President Trump’s protectionist rhetoric may have some real benefits — especially if you’re a shipping and logistics company.
“Our revenue doubled as soon as he won the election,” says Matt Tillman, founder and CEO of Haven, a hi-tech logistics platform for shippers.
With everyone worried about the threat of tariffs, taxes and quotas on imports, companies are shipping as much as they can right now. Natural resource traders like Louis Dreyfus and Glencore, in particular, are stocking up on metals to make sure they are on the right side of the trade.
And Haven is benefitting. The company has created a private marketplace where shippers can compare and purchase shipment capacity without a middle man, all thanks to its online booking platform.
As a result, Haven surpassed $3.4 billion a year in cargo value last year, says Tillman.
More importantly, Tillman is keenly aware that the benefits of efficient shipping help more than his bottom line. Keeping shipping costs down in turn keeps the price of goods down.
Keep On Truckin’
While Tillman grew up in a trucking family, he certainly didn’t expect to end up in the transportation business. He started at art school, but soon fell in love with programming and dropped out to become a serial tech entrepreneur. And, when he personally tried to ship a container to Singapore, he realized how arcane the industry was.
Then, he set out to make global shipping more efficient.
Haven was born in 2014 after receiving venture capital…