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Sole Proprietorship (February 1974 to August 1995)
The company began as a profitable sole proprietorship in 1974 under the current President and CEO, Jack McSherry. Penn Tank Lines was founded as a business which provided a regional bulk petroleum transportation service by tractor trailer in the Middle Atlantic states. Over its twenty one years the company built its growth upon responsive customer service. Early in its history, the company recognized the value to good asset deployment by using independent owner operators to supply the driver and tractor to perform the company's delivery service. So successful has the concept been that today most of the original independent owner operators are still with the company. Some have grown from their one tractor start to as many as ten to thirteen tractors and fifteen to twenty drivers. Over these years, the company has developed programs for its operator/affiliates in accounting, loss prevention, sales, marketing, purchasing, maintenance, and operations to improve the measure of operator/affiliates success. In effect, the company has created a franchise-like program for its operator/affiliates which has proven mutually successful for the company and its affiliates. Association with BMI Transportation (September 1995 to May 1996). Penn Tank Lines operated as a profitable sole proprietorship from 1974 until it was sold in September 1995 by Jack McSherry to BMI Transportation of Cleveland, OH (with whom the company had an agency agreement since 1986). Over those twenty-one years, the company developed its petroleum transportation service business in an eight Mid-Atlantic state area. The company operated through four service centers, with seventy tractor trailer units and over eighty five non-union drivers. Its petroleum transportation service included the delivery of gasoline, diesel fuel, industrial/heating fuel oils, jet and aviation fuels, and lubricating oils. The company maintained its corporate office and central dispatch in Malvern, PA (thirty minutes northwest of downtown Philadelphia, PA). At the time of its sale to BMI Transportation, the company was generating $8.5 million in annual revenues. (Back up)
Fleet Transport Company, Inc.
Fleet Transport Company, Inc. began business as the Direct Transport Company with one truck, hauling petroleum in Nashville and middle Tennessee in 1948. From 1949 to 1959, Direct Transport began its expansion by purchasing trucks and Alabama operating certificates from Alabama based carriers. Through this acquisition program, the company was one of the first to initiate the independent owner operator concept.
In 1960, Florida operating authority was obtained and Direct Transport changed its name to the Fleet Transport Company, Inc. In 1963, Fleet Transport purchased Walker Hauling, obtained its first interstate operating authority, and added chemical and dry bulk transportation to its existing petroleum transportation services. From 1964 to 1980, Fleet Incorporated operations in Georgia and purchased Gasoline Transport, which extended its operations into eastern Tennessee. Fleet also obtained South Carolina petroleum operating authority with the purchase of the George Rheman Company. In 1982, Leaseway Transportation acquired Fleet Transport Company, Inc. In 1989, Fleet Transport and several other bulk operations were purchased from Leaseway Transportation to form a new company, Bulk Materials, Inc. In 1995, Bulk Materials, Inc. changed its name to BMI
Transportation. Fleet Transport maintained its corporate offices in Brentwood, TN (just outside of Nashville, TN). Over its forty seven years the company developed a long standing and respected place in the bulk transportation industry. Fleet Transport has historically been a dominant service provider in all of its markets. In recent years Fleet Transport chose to focus on the development of its chemical transportation and railcar-to-truck transfer businesses. A lack of strong focus on the company's historic core petroleum business caused an erosion of that business base. Weakened intrastate regulatory issues and new competitors introduced through the 1980 interstate deregulation of the trucking industry continued the business erosion. Recognizing the weakening of Fleet Transport's petroleum business, BMI Transportation began a business realignment by product transportation type in 1995. BMIs intent was to align businesses by the principle products they transported and/or the transportation service they provided. At the time of this realignment in October 1995, the petroleum division of Fleet Transport serviced ten states, with eight principle service centers in Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee. It operated one hundred and thirty tractor trailer units and over one hundred and fifty non-union drivers. Its petroleum transportation service included the delivery of gasoline, diesel fuel, industrial fuel oils, jet and aviation fuels, asphalt, and lubricating oils. At the time of this realignment, the petroleum division was profitably generating nearly eighteen million dollars in annual revenues. Another part of the company's current strategies is to develop dedicated carriage, private fleet conversions within the petroleum industry. These efforts would reach segments of the petroleum transportation business that were inaccessible through common carrier service and pricing packages. In July 1995, the company was awarded its first major dedicated carriage contract with Mobil Oil Corporation. The five year, $35 million contract converted Mobil Oil's private gasoline and diesel fuel fleet in Florida to Penn Tank Lines, Inc. The business award created the third business segment of the new company, its dedicated carriage segment with annual revenues of $7 million dollars. The business segment operates three service centers in Florida. In October 1995, BMI Transportation brought together its recent acquisition, Penn Tank Lines, and the petroleum division of Fleet Transport to form BMI/Penn Tank Lines, Inc. Its goal was to create the largest non-union petroleum transportation company in the United States. The present senior management of Penn Tank Lines, Inc. was chosen to achieve that goal. Management's conclusion after a review of the business segments was that a basic management focus on the business (lacking in the southern operation) and an aggressive sales program would be central to growing the business in both revenues and profitability. (Back up)
Penn Tank Lines, Inc. (June 1996 to Present)
Due to financial struggles, BMI Transportation gave Jack McSherry the option to buy back the entire operation under his management. This operation included the terminals in Pennsylvania, former Fleet operations in Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee, as well as the three Mobil-dedicated terminals in Florida. On June 16, 1996, Jack McSherry acquired this operation away from BMI Transportation to form Penn Tank Lines, Inc. Since the primary acquisition, Penn Tank Lines, Inc. has grown through new additions in the form of a fourth common-carrier terminal in Jacksonville, FL as well as asphalt operations in Dearborn Heights, MI (just outside of Detroit). The company has also expanded its dedicated carrier operations: in the beginning of 1997, Penn Tank Lines added dedicated operations with Air Liquide, National Gypsum, and Koch/Certainteed. Principle to the company's efforts was the consolidation and enhancement of the company's common carrier business. Our strategy is to build upon the long history of both companies in their respective marketplaces with the development of new services and pricing, national Penn Tank Lines, Inc. identity, and increased equipment asset utilization. This year, Penn Tank Lines, Inc. is on pace to do $45 million dollars and is poised in strategic markets as a national petroleum transportation company. The company performs transportation services in over twenty states with the fullest spectrum of representatives of the petroleum industry. (Back up) |
