The company seeks visionaries with 100-year perspectives By Peter A. Buxbaum, AJOT Steamship lines move cargo. NVOCCs are people businesses. So says Greg Howard, chairman and chief executive officer of CaroTrans International, a leading non-vessel operating common carrier headquartered in Clark, N.J. “The big issue for us these days is talent management,” Howard told the American Journal of Transportation, in an exclusive interview. “As we continue to expand and grow around the world, our biggest challenge is people. We have to make sure that we are recruiting, training, and developing the right people who will be there to give us what we need for sustained growth and profitability well beyond my time.” CaroTrans International was established in 1979 and provides global less-than-container load (LCL), and full-container load (FCL) services. The company maintains a network of nearly 200 offices in Asia, South America, Oceania, and the United States, as well as relationships with local partners, such as World Cargo Services, the first NVOCC in South Africa to service the United States, to provide global reach. The company recently announced a new weekly, fixed day Charleston to South Africa LCL export service in conjunction with World Cargo Services that began the week of February 20th. The service calls on Durban, Johannesburg, and Capetown and features broad coverage to all South African ports and neighboring countries. Earlier this year, CaroTrans inaugurated a new Los Angeles to Ho Chi Minh City export and import service and late last year started a new direct, all water LCL import service from Shanghai to Boston that bypasses the New York metropolitan area. Because of the CaroTrans company culture, Howard looks to bring in potential executives who have the capacity to be visionaries. ““Part of the company culture is our 100-year vision,” he said. “And that vision is not about 100 years from when the company was founded but it is a perpetual hundred-year vision. We are always thinking about the next hundred years and that is what we are thinking about when we recruit and train people who have the talent to be developed into the leaders of our business in the future. That is an enormous issue and challenge for us.” What kind of people does Howard look for? “You have to understand the nature of our business,” he replied. “We are a decentralized business and by that I mean that we don’t have back room functions anywhere in the world. All of our branches, of which we now have in excess of 186, need leaders. The type of people we are looking for are young, well-educated, intelligent individuals who have a passion for adventure, who have drive, and have a sense of humor. Those are the future leaders of our business.” To that end, CaroTrans runs programs to develop its future leaders. “We are spending a lot of time and money on the recruitment and training side of the business,” said Howard. “We have a very comprehensive graduate program through which we bring college graduates into the business to learn it from the ground up. They work their way through the ranks from the most basic to eventually, the leadership and managerial.” CaroTrans does not use recruitment agencies but does engage with colleges and universities to find and and recruit new talent. “We are like McDonald’s. We are opening new branches every two or three months,” said Howard. “To promote form within we need talent coming through the system much as a baseball team has a farm system.” The company also runs an Outward Bound program in New Zealand for the training of future business leaders. “That program has a huge success rate,” said Howard. “It also develops camaraderie among our executives. Those who complete the program together tend to stay closely linked together. These programs are training the leaders who can manage and lead our business for years and decades to come. When opportunities come up to open a new office or lead another team these people have broad enough experience in the business and its obj