Full service 3PL and non asset-based 3PL services provider Pilot Freight Services recently announced it will open new stations on Mexico City, Mexico and Vancouver, British Columbia during the first quarter of 2015.
Company officials said that these new stations, which will be Pilot’s fourth and fifth international stations, will serve as a major expansion to the company’s global footprint, with both locations providing shippers with air, ocean, ground, import, export, logistics and home delivery services.
Gordon Branov, executive vice president of business development for Pilot Freight Services, told LM that the primary drivers for rolling out these new stations are “to
improve service to our United States stations, to respond to an increased customer demand and to capitalize on an a massive potential market,” adding these effort have been in the works for a couple years.
Other factors cited by Granov included the high level of potential employee candidates that will come with the new locations, as well as augmenting Pilot’s air/ocean and ground networks.
“We will be able to provide time definite, air, ocean and ground services to and from the U.S. and around the world, with complete transit visibility to the customer,” he said.
Establishing a bigger presence in Mexico will allow Pilot to capitalize on the country’s manufacturing growth, noted Granov. He explained that access to big decision makers, the low cost of implementation and development, as well as vendor capabilities for ground, air and ocean make Mexico City the most important location in Mexico for Pilot to have a presence.
As for Vancouver, he noted that the city serves as a “critical component” in the
I-5 corridor which runs up and down the West Coast of the U.S. into Canada.
“Traffic between Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver is constantly growing and we plan to capitalize on that market,” said Branov. “Pilot Vancouver will provide more access to the Far East allowing for increased Asian import and export business, a differentiating factor from the company’s already established Toronto station.”