by M. Sigmund Shapiro
August 31, 1999
Samuel Shapiro & Co. was founded in August 1915 by Samuel Shapiro
who, at age 20 had 3 years experience working for a Customs broker.
He opened an office with "a five dollar rolltop desk" as he used to
say, and the first year made a profit of about $50.
A year or so later, he was joined by one of his brothers and the
advent of World War I saw a bit of growth. (He was drafted in the
fall of 1917, but the Armistice came and he didn’t need to report).
After the war, the company was appointed by the government to act as
forwarder for grain shipments to war-torn Europe. This traffic
started the company moving toward success. The ‘20’s brought steady
growth and the opening of offices in Norfolk manned by another
brother, and Washington, DC.
The depression of the ‘30’s brought the company to a low point,
exacerbated by a breakup among the brothers, and Sam’s undertaking
to assume their debts, as he said, "for the good of the family
name".
Business grew during the latter part of the decade, but it wasn’t
until World War II that there was any substantial increase. During
that period, Baltimore, because of its sheltered position, was the
primary port for merchant ships. They could duck into the Chesapeake
Bay and avoid the U boat threat. Consequently cargoes for New York,
Boston, Philadelphia and Norfolk were discharged and forwarded to
destination by rail. The company, consisting of four employees,
worked day and night. During that time, the company handled
lend-lease cargo and a substantial amount of traffic from the Soviet
Union (ores, licorice root and other raw materials) which were in
part payment for armament furnished by the U.S.
The post war period brought the reopening of a D.C. office in
Georgetown- soon to be moved to Dulles International Airport, and
the opening of another airfreight office at Baltimore’s Friendship
(now BWI) airport. The company renewed its relationships with
colleagues in Europe that had been developed during the ‘20’s and
‘30’s and imports from those areas, encouraged by slashing of duty
rates, brought a bounty of "department store" consumer goods
shipments. M. Sigmund Shapiro succeeded his father as president, but
Samuel, who survived into his 92nd year remained chairman and active
in the business until his death in 1987. Sigmund is now chairman and
chief executive officer.
The container age brought a new set of challenges and, as a
result of changing shipping patterns, the opening of an office in
Norfolk. An office in Philadelphia soon followed, and the need for
automation was recognized. The company embarked on a long range plan
for information exchange with Customs and its clients which, to this
day is still being modified and enhanced to anticipate clients’
needs into the next century.
A quantum leap in the company’s future came about in 1995. The
company had analyzed the need to offer additional services as
shipping patterns and techniques continued to change, and opened
offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Charleston Savannah and New York.
Concurrent with that came a rewrite of its information systems to
network all of the locations and, at the same time, be able to offer
to its clients, a complete logistics package for traffic management,
Customs clearance and computing landed costs for both export and
import movements.
The company is poised to expand further to meet the demands of
its expanding client base, always however adhering to the one
philosophy, more than any other, that it feels has contributed to
its success to date -old fashioned personal service- employing, of
course, the most modern techniques to provide it.
