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!

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

11400 Metro Airport Center Dr., Suite 200

Romulus, MI 48174

Phone: 734-941-4090

FAX: 734-941-3677

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

Starting out 2011 on a high note

Considering the fact that Pilot achieved such amazing milestones in 2010, it may seem hard to believe that the first quarter of 2011 brought in 34 percent higher revenue than Q1 of last year. Well, believe it!

At our National Sales Meeting in March, I told the Pilot team that we expect to hit $500 million in revenue for the year. And with a nearly $115 million Q1, we're well on the way to hitting that mark.

I have to give a special shout out to our automotive group, which had an impressive first quarter compared to last year, marking 13 percent growth and setting a new bar for themselves. The business unit is an area that we see great potential in, and I'm thrilled to see them doing so well.

For more information, read our full press release below.

Closing out Q2 with a bang

After a tough year industry-wide, I'm very happy to share the fact that Pilot just closed out the second quarter of 2010 with the largest volume month in company history! In June, we handled a larger number of shipments, and larger total weight than ever before. On top of that, it was the second largest revenue month we've ever seen.

This record month closed out a strong quarter for Pilot, with more than 27% growth over Q2 of 2009. I'm especially pleased to report that this growth was not in one particular segment of our business, but spread across the company. Every segment of our business was up in Q2, including automotive services, international shipping, logistics, home delivery and domestic expedited air freight.

Hopefully the new record set in June won't last long, as we're expecting to see continued growth through the remainder of the year.

Keep reading to see the full press release we put out today.