Leo Ryan, Editor
Marine industry veteran Sean Pierce, CEO of Logistec Corporation since the closing of its acquisition in January by NY-based Blue Wolf Capital Partners for approximately C$1.2 billion, has unveiled an ambitious roadmap for the Montreal-based marine and environmental services company – potentially significantly expanding its footprint within and beyond existing markets in Canada and the United States.
One of the featured speakers at the annual conference on May 7 of the Shipping Federation of Canada devoted to the theme of Supply Chain Sea Change, Mr. Pierce first of all paid tribute to the 70-year-history of Logistec and its contribution to the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway System.
“A major part of our go-forward strategy is to continue to expand our footprint in this entire region and to also offer up new, innovative solutions and services to further grow upon the 50M tonnes of cargo handled across the portfolio,” he said,
With 3,900 employees in 90 terminals in 60 ports, Mr. Pierce indicated : “With increased frequency, we will offer our enterprise customers multi-port service offerings that leverage both our scale and to also expand into new regions.”
While recalling that Logistec is a founding member and big supporter of the Green Marine certification program, Mr. Pierce stressed: “But our commitment to the environment goes well beyond most, with our ALTRA portfolio of environmental and water service companies. We have already taken major steps to better promote and deliver these industry-leading solutions globally and it is quite amazing how advanced these technologies are – with many developed right here in the Montreal area.”
Interviewed by Maritime Magazine during the conference, Mr. Pierce disclosed that as part of current strategy to broaden its horizons Logistec was notably exploring opportunities in Mexico and Latin America that “tie in with our portfolio.”
In his speech, Mr. Pierce covered a variety of subjects related to Logistec services, including one-stop shopping that will be enhanced and the newly-launched 2024 Customer Outreach Program aimed at freeing up additional capacity, volume and value for both Logistec and its customers.
New technologies are being deployed, he said, “to identify personnel and equipment in operations where proximity, much like in cars today, will stop the machines and avoid incident.”
In his view, there are “tremendous opportunities at multi-purpose terminals to deploy technologies.”
Mr. Pierce noted in this regard the new mega-terminal technologies and new equipment at the Termont container terminal in Montreal.
On the intermodal front, he emphasized the importance of the Montreal gateway. “There remains a lot of potential to unlock and increase capacity and velocity of traffic through the corridor.”
Mr. Pierce described the core breakbulk sector as “a solid business line and area of future growth for Logistec.”
Through its handling of such bulk products as iron ore, he underlined Logistec’s partnership with industry and traders “to ensure that product is where it needs to be and in volumes needed to keep the factory turning out product.”
In his introductory remarks, Mr. Pierce briefly offered a personal perspective on how his new career environment differs from previous responsibilities.
Before joining Logistec, he was operating, at the Port of Los Angeles, one of the largest marine and intermodal facilities in North America. “The ride for pilots was very short and maneuvers for the 20K TEU vessels extremely limited.”
And he suggested that the St. Lawrence Seaway and the weather “does make things far more interesting. Here, it’s like my time in Turkey where you have the Bosphorous connecting the Black and Marmara Sea and have complexity, high traffic, and always looking for ways to maximize the size of ships and loads.”
(Photo by Sophie Belina Brzozowska)
