Rod Wainwright has come a long way.
When he started his business, it operated out of a bedroom in his Langley townhouse.
Now? Lantrax North American Logistics is in a two-storey, 11,000-square foot facility in Port Kells with 17 employees.
The business is a third party freight brokerage firm which specializes in over-the-road truck and inter-modal freight service throughout North America.
He began the company out of that spare bedroom back in 2003.
Shortly after starting the business, Wainwright brought in his first employee, Bob Hillmer.
“We worked in that one bedroom office until we couldn’t stand each other anymore,” Wainwright said with a laugh.
They moved to an office in Langley City in 2006 and then five years later went to the current location.
This move gave them their own warehouse facility, instead of having to find somewhere else to store the materials they were transporting.
Wainwright has long been in the transportation of goods business.
In the late 1970s, he began working as a courier to help pay for his schooling at Simon Fraser University.
“Like so many people and careers, you just sort of all into them,” he explained.
The company he was working for went out of business, but with a growing list of clients, Wainwright decided the time was right to start his own courier service, Demand Dispatch Services in Victoria.
His experience convinced him to create his current business.
“I felt the quality of customer service in the trucking industry was lacking,” he explained.
“My experience had shown me that there was a better way of being able to provide the service that people were getting.”
People want answers to the issues and logistical problems that may arise when they are transporting their goods.
“We can load a product on a truck and it could be that owner or businesses’ entire livelihood depends on that getting to where it is supposed to go,” he said.
“So there is a great deal of responsibility there in making sure the customers feel they are going to get that level of care and concern that they really need.”
Hillmer still works with Wainwright, and is now also a minority partner in the business.
“He has been an integral part of our growth,” Wainwright said.
The company now employs 17 people.
And Wainwright, who is 62, still loves coming to work.
“Every telephone call we receive is a challenge and an opportunity for us to help out our customers,” he said.
“It is quite the honour,” Wainwright admitted, saying it hadn’t quite sunk in still.
“It is such an honour to be recognized by your peers.
“Some of the winners in the past — Jack Lee, Milt Kruger, Angie Quaale — those are just phenomenal human beings and I got to watch them over the years.”
“Even to be recognized in that group, just amazes me.”
Wainwright said the award is a reflection of his employees.
“The most important thing is that it really comes down to the people that work for your organization,” he said.
“All the people that work in the organization, it is really our award, it is not my award.”
