This fireside chat recap is from the FreightWaves 3PL Summit.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: How the war in Ukraine is affecting logistics professionals on the ground.
DETAILS: Paul-Bernard Jaroslawski, the founder and president of Freight Caviar, spent three years working in Kyiv, Ukraine. He was sent there to set up and run an outsourced operation for Evanston, Illinois-based freight brokerage Everest Transportation Systems. Now in Poland, Jaroslawski still has close ties with his former colleagues. Jaroslawski spoke to FreightWaves Executive Publisher Kevin Hill about his time in Kyiv and how his former colleagues are experiencing the war.
BIO: Originally from Chicago, Jaroslawski began his career as a freight broker after graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined Everest Transportation Systems in 2017 and ran its office in Kyiv until 2020.
Key quotes from Jaroslawski
“This is very, very sad.”
“Ukraine was one of the largest outsourcing countries — trucking or logistically speaking — especially with Chicago having such a large Ukrainian population and a lot of Ukrainians working in logistics outsourcing it to their home country.”
“It was a huge shock in the first few days. Everest, I think they had an office of up to 160 people here. Just imagine how drastic that could have [been]. For my friends, everybody that could, essentially, went west, especially the women, because the men aren’t allowed to leave because of martial law.”
“There are definitely some that are still operating. They’re still in Kyiv, that haven’t left the city. One of my previous co-workers sent me a video of him going into a bunker.”
“It’s devastating, especially since I’m so close. I’m only an hour away from the Ukrainian border. And there was a bomb in Lutsk, which is 100 kilometers from the Polish border, so essentially a two-hour drive. I was in that city a year ago because I was driving to Kyiv.”
