INTERVIEW
24
Two professionals also in the Army
Reserve, 310th Transportation Company,
one an attorney and one a CPA, worked
for the company. Vitez chose his fellow
Reservists to assist in the purchase of
Kreitz Motor Express, Inc.,
“Leaning on that professional talent,
we struck a buy/sell agreement with
Bob Kreitz to purchase 10 percent of the
stock and was the voting trustee for the
balance 90 percent,” Vitez said. “I had
five years to steer the business to the
NASA challenge
For most cargo, 6,600 miles is a long trip, but it’s just a small step for a satellite on its way
to outer space. When conditions on the ground changed in early 1990, KMX International
helped make sure NASA’s 79th Upper Atmosphere Satellite (UARS) got into space on time.
Previous UARS were trucked 50 miles from General Electric Aerospace in East Windsor, NJ
to McGuire Air Force Base for a flight to Kennedy Space Center aboard an Air Force C-5A.
But when Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 ended availability of the air
transport, NASA consulted with KMX on how best to transport the $633 million satellite – the
most expensive, largest and heaviest yet.
As in previous moves, the UARS
would travel in a clean room
container that was 40 feet long,
20 feet wide and 13 feet, 8 inches
high. The temperature would
have to remain between 68 and
72 degrees F, there could be no
prolonged vibration, no exposure
to weather and minimal handling
of the container. There also was
a tight window of just 24 days to
move the empty container from
Florida to New Jersey, load the
satellite and get it back to Florida.
Highway transport was eliminated
when every state on a highway route
denied permits for a rig and cargo that
would measure 85-feet long, 20-feet wide,
16-feet high and weigh 100,000 pounds.
Rail transport was ruled out due to width
restrictions and potential for vibrations
and shocks. Water was the only option,
and NASA’s strict requirements for vessels
narrowed the choice to a Navy YFNB barge
with all-steel construction and a cargo cover.
The barge would be towed by an ocean tug
floating 70 miles off the Atlantic Coast.
A multi-axle trailer that would carry the
container from start to finish.
The transport of the empty container from
Florida to New Jersey provided a trial run to
work out final details. The real move began on
May 7, 1991 and concluded without incident
six days later. The satellite was launched on
September 2, 1991 – 18 days earlier than
originally scheduled. The project won KMX a
SC&RA Job of the Year award in 1992.
all day, versus a shipper or consignee
facility where the loading or unloading
was much quicker. One could invoice for
unloading or loading time at an industry
facility.
No one would entertain an invoice for
loading or unloading at a port. Knowing
that, we needed to continue to take that
business and do the best we could with
it. From that, we capitalized on our
geographic location in Berks County, PA,
which is equidistant to the Port Newark/
New York piers, the Port of Philadelphia,
PA/Camden, NJ and Baltimore, MD. We
entered the export boxing business early
on with our property, its buildings and
assets such as overhead cranes, gantry
cranes and with agreements with various
freight forwarders. We offer the total
‘door to door’ export services – inbound
heavy hauling from our customer’s
facility/unloading at a KMX facility/
export boxing and packing/reloading/
port delivery, heavy hauling as well as
containers/stevedore crane handling/
ship loading/ocean transportation/port
handling at port/country of import and
inland delivery.
With the dollar weaker than the Euro,
we have been able to handle the exports
most industries are trying to enter when
the U.S. domestic economy slows down.
The reverse applies with our import
KMX International transported a
$633 million satellite for NASA.
ACT
DECEMBER 2013
balloon fifth year and make the original
deal ‘bankable.’ That five years is another
story for another time.”
We caught up with Vitez to talk about
his history in the business and the current
super heavy haul market.
WHAT DISTINGUISHES KMX INTERNATIONAL?
In our start-up business, we could only
get cargo destined to or from the ports.
No regular motor carrier wanted that
business. The delays at the port were
