As Steve Holtgeerts drives around the Puget Sound area he can point to buildings, stadiums and roads where his company has had a hand in their history.
Holtgeerts is president of Hogland Transfer Company, Inc., a family-owned business that has hauled materials for the Everett Events Center, Seattle’s Space Needle and the Everett Boeing Company building, to name a few.
On September 13, Hogland Transfer will celebrate 75 years in business. Employees, spouses, and retirees will gather for festivities at Everett Station on Smith Avenue, which happens to be the site where Hogland Transfer was located for 50 years.
Hogland Transfer now operates from its facilities on Hardeson Road in Everett, and in Moses Lake, Wash. It’s the oldest, family-owned trucking company in Washington state.
When Everett A. Hogland, Holtgeerts grandfather, bought his first truck in 1933 with winnings from a poker game, he could hardly have known that the company he started would be hauling freight for companies such as Fluke, Intermec and Genie Industries three-quarters of a century later.
When his grandfather died in 1959, Holtgeerts’ grandmother took over the running of the company. His father became the general manager in the 1970s and retired in 1987. Holtgeerts, who began working at the company when he was 13-years-old, took over the company at that time. In 1999 Holtgeerts and his wife bought out an aunt and now own 99 percent of the company.
“In 1999 we had 50 employees,” Holtgeerts said, “now we have 85. We’ve grown quite a bit in the last five to six years,” Holtgeerts said.
Hogland Transfer operates 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday, primarily within a 200-mile radius of Everett. The company distributes and warehouses goods for customers while focusing on timely delivery, sometimes the same day or overnight. Loads often come to Seattle docks from Japan, Korea, and Italy for delivery to businesses in Snohomish County.
They also provide reliable storage for companies such as Boeing, one of many companies that has eliminated their own storage facilities. That’s one of the many changes that Holtgeerts has seen during his tenure as president of Hogland Transfer. Others include technology that benefits his company as well as customers. Trucks, for instance, are fitted with GPS devices and have two-way radio communication.
Focusing on solid customer service and creating win-win situations for Hogland Transfer and its clients is what Holtgeerts wants for the future of the company.
“I want to continue to develop relationships with our existing customers, and new ones,” he said.
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