While logistics has been around almost since the dawn of civilization, the term itself is slightly younger — the Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest use of the word to an article published in 1898.
Much younger still is the term “third party logistics,” most often abbreviated as 3PL. Defined as a company that works with shippers to manage logistics operations, the 3PL began to emerge in the 1980s. Today, 3PLs are essential to most shipping operations, encompassing elements of warehousing, transportation management software, freight rate negotiation, in-depth reporting, forecasting, freight bill auditing and much more.
Savannahian Chad Barrow is keenly aware of the evolution. Just a little more than a decade ago, he was working with a now-defunct packing and crating company and talking to customers who clearly wanted more than he had to offer.
“We could do packing and crating, but a lot of our customers also needed storage, and we didn’t do that,” he said. “So they had to go somewhere else for that.” Although he was fairly new to the industry back then, that just didn’t make sense to Barrow, especially when he heard customers say things like, “My logistics provider is doing a good job, but ...”
So he went to his father, veteran Savannah businessman Richard Barrow, with a proposition.
“I wanted to start a logistics company that focused on customer service and solutions,” he said. “I wanted to take the ‘but’ out of the equation.”
That was 2004.
A mere five years later, the Barrows’ Coastal Logistics Group was the second-fastest growing private logistics company in the state and the 16th fastest growing in the nation, according to Inc. Magazine. Today, still considered one of the fastest growing privately help 3PLs in the country, the company that started with Chad Barrow and one employee has grown to a staff of 170, with operations in Savannah; Norfolk, Va.; Memphis, Tenn,; and Charleston.
“The days of simply box holding and box shipping are long gone,” said David Turner, CLG’s new president. “For us, providing logistics support means doing whatever the customer needs us to do, whether it’s manufacturing support, distribution, packing and crating or
specialized port services such as dealing with oversized or oddly shaped cargo.”
Some more recent projects include Daimler in Charleston, where they disassemble, package and ship Daimler trucks to South Africa; project management for Israeli manufacturer Caesarstone in Bryan County and a contract to handle aftermarket parts for an auto dealer in Memphis.
“We’ve also been able to take advantage of the recent West Coast issues, standing ready to accommodate shippers who needed to divert cargo to the East Coast,” Turner said. “We have one customer who had never done the math. He just assumed it would be more expensive to come to the East Coast. Now that he’s come here out of necessity, he’s realized that shipping through the Southeast is actually easier and more efficient.
“Now we have a permanent customer.”
Both Barrow, who remains company CEO, and Turner were at the Georgia Logistics Summit earlier in the week, where CLG was a premium sponsor.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT MAERSK KARLSKRONA Today
GCT CHARLESTON EXPRESS Today
GCT MAERSK COLUMBUS Today
GCT MAERSK KURE Today
GCT ZIM VIRGINIA Today
GCT MAERSK KALAMATA Saturday
GCT PERFORMANCE Saturday
GCT TOMMI RITSCHER Saturday
GCT MSC RACHELE Saturday
OT MAPLE GLORY Saturday
GCT SHIPPAN ISLAND Sunday
GCT MSC INGRID Sunday
GCT HANJIN BALTIMORE Sunday
GCT HS BACH Sunday
GCT CMA CGM DALILA Sunday
GCT SANTA LAURA Sunday
OT MAPLE FORTITUDE Sunday
OT TYSLA Sunday
OT SILVER SHADOW Sunday
OT SINGELGRACHT Sunday
GCT HYUNDAI GRACE Monday
GCT MAERSK MEMPHIS Monday
GCT APL CYPRINE Monday
GCT APL MEXICO CITY Monday
GCT JONNI RITSCHER Tuesday
GCT KAAN KALKAVAN Tuesday
GCT VECCHIO BRIDGE Tuesday
GCT ULYSSES Tuesday
GCT MSC METHONI Tuesday
GCT MOL EFFICIENCY Tuesday
GCT JAZAN Tuesday
GCT HANJIN DURBAN Tuesday
OT PACIFIC KOREA Tuesday
GCT ATB FREEPORT Wednesday
GCT CORDELIA Wednesday
GCT WASHINGTON EXPRESS Wednesday
GCT MAERSK KOTKA Wednesday
GCT MAERSK SEMARANG Wednesday
GCT SEOUL EXPRESS Wednesday
OT MORNING LENA Wednesday
OT TULANE Wednesday
GCT MOL MISSION Thursday
GCT DOLPHIN II Thursday
GCT MAERSK WAKAYAMA Thursday
GCT SAIGON EXPRESS Thursday
GCT MSC MICHAELA Thursday
GCT MSC DONOTA Thursday
GCT DALLAS EXPRESS Thursday
GCT CMA CGM DON PASCUALE Thursday
OT GRANDE MAROCCO Thursday