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!

Pilot delivers to new heights

Last month Pilot went to outer space. Well, not exactly, but one of our shipments did! You may have heard about Alan Eustace, the Google executive that recently broke the sound barrier, as well as breaking many free falling records. As part of a project by Paragon Space Development Corp. and its Stratospheric Explorer (StratEx) team, Eustace took a helium-filled scientific balloon 135,000 feet above southern New Mexico before free falling for approximately 4.5 minutes, landing nearly 70 miles from his launch point.

With this project, Eustace and his team hoped to design a system that would allow humans to explore the stratosphere as easily and safely as they do the ocean. Understanding the groundbreaking implications of this experiment, Pilot Freight Services District Manager Gustavo Ceballos and his team imported the balloon from where it was developed in India, all the way to Phoenix, AZ for the first leg of its shipment. Then, Pilot continued the delivery to its final destination in Rosewell, NM, where it arrived safely. From there, knowing that the balloon had been kept safe in transport, the Pilot team eagerly anticipated Eustace’s mission.

Eustace’s success is something Pilot is incredibly proud to have been a part of and interacting with him and his team was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Transporting fragile, critical cargo is something we do every day at Pilot. Whether it’s medical equipment, a big screen TV, or a scientific helium-filled balloon, we believe that our attention to detail, professionalism, and excellence in customer care has prepared us to tackle any challenge.

The success of Eustace’s stratospheric mission has opened the door for future human endeavors and explorations of the earth’s stratosphere, and we at Pilot couldn't be more proud and honored to have played such a crucial role in this accomplishment.

A video of Alan Eustace’s mission can be found here.

Doing business in Africa…Challenge accepted

Pilot has a presence just about everywhere in the world, and being everywhere is sometimes no easy task. International freight forwarding comes with its challenges, particularly in regions where the infrastructure isn't quite the same as what we are used to in the U.S. No continent better exemplifies the obstacles we come up against than Africa. In the past several years, our business in Africa has greatly increased, thanks in large part to work with the U.S. military, and I’m proud to say that we’ve successfully conquered significant obstacles on many occasions in the course of doing that work.

Shipping into and out of Africa presents a number of unique challenges that we and our partners have to work through to make sure we can deliver the great quality service that our customers expect. Some of these issues include political unrest, a lack of infrastructure, equipment that doesn’t work, and airports that can close on a moment’s notice. It’s this new set of challenges that really tests what we’re good at, which is being flexible.

To give you an example, we recently had a 747 full of military freight going into Africa. To unload a 747 is no ordinary task—it requires a device called a K-Loader, along with about seven trucks that can then unload cargo once it’s on the tarmac. Plus, as I mentioned, it’s not uncommon for the airports in Africa to have issues with their equipment. In this case, we found out at the last possible minute that the K-Loader at the airport that we had chosen as our destination was broken. We had to quickly re-route to fly into a different airport, find a K-Loader that did work, make sure the runway could hold the weight, and find seven trucks that could unload the cargo and transport it down to the airport of the original destination. All of that happened in about an hour and a half.

This is the kind of situation that continues to set us apart. There will always be challenges, and as long as there are, Pilot will continue to find ways to overcome them.

Pilot recognized for excellent service and customer value

It's awards and ranking season in the shipping and logistics industry, and Pilot has once again been recognized by Inbound Logistics and Logistics Management magazines. These awards are a true reflection of the hours logged, calls answered, and overall customer service provided by Pilot employees across the globe.

I’m happy to tell you that we have, for the fifth year in a row, been named to Inbound Logistics’ Top 100 3PL Providers list. Continuing to make this list is a huge win for us. Our logistics program is still relatively new in the scope of Pilot’s history, yet we continue to grow and expand our services and market share.

We also received our 25th Quest for Quality award from Logistics Management, ranking second in the air freight category and first overall in value. We hold this award in high regards because it’s determined by a survey of the magazine’s readers, who are our customers. Logistics Management readers are some of the industry’s most influential shippers, who are asked to evaluate the providers they work with in order to calculate the rankings. To be placed this high in the rankings is a clear sign that we are doing something right and providing great customer service.

Everyone at Pilot enjoys winning awards. Who wouldn’t? However it’s not just hanging a plaque on the wall in our headquarters that gives us satisfaction, but the reasons that we earned them. Our dedicated employees are the reason we keep gaining recognition and I want to thank them for an incredible year so far. Great job, everyone! 

Raleigh rings in the New Year at bigger and better location

Here at Pilot we are continuing to grow and expand as a company, and our Raleigh station is no exception. The station is ringing in the New Year in a brand new updated location. The new space is located adjacent to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, in the heart of the Triangle region. Our Raleigh team will now have roughly 25,000 square feet of office and warehouse space, nearly doubling the size of the previous station.

This expansion allows the Raleigh team to continue providing excellent service to its customers, as well as add to their arsenal of services. Raleigh will now be able to offer inventory management to its customer base, which includes technology, furniture, medical, electronics, and manufacturing companies, and we couldn’t be happier. We are very excited to see what new opportunities the station’s new and improved space will bring in the New Year!

Congratulations to the team in Raleigh on the big move and continued growth!

On-time deliveries at an all-time high this holiday season

I want to take a moment to congratulate and thank everyone on the Pilot team for their hard work over the holiday season and in the months leading up to it. Not only did we handle a record number of shipments this year, but we did so while achieving an extremely impressive on-time performance.

This year’s holiday delivery rush was our best ever, delivering more than 40,000 televisions and other large items to consumers in the month of December. There's no doubt that the new technology solutions we launched this year aided in making our network more efficient and error-free. But it's also important to note that our success this holiday season -- and through the year -- would not be possible without our team of dedicated employees.

There is still large numbers of orders coming in after the holidays, but we anticipate that when the numbers are all in, our home delivery on-time performance rate will be well over 99 percent for the month of December, which is an incredible achievement during a notoriously difficult delivery season. Once again, thanks to the staff and Pilot community for making that possible!

Pilot Introduces Customs Brokerage Service Offering

Over the past several years, we have continued to add more services to our arsenal in our quest to provide the best possible service to our customers. To that end, we have just announced the launch of Pilot Customs Brokerage (PCB). PCB is now processing and handling the customs clearance of imports for Pilot customers everywhere in the U.S. We are also offering customs brokerage as a stand-alone service for companies who are not current customers, allowing us to broaden our reach and bring in new business.

Ilyse Dawicki, managing director of customs brokerage, is spearheading the new PCB operation. Ilyse has over 20 years of experience in customs brokerage and has undoubtedly been a great asset to our team.

With the help of Ilyse and this new service we are able to better serve our customers and eliminate the use of third party brokers. PCB not only adds to our growing list of customer services, but to our overall growth as a company. Congratulations to everyone involved in putting PCB into action!

Technology: It’s here to stay, so let’s embrace it and use it to our advantage

Supply & Demand Chain Executive recently asked me to share my thoughts on the technology advances that are helping propel our industry into a paperless environment. In an article that was published this week, I discussed not only what the industry is doing as a whole, but how Pilot’s use of technology is allowing us to really level the playing field and compete with the big guys.

Let’s be honest, our industry has not historically been the most tech savvy. However, in the past few years we have taken major leaps forward that have changed our business for the better. We have streamlined the process of delivery, allowing our customers to close the communication gap and ultimately solidify sales. With the introduction of Compass, we now have the tools and base we need to adapt and create more apps or add-ons that will continue to give us an advantage within the industry.

To read the full article, check out Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s 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 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!

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!

Looking back, and planning ahead

As we reflect on 2010, and look ahead to 2011, it is useful to think about all of the things that made last year such a success, and all of the things we will do in 2011 to improve our business. I recently had the opportunity to share some of these thoughts in a column for SupplyChainBrain. I talked a little bit about how 2010 will be remembered – as a year in which well-positioned transportation companies gained real momentum by offering greater value to their customers. I also offered some insight into what I believe are the keys to success for transportation companies this year.

My insights may not have been earth-shattering. In fact, they are all things that anyone could see if they were to go out and talk to customers, and then look around at their competition. From knowing that a customer never forgets the service we provide (for better or worse), to earning trust by putting the customer’s interest ahead of short term profits, to fostering customer communication at a deeper level than just shipment data, to working to customize our transportation solutions, it all comes down to a focus on real value that is felt by our customers.

Head over to SupplyChainBrain’s site to read the full column, “Expect Measured Growth in Transportation and Logistics in 2011 – and Customers to Demand More Value.”

When you’re done, I’d love to hear your thoughts – do you agree with my assessment of 2010? Any other thoughts on how transportation companies can best position themselves to succeed? Feel free to leave a comment and chime in.

Another record-breaking quarter comes to a close

When I spoke with Joe DiStefano from the Philadelphia Inquirer for a story about Pilot over the summer, the topic of the recession was a major theme. I explained to Joe that while our competitors were cutting jobs, facilities and services to stay afloat in 2009, Pilot saw the recession as an opportunity to grow stronger. We remained committed to maintaining our personnel and services during that difficult time. In fact, we continued to develop new service offerings, like our automotive and logistics services. We took the opportunity to add talent. And we stayed committed to taking market share. We continue to see the results of that commitment.

My interview with Joe came on the heels of an extremely strong Q2, including the largest volume month in Pilot’s history. Then Q3 started, and we blew away all of our old records. We announced today that the third quarter of 2010 was the largest quarter in company history, with $114.5 million in revenue. This number represents an incredible 36 percent growth over the same period in 2009.

In addition to our largest ever quarterly revenue, we had two record-breaking months in the third quarter. In August, we blew away all of the old records by posting $39.9 million. August represented 40 percent growth over the prior year. It was also an astonishing 13 percent higher than the previous record for any month in Pilot history. We had set a new bar. Then in September, we turned around and blew that record away, posting $41.2 million in revenue.

There’s no question that our ongoing success as a company can be credited largely to our continued focus on customer service. However, the explosive growth that we’re seeing now is really due to how we dealt with the economic slowdown last year. As a result of that strategy, as well as the continued hard work put in by our employees, 2010 will be the largest year Pilot has ever had. And more importantly, we’re positioned for continued growth and expansion of our services over the coming year. It’s an exciting time, and while the economy is certainly not out of the woods yet, I feel confident that I’ll be continuing to announce new broken records in the months to come.


To see the full press release, read more here.