Industry forces were a boon for Magellan Transport Logistics. The company saw a nationwide shortage of truck drivers and new federal regulations constrict trucking supply while hurricane relief efforts and a strong economy demanded more from it.
“There are not enough trucks out there,” said CEO Tom Piatak.

Large trucking companies have spent the year raising rates instead of increasing supply, Piatak noted.
“That shifts the opportunity to us,” he said. “The majority of new capacity is going to come through small carriers.”
As a third-party logistics provider, Magellan houses trucking divisions that are set up as their own small businesses instead of running a centralized fleet of trucks.

“We encourage entrepreneurship and risk taking,” Piatak said. “We’re not bureaucratic. Our speed and energy level make a huge difference.”
Piatak saw enough growth in 2017 to invest more deeply in Jacksonville. In March, Magellan purchased a 47,000-square-foot warehouse where it intends to hire more than 100 over the next five years. Those constitute major upgrades for the company, which employed 60 in a 6,500-square-foot facility at the time.
Piatak knows the challenge in the years ahead will be recruiting the staff to fill that building.

“It’s going to get tougher and tougher to recruit, which makes it more important,” he said.
To get its share of a tight labor supply, Magellan embraces a familial environment, Piatak said. Staff go to Jaguars games and other outings and have a work hard-play hard attitude.
“Our overall culture here is unique,” Piatak said. “We want people to want to work here.”

The First Coast is filled with company doing everything they can to grow — to expand their workforce, gain new customers and, most importantly, increase their revenue.

In this pursuit, some companies stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Each year, the Jacksonville Business Journal highlights those companies in our community who are the best at reaching this goal. Across a range of industries, we identify the businesses who have seen their revenue increase the fastest over the past three years.
Getting selected isn’t easy.

All of the honorees have been in business since 2014 and are headquartered in the seven-county First Coast area. After being nominated, companies have to provide verifiable revenue figures that are pored over in great detail by our partners in this process, the CPA firm GunnChamberlain P.L.., which reveals the 50 companies that have seen their revenue grow by the largest percentage and those who have seen the highest volume growth.