Crane Worldwide: One year in

By on Aug 6, 2009

Despite the past year being a challenging one for the global transportation business, Crane Worldwide is staking its claim as a growing and successful new player in the industry Sharon Gill reports

Founded in August last year, Crane Worldwide has managed to establish 47 offices in seventeen countries, taking on 500 employees and creating a client base of dozens of leading global corporations in industries ranging from aerospace to energy

The company, whose global headquarters is in a 130,000+ sqft facility near Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, recently purchased another twenty acres to allow for future local growth

The Houston-based company, which provides a variety of shipping and logistical services, says it is on track to meet its original milestone of achieving $1 billion in revenue and 4,000 employees within five to seven years

Crane Worldwide was founded by former employees of Houston-based Eagle Global Logistics (EGL), which was purchased by CEVA Logistics for $2 billion in August 2007

The purchase followed a two-month bidding war between CEVA and a group led by EGL's CEO James Crane, with offers and counter-offers, and allegations of bidding process irregularities and accusations of abuse of influence aired in the media and dragged into court

In the end, CEVA emerged the winner, with the Crane consortium taking home second prize - a $30 million fee to terminate its agreement to acquire the company

Losing out to CEVA might have been the best thing to happen to James Crane

As soon as the twelve-month exclusion clause expired, which had prevented EGL's former executives from competing in the logistics industry, Crane Worldwide went into business

Within the first three months of operations, Crane Worldwide completed four acquisitions to expand its reach throughout Asia, Europe, and Latin America:

  • Houston, Texas-based McLean Cargo Specialists, with an integrated worldwide network of offices and thirty years' experience serving the freight needs of the energy and other industries
  • Houston, Texas-based InterStar Global, with branch offices in Scotland, Brazil and Colombia and ten years of logistics expertise in Europe and Latin America
  • Miami, Florida-based global forwarder Magno International, with offices in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico
  • Shanghai China-based global forwarder Qifan International Transportation Co, with Trans-Pacific and intra-Asia expertise

According to Crane Worldwide president John Magee, the global slowdown has actually helped the company's growth

"Manufacturers and logistics managers are really feeling the pressure," said Magee "It's difficult watching mass layoffs and slashed budgets across our customer base, because many times these are people we've known for decades and they're hurting now"

He added: "Five years ago, reinventing their supply chain wasn't a priority But with the downturn they have to get creative, and we're able to help"