Over the past five years, Port X Logistics has grown from a startup to a major player in the drayage, transloading and trucking worlds. This level of growth — especially in the midst of a pandemic — has required serious planning, hard work and commitment. The company has no plans to hide its secret sauce.
“We had the right plan out of the gate. Keeping focus on the vision while simply tweaking things to make it better has worked for us,” according to Port X Logistics Founder Brian Kempisty said. “We don’t need to outsmart ourselves, but we keep getting better.”
While the Port X Logistics team has focused on a number of concrete factors to grow the company’s success, the importance of perseverance cannot be overstated. The team had to figure out a way to lead its customers — and its employees — through a global health disaster as a relatively young company. According to Kempisty, having a real backbone — and standing behind the company’s principles and plan — was the key to success during that time.
“What we have learned is that this is still a multifaceted business,” Kempisty said. “We have embraced culture, service, technology and trucks. One won’t suffice, you need them all.”
The company’s multilayered recipe for success includes all those ingredients:
Culture
Port X Logistics’ leadership team works hard to provide both its employees and customers with a growth-promoting (and fun) environment. This includes offering employees opportunities to improve their skills, learn new things and enjoy time with their teammates. This effort has led to productive employees with a low turnover rate. For customers, this means steadfast dedication to providing top-notch service and cutting-edge tools.
Service
From the beginning, Port X Logistics has valued customer service and proactive communication. As the company has grown, however, it has been able to offer customers even higher levels of service by expanding its geographical footprint and investing in tools like Carrier 911.
Technology
Port X Logistics worked alongside Turvo to develop the best tools available in multimodal transportation, including GPS trackers in Canada, electronic data interchanges and driver app adoption. Through all of its tech integrations and perseverance, Port X Logistics is one of the only trucking companies on the planet to track a container from origin port, through destination port and on to final delivery. The team remains committed to consistent technological improvement.
Trucks
Port X Logistics started with one truck and has grown its fleet to include trucks in California, Georgia and Colorado. The company continues to proactively expand its asset footprint, with plans for expansion into several new markets already teed up for 2023.
The company has been on the right path from the beginning, but that does not mean fine-tuning this approach was without its challenges. There are a lot of moving pieces, and figuring out how to navigate all of things takes time, practice and the occasional failure.
“We struggled at the outset. We stepped on each other’s toes and had issues with shipments. We had to continually work on our tech,” Kempisty said. “The obstacles made us better. They also made us appreciate exactly what we have built at Port X Logistics: a company and a brand that people want to be a part of. Nobody learns from taking the easy road.”
Kempisty believes that Port X Logistics is creating the gold standard in drayage, transloading and trucking. He has no plans to stop now, and his plan for continued growth is the same as it has been from day one.
“We will stay true to our pillars and take care of the people who take care of us,” Kempisty said. “At the end of the day, it’s still a people business. Now more than ever, we must act with intention. Talk is cheap, so let’s act.”
For Port X Logistics, acting with intention is a three-step process:
- Always “wow” customers with service.
- Bring the fun and the weird. Logistics is a grind, so make it enjoyable.
- It is always day one. No one cares what happened yesterday. Wake up and be great.
“We’re simple doers, following a simple plan, delivering big results. We don’t need to recreate the wheel, we just need to continually get better every day,” Kempisty said. “That’s why we do difficult things, like our leadership retreats. It reminds us we can conquer any mountain, we just need to take it one step at a time. The X in Port X Logistics means we can handle any obstacle.”