A special delivery benefiting the foster children of Arizona

Customer service and loyalty has always been important to us. Therefore, when we were approached by past customers, Sheri and Sal Barbera of Sweetles, a publishing company for children’s books, to assist with a special delivery, we were happy to help.

The couple was on a mission to donate over 1,000 copies of Sal’s book, “Mary Elizabeth the Spotless Cow,” to Arizona Helping Hands, a non-profit organization benefiting the state’s foster children. In need of a way to get the donations from the printing facility located in Brainerd, MN to Arizona Helping Hand’s headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ, Sheri turned to Pilot. After remembering her previous experience with Pilot and the value we placed on her customer as if they were our own, Sheri was confident we’d handle this delivery with the same special care.

Tom Drake, VP, domestic/Canadian operations and traffic, and his team worked hard to ensure Arizona Helping Hands received the donations properly and I‘m happy to report we were even able to get them the books ahead of schedule.
 
We take on every delivery with our customer’s best interest in mind and we couldn’t be more pleased to help donate our services to support such a momentous cause. Thanks to Sheri and Sal, the real heroes, for reaching back out to Pilot and allowing us to help make a difference!

Pilot de Mexico open for business!

Planting Pilot roots in Mexican soil has been in the works for some time and I am happy to announce that we've officially expanded our operations to Mexico, where we’re now doing business as Pilot de Mexico. The first station under the Pilot de Mexico brand, located in Mexico City, is a full service operation and will address customers' transportation and logistics needs within the city and the interior states of Mexico.

During our national meeting this year, the growth of the Mexican economy was brought up in almost every breakout session. For example, Gordon Branov, executive VP of business development, pointed out that Mexico’s economy is the 11^th largest in the world, making the region an obvious choice for our growing international footprint. Phil Annese, director of automotive, noted that in the next two years, Mexico is expected to surpass Japan in automotive business, opening up doors for our eager sales reps to make an impact in the country.

Under the management of Alberto Ochoa, a 17 year industry veteran, along with the continued support of sales, customer service and the Pilot community, I have full confidence that Pilot de Mexico will exceed expectations. And because of the potential in this market, I don’t anticipate Mexico City being our only station in Mexico for very long.

Thank you to everyone who played a role in making Pilot de Mexico a reality!

Hola Mexico City, Hello Vancouver!

In the past few years we've expanded Pilot’s international footprint; first Amsterdam, followed by Toronto and most recently offices throughout Spain. I couldn't be happier to introduce the company’s newest additions, Mexico City and Vancouver. We issued a press release last month and the news has quickly taken off. The company, along with its new stations, have already been featured in publications such as The Philadelphia Business Journal, Air Cargo World, Logistics Management, and many more.

Both locations, opening in the first quarter of 2015, will be full-service stations and will allow Pilot to expand our offerings to current customers, while also providing us the opportunity to grow and attract new business. Vancouver’s position in the I-5 corridor, which runs up and down the West Coast of the U.S. into Canada, is a huge advantage along with the added access to the Far East that will allow for increased Asian import and export business. The Mexico City location will give us the presence we need to develop a national network in Latin America and better support our existing U.S. stations.

We've recruited the help of Alberto Ocha, who has seventeen years of experience in the international freight forwarding industry to manage the Mexico City location, and Lygdel DeLeon a thirteen year veteran in transportation and logistics to manage the Vancouver location.

Congratulations to the Pilot family as we continue to grow, and especially to those involved in getting these two stations off the ground!