that the parent company’s brain trust – now
headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. –
wasn’t necessarily assuming such expansion
would follow when they first got started 37
years ago, but ultimately sawthe potential.
“All of these other services evolved as a
result of the success,” he said.
“The owners themselves wanted to be able
to provide several capabilities for accounts
that they had developed in the prior 25
years. They had many Fortune 500
companies that were looking for solutions
having to do with either refrigerated or
international.”
De La Torre joined the operation in 1988
and was tasked with developing the
international arm and customs clearance
functions. The entire company is home to
approximately 600 employees, and he said it
was the first in the industry to develop
Internet-based tracking and tracing ability
for shipments.
Clients these days include heavy hitters like
the Masco Group, a Michigan-based
operation comprised of more than 15
individual companies and about 32,500
emp l oy e e s , Banda g , a d i v i s i on o f
Br i d g e s t on e Ti r e , wh i c h i s now
headquartered in Nashville but whose roots
trace back to include the Firestone Tire &
Rubber Company that was created in
Akron, Ohio in the earliest days of the 20th
century, andNestle Waters of North
America, which imports multiple brands of
water and beverage products from Europe
andCanada to theU.S., includingmore than
18,000 container loads from Europe and
more than 5,000 loads from Canada by
truck.
78 | BusinessWorld |
May 2014
