By VALERIE WHITNEY
Business Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- Some businesses thrive even in a recession.
One of them is MacroTransport, an international transportation brokerage at 101 Executive Circle.
The 10-year-old firm posted a 13-percent increase in business in 2008 and is looking to open offices in China, Germany and India in 2009.
"When product and service meet a customer's needs and expectations, business can flourish, even in tough economic times," said Chuck Casey, company president.
MacroTransport doesn't actually own any freight haulers. Instead, it serves as a middleman between firms that have goods and those that can transport them. Casey
Some customers are firms that did have their own haulers, but deemed them too expensive to maintain. The weight of the load and the distance it must travel are two of the main factors in freight prices. The method of transportation also is important.
"We use the cheapest carriers we can find on behalf of our customers," said Casey, 47, who studied transportation logistics at Northeastern University in Boston.
He said many companies don't realize the savings they can get by using rail services as opposed to trucks. "You can save between 30 percent and 40 percent easy," he said, adding often the person responsible for handling shipping within a company is busy and doesn't take the time to research all options. That is where the services of a broker can make the difference.
"There are not too many zip codes that we have not picked up or delivered," Casey said, adding his company has orchestrated everything from the delivery of a small FedEx package to a $7 million power generator for a utility company.
The firm makes use of computer software that lets them track shipments from pickup to delivery.
SECO & Golden 100 Inc., a juice-concentrate maker in DeLand, uses the firm on a weekly basis. "When you ship products that are perishable, you need service," company spokeswoman Fabiola Prahl said in a telephone interview.
Prahl said she appreciates that the company has its offices close by. If there is a problem, it is easy to get in touch with MacroTransport, she said.
Casey moved his company and its 39 employees about six months ago from Ormond Beach to the office building on Executive Circle in Indigo Business Park. The new office has 12,500 square feet of space or roughly three times as much as its former office.
"We have space for 86 people," said Casey, who has two business partners. Bill Davies, who runs Ormond Beach-based IPS Worldwide, one of several transportation-related subsidiaries owned by the trio, and Michigan-based Doug Cook, who is responsible for negotiating contracts with clients interested in IPS.
In 1975, there were only 70 transportation brokers licensed by the Interstate Commerce Commission. By 1988, that number had exploded to about 6,100 nationwide and by the end of 1993, there were more than 8,000, prompted by the deregulation of the transportation brokerage industry.
Today the number of brokers hovers between 10,000 and 15,000, according to Gatlin Education Services, a Web-based education provider that offers classes in becoming a broker. There are thousands of truck companies.
Casey got into the business following deregulation, first as an employee for a New England firm. He moved to Florida in 1993 to take a position at C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., an industry powerhouse with offices in Florida. After six years with that firm, Casey and his partners decided to venture out on their own.
"You just have to find the right niche," he said.
valerie.whitney@news-jrnl.com
There are many different opinions on how involved the government should become in the freight shipping industry and transportation in the United States. First, there are tax issues. In its most recent report, The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Student Commission, comprised of logistics industry figureheads, proposed a fuel tax increase to help support funding for interstate infrastructure. The Bush administration is very much against any sort of tax hike.
