Episode #59 What in the NVOCC?? w/ Bryanetta Grant, Inside Sales Manager for Vanguard Logistics

Foreign. Thank you so much for joining us, everybody. We're very, very excited to be here on the transportation and logistics clubhouse. We have a very, very special guest in Brian at a grant of Vanguard Logistics. And before we get started, you know, look, health is wealth, my people, okay? So if you're looking for a reason to get, to start getting active, take this right here as your sign. Health is wealth. And every day that you deposit into that health account, your wealth rises. You know what I mean? So this can look like going for that walk, running that 5k, or even running that marathon. It just depends where you are in your, you know, your health journey. So health is wealth. It can also be what we consume. So the food we're eating, it can be, you know, what we're consuming. TV wise or social media wise. Just use this as your, your, as your sign, you know, to start making those positive deposits in your health account. So, yeah, you know, I know that it's been a journey for me personally. It took, it took my family constructive, criticizing my belly for me to start running. Uh, and, you know, since then, in a, you know, probably run a couple 5Ks now. Uh, but it's just the, it's just a matter of just making that decision to invest in your health. And with that being said, we're gonna go ahead and get started. So, Brian, I'm gonna call you Brian. Okay? Is, is that cool for the people?

That's. Yeah, that's perfectly fine. That's what pretty much everyone knows me by anyway.

Okay, perfect, perfect, perfect. Well, look, Brian, thank you again for joining us on stage.

Thank you.

And, you know, to give people a little bit of background, you know, going to college, did you have any career aspirations before you started your journey at school to join supply chain, or did it just naturally happen that way?

Oh, no, this was not my inspiration. This was not the journey I wanted to take for myself when I went to college. No, actually, I literally fell into this while I was in college. It was just more so those things. I need a job that would work with my school schedule and, you know, that paid a pretty decent amount more than, you know, retail stores or fast food restaurants, things of that nature. And so I went to a temp agency and a temp agency sent me to a freight forwarder and I was a receptionist there. And during the downtime of being a receptionist, they would ask me to assist with files, whether it's putting files together for U.S. customs or putting together a delivery order for a trucker, things of that nature. And so I just really learned on the job, and I discovered I was actually pretty good at it. So just through more training, I was then promoted from a receptionist to an actual import clerk. And that began my journey almost what, 28 years ago in this industry.

Oh, nice, Nice. As an import clerk, I bet you get a lot of insights on how things move when you have to handle the paperwork. Did you? Do you find that to be true?

Yes, you do. You get a lot of insights on that and you get a lot of insight to what the items people want to bring in this country as well as ship out of this country. My very first import shipment I cleared was an African fish eagle that was imported from the UK and into the US that was going to the Atlanta Zoo. I'll never forget it.

Oh, wow.

Had no idea what I was doing. Didn't know that the animal had to quarantine for 30 days. And we only had a short time to get the animal out from the JFK airport. I mean, it was a bit crazy, but that was my very first shipment and I learned a lot from it.

An African what? Eagle.

African fish eagle is literally a big bird.

What?

Man, it's a huge bird. Yes.

Oh, nice. Well, I love that. You know, I've gotten just a brief introduction to some of those, some of the processes that go with customs and, you know, being able to allow items and I guess even livestock to clear customs. But I appreciate you for that refresher. Do you think that that right there is, you know, a business worth, or I guess an industry, a portion of the industry that is worth pursuing if you plan on becoming an entrepreneur in the supply chain space?

Yes, I would suggest anyone that is looking to get into business for themselves, you know, you definitely want to get a good understanding of how the supply chain works, because I think a lot of people learned during this pandemic that it's important to buy. Make sure the things you're using or buying for your business is not only made in the usa, but if you do have to get it from overseas, make sure you're using reputable companies that have the means to ship internationally. I will say, during this pandemic, I've ran across quite a few small business owners that literally had to take out loans to cover shipping costs because they were uneducated about the ins and outs and what was needed. So I suggest not even get in the industry, but just take a continuing education class to learn about the ins and outs of supply chain management. Clayton State offers quite a few weekend classes on this topic that will really be very beneficial to any small business owner.

I love that. I definitely love that. Because education has to come first. One, to save time, energy, resources in the future when we're talking about having to make up for some mistakes made, for not knowing how to do what you need to do. And it's interesting that you just said that about Clayton State. One, I love Clayton State because I know that they have a top tier supply chain program. So this is a shameless plug, but it happened very recently. I am now a part of the supply chain Advisory Board for Atlanta Technical College. So those folks are over there are also interested in being able to provide insights and guidance for students who are seeking to, you know, enter the supply chain field. So yeah, that just happened, you know, this week actually. So I just put it on LinkedIn.

Wow. Okay.

Yeah, but definitely shout out to Clayton State, you know, and that is a very, very valuable resource. And I guess it's not just, you know, people who listen to this bad boy, they're kind of all over. So, you know, just feel free to do the research to see what programs you may have locally to your area and just pursue them. A lot of times you can even go to them for free if you find that right, Grant. So okay, but cool. All right. So Brian, you said that you've been in logistics now for pushing about 20, 28 years. Do you feel, do you feel as though it's a, it's a place that you're still growing in or do you feel like you've kind of maxed out on your supply chain knowledge experience and hit a ceiling?

Oh no. In this industry you can never max out. This industry is evolving pretty much every day. I remember when we first started, you know, everything was via paper and you had to use a courier. And now I've seen it evolve to everything's now electronic transmission and you know, the process. I mean hopefully in this lifetime I'll be able to see the process become a little bit more easier and user friendly for freight forwarders to import and export things in and out of the U.S. so no, there's just way too much to learn into do in this industry. Not only in operations, but commercial wise and you know, marketing wise. There's just way too branding, there's just way too much. So no, you can never max out in this industry and it's always going to be a place for, for supply chain management, logistics, all that in, in this world.

Yeah, no, I agree, I agree with you and I love that. I guess even in my, my journey, my stint in logistics, I've learned that no matter what portion you start in, it helps you somewhere else. Like you. If no matter where you are in logistics, supply chain, learning that portion is ultimately going to give you a better understanding of the next place that you're going to go. So it's never something that I felt like I could max out in and you know, that's probably the allure for me. It's just everything is just building upon itself and just making you even more a master of the craft. So I definitely feel as though I found my area that I continue to grow in and that leads me to, you know, how you and I even met, you know, what's the, what's the value of folks finding, I want to say more organizations and associations within supply chain to join and you know, help build and cultivate relationships with other supply chain professionals.

Well, you know, there's. Well back in the day there used to be a surplus of different networking organizations not only for ocean or for truckers and for air, but there's the customs broker organization, there's the freight forwarders organization. A lot of them have kind of gone a little dark due to Covid, but from the rumor mills I'm hearing, they're really going to start vamping these organizations back up and getting a lot more. Don't call me ages, but a lot more young blood in to revive the groups because a lot of people have retired. So I think they're just looking for those hungry people that just really want to come in and re energize these different organizations. That's one thing about the Atlanta Logistics Connection. We really didn't want to be the typical nonprofit to only cater to VPs and salespeople. We wanted to cater to the day to day operations person who actually does the work and is in the trenches every single day and just let them know like, hey, you have a voice. This is your opportunity to come out and you know, tell us what you need from maybe some of your superiors or some of your vendors to help make your job a little bit easier. Also a way to show appreciation to those day to day operators as well.

I love it. I love it. I mean I speak from this level all the time. Definitely utilizing this platform that you know, sometimes it is who you know, you know. So being, being willing and comfortable and able to go talk to somebody just out on the street and network might be the difference between you growing in the field or you just staying stagnant or you know, you seeking and never finding. You got to open your Mouth got to be willing to communicate with the next person and you got to be willing to be transparent with where you are, what you're seeking. And you know, that brother Felton put in a very great quote, you know, that's perfect right now. He said, whatever you seek is seeking you. Whatever you want or desire wants you or desires you. So, you know, it's that mask that mean that, that concept of when the student is ready, the master will appear. I definitely have, you know, enjoyed being a part of the logistics connection for that reason. It's just so many other professionals who have been doing this and have learned so much about the industry that, you know, I really can just tap into some of those, some of those insights and, you know, I think that's a, that's one of those blessings, those underrated blessings to have access to people who know more than you and they might be willing to share. So again, just, just tap in, y', all, if y' all have that opportunity. And Brian, so for you, you know, let's, let's get down to it, all right? You work for Vanguard Logistics. And for the folks who have never heard of Vanguard Logistics and you know, this, this next acronym I'm going to throw out, please you know, elaborate. What is an NFOCC?

Wow. You know, I, when I first got into industry, I was like, what the heck is that too? Surprisingly enough, we are not the Vanguard brokerage firm. A lot of people get us mixed up with the brokerage firm. We have nothing to do with your 401k people. So let me just put that disclaimer out there now. But no, Vanguard Logistics is actually a neutral in vlcc, which is a non vessel operating common carrier, and we are considered neutral. Basically what that means is we cater to the freight forward licensed freight forwarders and other mvos as well as some shippers who don't deal with freight forwarders. And we basically offer our ocean contracts or either space in our consolidated containers for these companies to be able to move product in and out of the US the reason why we say we're neutral is we don't back sell our customers. So, meaning we don't go to the manufacturers, we don't go around the freight forwarders to the manufacturers to get this business because we, we want to maintain these relations with the freight forwarders.

No, I love that. I think that's a very important, that's, that's one of the most foundational pieces of how our domestic truckload works, which, you know, you got the freight brokers giving Freight opportunities to the motor carrier in that agreement, every single time, 100% there's going to be a clause in that bad boy that says, you know, non solicitation or you know, it's prohibited. It's that same exact thing that respect that says, you know, we put in this work and we want to protect. Well this is the broker saying it. We put in this work, we want to protect, you know, that relationship with our manufacturer, our shipper. And although you might have learned about this traffic, due to our hard work, you are prohibited from, you know, selling or soliciting back to our customers. Which, you know, you got it. You got to respect those things. And you know, being a dispatch company owner, I also have to respect those type of things. So I love the fact that you, you know, you made that very clear that you know, that's something, that's one, that's one of the foundational rules and regulations of being neutral, a neutral non vessel operating common carrier. And you said something, you know, one of those buzz words that I think will be able to feed into the rest of our conversation, which is consolidated containers. Okay, what is an LCL versus an fcl? Because with domestic truckload we hear terms like LTL and ftl. So what's the difference? What's LCL and ftl?

So surprisingly enough, it's the same concept except it's one letter difference. So LCL is less than container load. Those are your consolidated containers where you have multiple shippers, multiple consignees, multiple cargo consolidated in one container going from one particular origin to the same final destination. And FCL is full container load. So that's where it's one shipper, one consignee going from one origin destination, one origin point to the next final destination. So with our lcl, this is where we consolidate all the freight at one of our five warehouses here in the US and we basically consult console it all there and load it in the container and either we're either drain it to the port or we're railing it to the port for it to be to load on the vessel to its final foreign destination. Whereas fcl, we pretty much will load anywhere our customer needs us to load this container, whether we compile all the freight in one of our warehouses or reload at one of their suppliers warehouses, basically wherever they tell us that the container needs to load. That's what the difference between LCL and fcl.

Okay, cool, cool. I completely understand it. Now let me ask a couple follow up questions. Would you say that the LCL model Really works best. Or it was made for when we're doing exports from the United States. Or do you also do those services if the freight originated, let's just say in the UK or something?

I think it actually works for on both sides. The consolidated commodity was created for those customers who had either underflow or overflow. They may have had too much for one container, but not enough for two. But they don't want these left behind pallets sitting in their facilities for weeks at a time hoping that they'll get enough product to build another container. So instead, hey, let's give it to a neutral NBLCC who's possibly on the same schedule or can at least get the left behind pallets to its final destination within at least a seven to eight day period. So I'm not, you know, behind schedule with getting the cargo to, to another customer.

Gotcha.

So that's how the consolidated concept came about.

Okay, I got you and let me. All right, so I feel you there, I feel you there. And you know, that's one way that it plays out when it comes to shipping. Well, ocean shipping. So now let's talk about it in this way. What if that customer wanted to go to. They wanted to do it directly with the steamship line, like, but let me just ask that. What if that customer wanted to do it directly with the steamship line? What benefit would it be for them to go through an NFOCC versus, you know, thinking that they can communicate directly with the carrier?

Well, you know, there was a time that the steamship lines weren't even speaking to freight forwarders or the direct shippers. They only wanted to deal with other consolidated companies like Vanguard. So with that being said, we would allow these customers the opportunities to use our contacts as well as our contracts and get the best possible price to import or export their full container loads. But you know, times are now changing to where now some of the steamship lines are kind of playing in our playground a little bit. And so we're having to work a bit harder to get this FCL product. Basically the service that we provide is taking the hassle of negotiation on ourselves in the way from our customer. You just tell us where we're loading, where is it going, what size container you need and the commodity. And we'll do all the rest of the work and just provide you your selling details. We will deal with haggling between three or four carriers fighting for space and you won't have to worry about doing that. You can go ahead and move on to your next sale or your next project. Or whatnot. We'll take care of the heavy lifting for you.

Okay? Okay. And is it also a matter of like, you know, along with that, that there's kind of like a booking, it's like a reservation system for space on the steamship line, like, which contain, like in this particular quadrant of the steamship, you know, this particular space has already been booked by somebody. Is that also when what happens with NVoccs?

Yeah, right now I will say it is a bit challenging with, when it comes to space, you know, my company, as well as some of our competitors, we are all on the same vessels, so there is a limited amount of space for the nvos. So. Because now we're having to compete not only with our competition, but the Walmarts and the Home Depots and the Amazons. So right now the steamship lines really want that business because, you know, in the height of COVID 19, that's they were Home Depots and Walmarts and Amazon were willing to pay top dollar for space. So they've kind of like kicked the NVOs to the back, you know, to the back background. And so it just became very, very competitive. Well, now things are starting to light up a little bit and you have some of the steamship lights coming back to us saying, hey, we know we kicked you to the curb, but you know, we want, we want to bring you back on, so, you know, give us your brain. It's like, wait a minute, hold on, where were we? Where were you when we were fighting for space and we couldn't get anything.

For like 12 weeks out right now?

It's not quite what it used to be, but it's definitely gotten a little bit better.

Okay. You know, you do hear that I read articles all the time on freightways that talk about, hey, you better be careful of taking advantage of, you know, the other party because you know it's going to come full circle and yeah, you know, we're not gonna, they're not gonna be willing to play ball like they used to if you're, if you're gouging right now. And you know, the crazy part is I haven't looked into this, but I do remember one of those steamship lines taking some very, very aggressive approaches, you know, last year, even with the chartering of vessels for years and years and years into the future with very astronomical rates. So with the, with, with the shipping, with the rates to ship containers kind of dropping a lot this year, especially in the last couple quarters, you know, I haven't followed up to see how that organization is doing you know, but they, they did take a very, very risky approach. And I mean, that's zim. If you, if you, anybody is out there looking and check them out, see what they're doing. But.

Oh, most definitely, Most definitely. I can tell you actually the rates are literally declining every week. So it's becoming a little bit more reasonable. Like I said, it's definitely not what it used to be. And we all know it's never going to be what it used to be. When it comes to pricing and the culture of how this industry is operating. We are definitely in a new normal, but it's becoming a little bit more bearable to somewhat deal with. We still face any challenges with regards to, you know, space on the vessels as well as equipment availability. Hopefully we'll get to a better place with the steamship lines and allocations or what have you. But I think with them trying to provide a surplus of empty containers overseas because the demand is so much here, hopefully things will calm down to where, okay, we can start a lot of more loaded containers to be exported out versus sending out a vessel half empty with loaded vessels and mostly empty containers.

Right, right, Right now. I feel it. I definitely hear you. I mean, and look, I know that this right here is a little bit off topic. Do you think it's. I mean, but I'm gonna ask you.

Okay.

Do you think it's a. At one point. I can't say right now, but do you think at one point it would have been a good business to get into the, the container owning side? You know, so folks who wanted to invest in owning containers, do you think that we've missed that, that opportunity or do you still think that is something that's worth considering.

In 2020? No, you would not have wanted to own your own container because they were not moving your container. No, you would not have. You would definitely. A shipper owned container would be the last thing loaded on a vessel. As a matter of fact, if you bought one five years ago and was trying to move it in 2020, it would probably still be sitting at the port collecting demerge because they would.

That bad?

Yeah, that they, they rather. Because they can't make money off a shipper owned container because they don't own it. So they can't put it into a inventory to be reused because it's not their container. So possibly maybe in a couple more years when things level out, it might be a good idea. But right now I would still say no.

Okay. No, I feel it. All right. You know, like I said, that One right there was off topic. But you know, for the folks who might have been interested, I. E. Me, you know what I mean? So I, I appreciate you for giving me, you know, that, that industry insight. Okay, okay. Okay. So from here, all right, I know that you guys offer a lot more services. What does a normal day look like for an inside sales professional working in global logistics such as yourself?

Oh, oh my gosh. Honestly, I would say is 60% putting out fires and 40% sales.

Okay.

That is really the day, the honest day to day operations. You know, we're so much involved in trying to help our ops team just stay afloat. This job market has just been a little bit challenging with, you know, some companies allow their employees to still work from remote and some companies are now wanting their employees to come into an office. So a lot of people are having to make choices of do I stay home and find something where I can work remote because I have a healthier lifestyle, I'm not as stressed, or do I risk it and go into office and still be stressed and my kids don't see me and I'm coming home griping at them. So a lot of people are taking a chance and just staying, you know, leaving positions they've been in for 10 plus years to step out and try something new. So we lose a lot of good operations people with a lot of knowledge. So sales is having to step in and help out with these operational issues. So that's, that's the day in the Life. It's like really 6, I would say 60 to 65% we're putting out fires with regards to ops and then the rest of the day, what little time we have left. Yeah, that's what we focus on, sales.

Wow, wow, wow, wow. So it sounds like those memes that you see on LinkedIn might be a little true. What's that brother's name? Frank Caviar and his other brother that's based out of Europe. They used to, they had this, this meme battle. But it's all these supply chain memes of people who are, you know, always working, always stressed and you know, most of the time it's a supply chain professional that they're talking about.

Yeah, it's, it's very true, to be honest with you. I started remodeling my kitchen in 2020 and I had a refrigerator that was on back order for almost a year. Well. And I couldn't even get mad at the store I bought it from because I knew what the reason was. It was coming from China and I was like, oh, Lord, I already know what this is gonna be. So I was probably like the most calm customer they had. They was like, ma', am, we don't understand how you can be so calm. I'm like, I'm in the industry, so I understand. And so the running joke we have right now is if anything's late or lost or whatnot, poor congestion.

Right, right, right. The last two years.

Yep. We order Uber Eats, and the Uber Eats drivers ran late, poor congestion. Well, that's our own little running joke.

No, I feel it, I feel it. I mean, it's been, it's been the answer to so many things when it comes to supply chain and logistics. So I, I definitely agree with that one. Okay, so with some of the other services that you guys offer, what? Let me, you know, there's so many other questions I want to ask. All right, so I believe you already answered this, but let me just define it for sure. Who is Vanguard's number one customers? Are there freight forwarders or are they manufacturers like the in shippers?

Oh, no, no, no, no. Freight forwarders are our main customers. That's our bread and butter. Like I said, we are, we are neutral. So we don't go to the manufacturers. You know, manufacturers are the freight forwarders customers. So we want to keep the relationships and keep servicing the freight forwarders so that they can give us their volume. So no, we do not backdoor our freight forwarders. So manufacturers are off limits.

Okay, well, let me ask this, right, because in, in my world, in the domestic truckload world, you know, I definitely understand where you're coming from for sure, but there's also the carrier, the fleet owner, who might not by backdoor means, might be able to establish a connection, a relationship with the shipper, with the manufacturer, and, you know, get a direct contract like that. Right There is something that is highly sought after. It doesn't happen as much just because the level between the manufacturer and the actual carrier, the, the broker does a lot of, you know, a lot of moving back and forth, the managing of that process that some manufacturers just, you know, want to go directly with the, of a freight brokerage. But like I said, it is something that fleet owners want. They want to be able to go directly to a manufacturer to not have that middle person in between. Is that not, you know, something that a neutral party will want to do, a neutral non vessel owner operating common carrier will want to do? Is it?

No, because you, you break the trust and then you end out, you end up losing out on a Lot more business when you do that.

Okay.

You know, you're going, you're going to a manufacturer who may only, you know, service one particular lane, whereas a freight forwarder has, you know, hundreds of different lanes or thousands of different lanes. So, no, you just don't want to ruin that relationship.

Okay. No, I, I feel it. And I appreciate you for, you know, making that crystal clear. You know, I was trying to see if there was any leeway where there would be any chance.

No, you, I would, no, I wouldn't really wouldn't make it because like I said, you know, they, that you, you run the risk. This industry is all about relationships, you know, especially in sales. It's all about relationships. And as you stated earlier, it's all about who you know. So you don't want to be known as that company with, oh, don't deal with them because they go behind your back and go to your customer, direct customer, and try to steal that business from you by undercutting your costs. So, you know, word of mouth, you know how they said bad news travels a whole lot faster than good news.

And I hear you, I hear you. So, hey, people, look, people who are listening to this now or will listen to this, take her insight, you know, as what they are, okay? You know, that's just extremely important. I was trying to see how, you know, maybe there can be some parallels to domestic truckload, but, you know, there are some very, very hard stops when it comes to global logistics. Okay, okay, but let me, let me ask this then. Do. Does Vanguard have brokerage services? You know, because if you guys offer, you know, warehouse services and you know, you are handling inbound and outbound freight opportunities, would a drayman, somebody that's able to provide drayage services, be able to get freight directly from you guys or those opportunities to move containers directly through your organization?

Oh, yes, most definitely. We have a whole truck broker division based out of our Chicago office that work with fleet owners or other third party 3 PL brokers to handle our full truckloads for both drive in as well as containers. So there's, there's loads of opportunities. One thing about Vanguard, we move a lot of our freight via the east coast over the road versus over the rail. It helps save, it cuts time and, and it does, it does cost a little bit more. But you know, when a customer needs their freight expedited, you know, what's, what's price? So yeah, we do work with a surplus and have a great network of dependable companies that we work with and we're always looking to add to that as well.

Okay, so look, y' all holla at them. Brian, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hit you up. Okay? All right. Offline.

Most definitely. Most definitely. I would definitely put you, I will, I will put you in hand contact with the right people.

I appreciate that. Because we have these, these Atlanta based fleet owners that all they do is provide various services. So, you know, we're here, we're here. Okay, so like what, are there any specific services that you oversee for customers of Vanguard or as an inside sales manager? Is it the whole gambit, like you.

Do it all well in spurs with sales, you know, our focus is supposed to be commercial. So basically we focus on selling our services to the small to medium sized freight forwarders and some of the global forwarders as well. Specifically my team, we focus on the medium to small forwarders. So that's the mom pop shops. That's, you know, that's what, that's what's keeping us afloat. So we definitely show our appreciation to them. But we are selling both the import and export product, LCL and FCL as well as our trucking domestic LTL truckloads as well. We don't limit ourselves. We just basically sell it. And once we secure the business, then we just give it over to our operations team and they work the magic to make it happen, make the freight move and keep the customers happy.

Okay, okay, okay. Look, I know that you guys have also, you know, along with that you have a software, you know, that you guys are able to provide to people. Can we talk about that software, what that looks like? Because, you know, I, I know that visibility is a huge thing in today's supply chain. You know, that's the, that's the, that's the bare minimum. Actually. It used to be something, it used to be something that we can get away with saying, oh yeah, we'll keep you updated. But no, they want 247 unimpeded access. And you know, with companies like Project44 and Turbo and you know, a few other ones out there, you know, there, there's been integration that allows that. Is that the type of service and software that you guys are also providing to these mom and pop freight forwarders?

Oh, yes, we, well, we do that through our website. We've actually made some updates to our website that allows for customers to track their freight from the time it arrives in our warehouse to the time it arrives at our foreign warehouse or our import warehouse. Even when it gets, say for instance, the imports, when the Freight is actually arrived and has to move from say LA to Dallas, Texas and it moves over the rail. We even provide a step by step tracking for your freight even while on the rail. You'll know when that rail departs this depot to arrives at this depot until it's actually devanned off of the rail and moves onto the warehouse.

So.

So yeah, that's one of the new things we are advising our customer over is this pretty much 247 visibility of your cargo from the time we take hold of it to the time you get ready to pick it up or it's delivered to your consignee?

Right now? We love it. We love it. I mean, because at the end of the day, it used to not be a thing, but you know, that's.

No, you're right, you're right. It used to be you could trust a sailing schedule validity, but not these days. It's, it's like, where's my package? I'm like constantly on Amazon and I look for when it says 10 stops away, I'm like, okay, when's that update? I need my package.

No, I hear you, man, I hear you. I mean, we did, we got spoiled, you know. Got spoiled with Amazon and their, their services and what they have. Yeah, 100%, man. 100%. Okay, so look, speaking. We're going, we're going to just knock these bad boys out. You don't have to give me the professional pitch. Okay. Just give me high level. What's IPI and Gateway?

Okay, so IPI is when it comes to imports. That's Inland Point Intermodal. That's moving import freight from one domestic location to another domestic location.

Okay. All right. So that would be utilizing some of those Draymond to move those things or using the rail. But you guys prefer using Draymond, correct?

Yes. The only time we really use rail is when it has to go from east to west coast. Other than that, everything else on the East coast is MO is 80% truck.

Okay, okay. And then LCL consolidation we talked about because that's when you're utilizing one of your five warehouses and you're, you're just consolidating customers goods into a single container that you know, will give them more bang for the buck, essentially.

That is correct. And that's also ties into what you call the gateway. We like, for instance, our Atlanta warehouse. Our Atlanta warehouse is the gateway for freight that's originated in the Southeast, going to Europe, Asia, as well as some parts of Latin America and Australia and New Zealand.

Okay, nice Nice. Nice. That makes perfect sense. All right, so how does this go in there? Road network and ltl? Like, does ltl say that you guys work with box trucks? You know, what does that mean?

Yeah, I mean. Oh, yeah, we work with box trucks, too. There are some places that maybe a 53 foot truck can't go to, or we may use a box truck for a hot shot pickup or a hot shot delivery. So. Yeah, no, it's not uncommon for us. We do not stray away from box trucks. The only thing we don't do is residential.

I hear you. Well, look, don't. Don't put that out there. These box truck fleet owners, they're gonna attack you. Okay?

No, come on. We need. We need them. Come on, guys. We need some good. We need some good dependable truckers.

All right? No, I love it. I definitely have a great many in the network, so I'm happy that you guys are actually interested in working with those. Those equipment types. All right? But, yeah, what does it mean for the whole thing? Road network? That means that you guys are seeking. Not that would. That right there would be. You need carriers, but not necessarily. Draymond, is that. Would you say that?

Well, we. We don't. We don't distinguish it that way. Basically, we look for intermodal drivers and container dray. Container dray. Dr. Basically, for a container dray driver, you must have a tweet card because you have to be able to get in and out of the port, and then you also must have your. Your rail card to get in and out of the rails. Those are really our major requirements. And as far as for ltl, we just require just the minimum insurance liability and just your W9. I mean, other than that, we don't. We're not really checking for. I guess it's my disclaimer. Not really checking for safety measures. As long as you have your insurance, we're good.

No, I feel you. I definitely hear you there. All right, so we got a couple more. We got a couple more. CFS and warehouse. What does CFS stand for?

So CFS is Consolidated Freight Stations. And then of course, warehouse is your warehouse. These are just. These are some of the similar terminologies. The only difference is the type of bonds or the type of freight you're able to handle. All of the Vanguard. All of the vanguard locations are CFSs. So we're all consolidated freight stations. So we are a license. We are licensed bonded warehouses that's also licensed to handle USDA products, FDA products, as well as we are bonded to handle Anything with alcohol. Fire. I'm not. Sorry. Not fire. Alcohol and tobacco. We can't. We don't deal with fire.

No, I feel it. I feel it. Okay, okay. Okay. Well, that's a lot. That's a lot. And this last thing I'm gonna ask you about is kind of how we got the conversation started. You know, customs services, which I know incorporate, that encompass a lot. You know, is that a. Do you feel like that's a large portion of your operations team?

Not really a large portion, because we are not afraid forwarder, so we can't clear anything through customs. Some of our locations are official custom exam sites. So we work in hand with US Customs for. Afraid that they need to do intense exams for so on and so forth. But I will tell you this. We do have some employees that have vast knowledge of U.S. customs rules and regulations. We actually have a couple of employees that are actually licensed custom brokers. So we. We hit them up a lot of times when we're having issues with helping a freight forwarder, you know, get their cargo cleared through U.S. customs. So we try to give them some type of insight with regards to how their entry should be completed to make sure they're using the right harmonized tariff for their product, as well as help them with any type of appeals when they get a shipment that the duties and taxes are so extremely high. You know, that's a lot of times how people lose their freight ends up getting abandoned is because the duties and taxes are so high they can't afford to pay it. So definitely those small business owners. Before you go doing your imports or what have you, do your research on the harmonized tariff codes because it's so very important, you know, Uncle Sam is not gonna let you get anywhere without paying taxes. So everything is taxed. So do your research. Take those online courses, take those continuing education class. Learn about tariffs when it comes to the commodities that you're wanting to use to get your business started.

And I love it. I feel like you've given out some. Some very, very solid advice, and I think that it. Look, I want to put this out there. If there were. Well, Brian, Brian, are you open if people have questions to allowing them to ask some questions?

Yeah, I got a few minutes left. Yeah.

Okay. Bet, Bet. Well, look, if you. We're gonna leave this open for 30 seconds, so if you had a question, I would say go ahead and raise your hand now so that we can bring you up to the stage so you can ask that bad boy. And you know, in the. The spirit of, I guess, more networking. You know, you're part of organizations, associations. Do you feel like, you know, technically you might have been learning? Well, let me, let me phrase this a little bit better. Are there any times that you've learned insights or, you know, how to's or best practices in the industry from somebody working at maybe a competitor, you know, to Vanguard Logistics? Is that something that you feel like you're able to learn from people who might not even be within your organization?

Oh, yes, most definitely. To be honest with you, when I first started this organization, I was in operations, and I thought I would be in operations forever a day, until my former boss, who is now at a competitor right now, he actually showed me the commercial side of things and kind of piqued my interest in being a part of sales. And I kind of got this urge maybe about four years ago. And even though he's at our competition, I could still call him and ask him, like, hey, what's your insight on this particular route? How should I go about speaking to this customer about growing their volume? This is some of the challenges they're facing. And he's perfectly willing to offer me his advice and how he would proceed with a particular customer. You know, we don't have to get into the ins and outs of who that customer is, but, you know, he's, he, he'll, he helps me, he still mentors me. So I tend to learn a lot from people, you know, who are not only at our competitors, but some of our vendors. I mean, I've actually learned a lot from different truckers and carriers. With regards, how does freight move over the road? You know, I don't declared know all DOT regulations, but they keep me updated on the new DOT regulations so that I can best educate my customers, you know, with regards to how they load their freight or how they move their freight, so on and so forth.

No, I love it. I love it. That's basically what I wanted to highlight is, you know, our culture at one point was so siloed, you know, everything was competition, competition, competition. Whereas, you know, there is a lot that can be learned from people who might be on the other side of the aisle. And sometimes it's, you know, it's for the greater good is to, to, to learn how to do something a little bit better, to just, just bring down that barrier. You know, we're all people here, and just because you guys are everybody's in the same industry doesn't mean that there's not enough for everybody to thrive and do great. So I Appreciate you for letting us know that. We did have one question. I'm gonna turn off the hand raising because that's. That's over and done with. But someone did ask, how do we contact the NNOCC? I'm just gonna assume that they are a carrier. And another person said, how do you sign up to be a carrier for Vanguard? So let's just. Let's just say that those are the same questions, unless I'm wrong, Ms. Shay. And please, you know, type it in the chat to clarify that question. But how do. How do the carriers that provide drayage actually get to sign up with your organization to run freight opportunities with you?

So if any of these people with these great questions will want to email me, I'll list my email in the chat. Chat. Just send me a quick drop a line of you know, what you're doing, what your company is about, what areas you cover, what are you looking to. What? Excuse me? What you know, origin destinations you're looking to better, best build your company. And that way I will put you in contact with not only our truck brokers division, but some of our operation managers within the Vanguard organization to, you know, see if the routes that you're doing work within our network as far as where we take our containers as well as our full truckloads, too.

Okay, well, perfect. Look, I think that's very kind of you. And look for my brother. That's right there, that's Mark. He does a lot of Drayage opportunities as a broker. Do you guys also work with other brokers to get things moved? I mean, to put them on a spot like that, but, you know.

Oh, yes. No, yeah, we definitely, definitely work with a lot of three PL brokers as well.

Okay, well, cool. You know, like I said, that brother's been doing this for quite some time and has built up a solid carrier base. So, you know, I just wanted to put that out there. Well, look, did you have any questions for me? I didn't ask you so many questions.

You know what, Jory? No, I don't have any questions for you. But I. I must admit, I was a little skeptical. I was like, I kept telling Jory, jory, I'm not interested. Why do you keep bugging me about interviewing me?

No, no.

And he says, what are you talking about? You are interesting. I was. He says, your company. Talk about your company, what you guys do. Because not everybody, you know, gets the opportunity to have this inside information. I was like, okay, well, yeah, no, you wore me down. But I'm really Glad I did this. Thank you so much. I, I really had a good time.

Oh, good, good. I truly appreciate it. I've learned a lot. And again, it's all about exposure. You know, people don't, you don't know what you don't know. If you didn't go to that temp agency just to, you know, get an opportunity to make a little money in college, you know, who knows if you would have been here. But the fact that you are, it's because you got exposed to something. So prayerfully, this exposure allows other people to enter supply chain. Maybe, maybe they don't want to be a fleet owner. Maybe they don't, you know, have to be, you know, a broker per se. But there are other aspects to enter the supply chain.

So there are other avenues. Maybe you want to go and study to get your customs. Customs brokers license. I mean, that's, that's, we definitely need more licensed customs brokers in the world. So there's, like I said, there's other avenues to take besides dray where you can trust me. Custom brokers make a lot of good money. So don't, don't, don't sleep on that.

Okay, well, boom. I'm just going to close it out with that. If you needed anything from me, folks, please feel free to reach out to me directly. Brianetta Grantanguardlogistics.com that is her email for you to reach out to her directly. You know, next week, tune in on Mondays. You know, we're going to be partnering with Freightway Sonar team to let you know where you should position your trucks to take advantage of the market rates or the places that you should avoid. And who are we interviewing next week? H. Let me see, let me see. We are interviewing do. Do. Oh, this is a sales professional, a sales coach. So if you guys are brokers and you're looking to pick up some tips and tricks and other ways to become a top sales professional as a broker, this would be it. This brother right here was one of the top brokers for TQL for, I want to say about, you know, 10 years straight, something like that. So anyways, tune in next week if that's your interest. And again, Brianetta, I appreciate you. You have a blessed evening, man.

All right, you too. Thank you so much. Have a great evening, guys.

All right. Thank you. Thank you.