National Drayage Services

National Drayage Services quickly becoming force in cargo transportation

National Drayage Services,NDS — admin @ 3:07 pm

National Drayage Services recognized in Memphis Business Journal’s small business awards.

From the Memphis Business Journal -

Company: National Drayage Services LLC

Leadership: Christopher Moore, president; James Frederick, vice president of sales & business development; Greg Woitesek, director of client support; Mike Rogers, director of safety & compliance

What it does: Transportation of international containerized cargo

2011 Revenue: $19.2 million

Employees: 48

Source of startup capital: IMC Companies

Website: www.NDSV.com

How’s business?: Agressively growing

Biggest challenge at the moment: Managing the expansions while maintaining the high level of service we desire for existing locaitons

What will change in the next year?: In 2012, we are on pace to add more new locations in a single year than prior years

How do you measure success?: The bottom line on the financial reports is clearly important. But haivng the ability to go home at night and rest easy knowing that we gave our all toward doing the best job possible helps make each day successful as well.

Reason for starting: Opportunity. The market had a need for a new entrant that could preform similar services, but with much better support and value.

Most difficult part of decision: Implementing the business plan. Having a vision and a paper business plan was the easy part.

Biggest strength: Reputation and relationships

Biggest weakness: We’re still relatively young as a company and our growing pains are quite painful at times

Biggest risks: Starting a trucking company in 2008, during the middle of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression.

Smartest move: During our first 18 months, spending an abundance of time and money building our foundation, which was as important as building revenue. This has enabled us to maintain our agressive growth strategy during the last few years.

Biggest worry: Service failures – failing to support our clients at the high level we desire

Turning point: 2009 and 2011 were critical turning points for NDS because in both years we had unique expansions that further catapulated our growth trend.

What do you wish you had known from Day 1? – It’s OK to say “no.” You’ll never be able to do everything or please everyone. And trying will most assuredly result in failure.

Key goal to achieve: We do not yet have a location in all of the major port and rail cities. We’re getting closer, but not quite there yet.

What’s in the short-term future?: Finishing our two California expansions, which we’re in the process of right now (Los Angeles and Oakland). Then hopefully Miami and the port of New York/New Jersey will be next before the end of the year.

Five-year plan: Exceed truck count of 700 and sales of $100 million annually

IMC Companies Joins U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership

NDS — admin @ 8:20 pm

IMC Companies recently announced that Atlantic Intermodal Services (AIS), DNJ Intermodal Services (DNJ), Gulf Intermodal Services (GIS), Intermodal Cartage Company (IMCG) and National Drayage Services (NDS) have joined the SmartWay® Transport Partnership, an innovative collaboration between U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry, which provides a framework to assess the environmental and energy efficiency of goods movement supply chains.

The companies will contribute to the Partnership’s savings of 1.5 billion gallons of fuel, $3.6 billion in fuel costs, 14.7 MMT of carbon dioxide (CO2), 215,000 tons of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and 8,000 tons of particulate matter. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, and nitrogen oxide is an air pollutant that contributes to smog. By joining SmartWay Transport Partnership, IMC Companies demonstrates its strong environmental leadership and corporate responsibility.

“At IMC Companies, we are constantly searching for ways to provide our clients with quality service while ensuring our output minimally impacts the environment,” said IMC Companies chairman Mark H. George. “We felt our mission tied in perfectly with the goals of the SmartWay Transport Partnership, and we look forward to doing our part to reduce our carbon footprint. We are confident that this partnership will benefit the environment and, in turn, our customers for many years to come.”

Developed jointly in early 2003 by EPA and Charter Partners represented by industry stakeholders, environmental groups, American Trucking Associations and Business for Social Responsibility, this program was launched in 2004. Partners rely upon SmartWay tools and approaches to track and reduce emissions and fuel use from goods movement. The Partnership currently has over 3,000 partners. For information about the SmartWay Transport Partnership, visit www.epa.gov/smartway.

About IMC Companies:

IMC Companies is a national network of trucking transport and support businesses, providing local and regional services of international and domestic containers; chassis and container maintenance and repair; full service container depots and secured container storage; hazardous material shipments; reefer service, fueling and protection; roadside repair services; and rail terminal operations. To learn more about IMC Companies family of brands, visit www.imccompanies.com.

Drayage operations expand with traffic

NDS — admin @ 3:08 pm

From the Memphis Buisness Journal -

An increase in container traffic is leading drayage operations, both locally and nationally, to expand.

Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. has opened a new container drayage site in Memphis, and Memphis-based National Drayage Services LLC is planning to double its business by the end of the year with new locations across the country.

The Intermodal Association of North America reports annual rail intermodal volume of 13.3 million containers and trailers in 2010, a 14.7 percent increase compared to 11.6 million in 2009.

Old Dominion, which is mainly known for its less-than-truckload operations, has been doing drayage business since the early 1960s. The drayage division mainly moves the ocean-going or rail containers to and from the ports, rails or container yards.

“With the response of the economy last year and continuing this year, at least from a transportation standpoint, we’ve decided to pick up where we left off in 2008, when we were putting together expansion plans,” Wayne Bersch, director of container operations for Old Dominion, says. “We started with Memphis because it is known throughout the United States, and probably the world, as being a transportation hub.”

The new drayage operation is located within Old Dominion’s 18.3-acre site at 3050 Carrier St., which also provides less-than-truckload and truckload domestic and international shipping services. The new service won’t mean new buildings on the site.

“Old Dominion typically overbuilds facilities to allow for growth,” Bersch says.

The service center, which has been in Memphis for more than 25 years, has 169 doors to handle shipments and currently employs 281.

The drayage facility will be staffed with five owner-operators at the start. Old Dominion is expecting to have 25 owner-operators by May 2012.

“The container drayage business is mostly owner-operators, which affords you a great opportunity to grow it quickly as well as shrink it as you need to,” Bersch says. “It really gives you a lot of flexibility.”

Bersch says Old Dominion likes Memphis’ central location, as well as its five Class I railroads, which the Association of American Railroads define as a railroad with operating revenue of more than $378.8 million.

“In Memphis, our focus is going to be on rail yards, but much of that rail business originates on ships,” he says.

What has been driving its decision to grow drayage operations has been strong imports into the U.S. as well as the export business showing signs of life. Exports typically move through containers, leading to an upsurge in domestic rail.

“We continue to see that as a growth market and we want to be part of that,” Bersch says.

National Drayage Services is looking to ride that wave as well.

The company has opened locations in Houston, Dallas, New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., so far in 2011. This growth brings it to 11 total locations across the country.

The company hopes to add Los Angeles, Oakland, Calif., and El Paso, Texas, locations in the third quarter.

“At the current pace we’re on, we could double in size this year, if not triple,” president Chris Moore says.

The company has 40 employees, not counting owner-operators.

Moore can see how Old Dominion and other companies would want to open or expand in Memphis, which has strong transportation assets.

Drayage business is driven by freight increasing.

“To me, it clearly seems the freight is coming back,” Moore says. “Consumption is up and more products are shipping. The gloom of a couple years ago is becoming more and more of a memory now.”

Executive of the Year – Chris Moore

NDS — admin @ 3:07 pm

From the Memphis Business Journal -

Christopher Moore, president of National Drayage Services, founded the company in 2008, in the middle of the recession. It was a risk that has paid off.

VITALS

Title: President

Company name: National Drayage Services LLC

What it does: Transportaion of international containerized freight

Employees: 40

Background: B.S. in economics/finance from Christian Brothers University

Age: 38

Company Website: www.ndsv.com

Most admired entrepeneurs: Anita Roddick, Henry Ford, Sarah Breedlove Mcwilliams Walker, Michael Dell, Mark George

BIG PICTURE

How’s business?: Feels like organized chaos, but no complaints. Things are going extremely well.

Biggest Challenge at the moment?: Managing our growth and expansions, while also tending to the normal daily business matters

What will change in the next year?: Our size due to growth, and hopefully the price of diesel fuel

How do you measure success?: Not like most people. The bottom line on financial reports is imprtant to measure so yu know where you stand. But I want to go home and rest each day knowing I gave everything I had to make NDS better.

BUSINESS MOVES

Reason for starting business: We saw a major opportunity. The market had a need for a unique service provider like we knew NDS would be. And the plan appears to be working out.

Most difficult part of decision: Preparing and executing the formal business plan

Biggest business strength: Reputation and relationships

Biggest Business weakness: Age. We’re still a very young company

Biggest risk: Starting a trucking company (which is already traditionally a tight margined business), but starting in the middle of the worst economic conditions in many decades

Biggest mistake: In some ways the timing of NDS couldn’t have been more perfect. But looking back, I would have loved to have seen us start this company two to three years earlier.

Smartest move: Investing much of our effords toward safety and compliance. It would be easy to solely focus on sales and growth. But dedicating efforts toward safety in the early stages has helped give us a firm foundation that we can grow on and it has reaped benefits on several fronts

Biggest Worry: I don’t worry about the external issues we can’t control. My biggest worries are th things we can control such as preventing mistakes and errors.

Turning Point: When we added the third and fourth location in the past year or two. It seems like the point in time was when the rubber met the road and we took off.

What do you wish you had known from Day 1?: There is so much I’ve learned that I wish I had known then. Most notably that it’s OK to say “no” and that it’s OK to take things slow sometimes.

WORK ROUTINE

Most challenging task: We’re in a service industry. The msot challenging thing we face is handling everyone’s needs at the speed they desire and the high-service level that we desire.

Favorite task: Making clients smile by resolving problems

Least favorite task: Telling a client or driver “no” or giving bad news.

Source of suuport in a business crisis: Psalm 121:1-2. If you get into any kind of crisis- be it business, family or financial- you bettter have more support than just something tangible or earthly.

DREAMS

Key goal to achieve: Having a truck count of 500 nationwide before our five-year anniversary and prior to my 40^th birthday.

What’s in the short-term future?: We need to finish substantiating the “National” in our company name by opening a couple of locations on the West Coast. Internally I refer to it as our own West Coast offense.

Five-year plan: Continue to rapidly grow and regularly refire our core proccesses and procedures to ensure our foundation is firmi

First Choice for a new career: Maybe politics some day. But for now I love exactly what I’m doing and can’t even imagine doing anything else.