Q&A with OW Logistics CEO and Co-Founder Eric Seamon
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Hong Kong-based OW Logistics (OWL) is one of many transportation services providers working overtime to navigate the global supply chain crisis. The company’s goal of helping customers clear backlogs and keep cargo moving brought them to JAXPORT, where the port’s shipping channel remains congestion-free.
To take advantage of Jacksonville’s efficiencies and expedite the movement of about 1,600 containers, OWL chartered a retrofitted multi-purpose vessel from Taicang, China to Jacksonville.
JAXPORT sat down with OWL President and Co-Founder Eric Seamon during his recent visit to the port’s Blount Island Marine Terminal.
QUESTION: WHAT MAKES THIS MOVE UNIQUE?
Eric Seamon: Solving the capacity problem is the solution to getting product on store shelves.
We move say 80,000 or 100,000 containers a year out of Asia, have contracts with seven or eight steamship lines, do origin management services where we book with customers’ contracts and it wasn’t enough space. We couldn’t get enough space on our contracts or our customers’ contracts. So, the solution was to look at leasing ships and retrofitting them, if we needed to, and look for an accommodating port that fit the supply chain needs of those customers that are on that ship.
Q: WHY JAXPORT?
ES: We were encountering port congestion. We certainly weren’t going to go to the West Coast. We had customers that were recurring – not just normal but also chartered customers – that wanted to move to the East Coast. So, we looked down the Eastern Seaboard and we went through that process. And it turned out by far the best possible spot for us was JAXPORT.
Q: WHAT TYPES OF CHALLENGES DOES A MOVE LIKE THIS PRESENT?
ES: Many ports won’t take a vessel of this type and size, because of the special handling that is involved. JAXPORT was able to not only take the vessel, but we are putting empties back from the first ship to take back to China which was very difficult to get anybody to say ‘ok, let’s do it’. JAXPORT said ‘bring it in, bring it on.’
Q: WHAT ADVANTAGES DOES JAXPORT HAVE THAT ULTIMATELY LED YOU TO MAKE JACKSONVILLE YOUR PORT OF CHOICE FOR THIS MOVE?
ES: JAXPORT’s relationship with the local trucking community, U.S. Customs, the fact that SSA Marine was part of this since we’ve used them before in other ports, and the ability to get product onto rail from here into the Southeast.
JAXPORT has guided us to say, ‘lay out your plans, here’s what you need to do and here’s how we’re going to help you.’ It was amazing. So, we’re going to do it again.
Q: YOU MENTIONED THAT YOUR GOAL WAS TO CLEAR BACKLOGS TO MOVE ALL THE VOLUMES YOUR CUSTOMERS NEED TO MOVE. IS THAT BEING ACCOMPLISHED?
ES: Yes, 100%. I’ve been through several of these and on a scale from one to ten, meaning one is the worst, this has been a ten.
