The NFI History

The NFI History – Proudly Serving the Industry for Over 75 Years

NFI traces its roots to a small company founded in 1932 by Israel Brown - a man with a dream and a vision to establish a regional business for transporting goods.

The company was headquartered in Vineland, NJ and was originally known as National Hauling. In the beginning, the company principally operated dump trucks, but diversified their services over the years.

In 1939, as an adjunct to National Hauling, a real estate company was formed to provide a real estate solution to support the success and growth of the freight company and the company’s first warehouse and truck terminals were built.

Growth occurred during World War II as the company received its operating certificate and won important work with the construction of the General Services Administration Depot in Belle Mead, NJ. As a result, the company had 15 trucks and trailers at the end of World War II.

The company continued to grow after the war and began hauling for the Veterans Administration in Hillsborough, NJ. It was about this time that Israel Brown's son, Bernard, became active in the business. National Hauling became National Freight.

Further growth occurred during the 1950s as the company bought or acquired ICC rights to operate in eight Mid-Atlantic States. Important non-government customers during this period included Anchor Hocking and Owens Illinois and, as a result, the company began hauling glass bottles in closed trailers.

In 1961, a warehousing company was established and called Eastern States Distribution. It served predominantly northeastern states. After 25 years in the distribution and warehousing business, Eastern States Distribution became national in its scope and, to reflect the company's growth, underwent a name change to become National Distribution Centers.

In the 1980’s, Bernard Brown’s sons, Ike, Sidney and Jeff, joined the family business.

NFI Interactive Logistics was founded in May of 1996 in response to a market need for more efficient business. NFI distinguished itself by being a second generation, third-party logistics company. Unlike many in the industry, the company had management and staff who had been trained in logistics since its inception.

The Company's first major account was signed in December of 1996 with a large office retailer company – that account is still active today.

In 1997, NFI Interactive began an e-fulfillment initiative with a New Zealand partner to deliver groceries to homes in New York City. As e-fulfillment continued, NFI Interactive formed a partnership with Morgan Stanley, spun away from NFI and signed additional e-fulfillment accounts.

As time went on, NFI Interactive spun off from the e-fulfillment market and decided to bring its main focus back to logistics. NFI Interactive separated from Morgan Stanley and once again affiliated itself with NFI in 2001.

In 2000, National Distribution Centers acquired Burnham's Manufacturing Support and Dedicated Operations Divisions, a third-party logistics provider in Atlanta. This acquisition added 11 facilities nationwide with 1.5 million square feet of operations space.

National Distribution services expanded into Canada in 2002 with facilities in Toronto and Edmonton to service customer's needs north of the U.S. border.

National Freight continued to grow through organic growth and acquisitions. In 2002, NFI acquired Core Carriers, a southeastern U.S. truckload carrier with 350 tractors and 900 trailers. The acquisition enabled NFI to integrate Core Carriers' network with its dedicated fleet operations in the southeast. As a result, NFI was better positioned to optimize lane management for its dedicated contract carriage customers in the southeast region and also created more lane density for its OTR operations.

To handle overflow freight, seasonal surges, and pop up fleets, NFI began its Brokerage Division in 2003. The department has access to hundreds of carriers nationwide who provide the same caliber service as NFI.

In 2004, NFI acquired Campos' Express located in Tunkhannock, PA. The acquisition added 115 tractors and 450 trailers and a core service area of fourteen states within the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions. The acquisition in 2004 of Campos Express increased NFI's coverage density in the Northeast, which allowed the company to service lanes in the region with greater efficiency and flexibility.

The company has continued to grow during the years and has become a leading transportation operation offering nationwide Truckload, Over-The-Road and Dedicated transportation services.

NFI Road Rail was created in 2005 and began offering intermodal services to complement NFI's portfolio of transportation services. The service offering was designed to meet the growing capacity constraints in the transportation industry.

By 2005, NFI had found that many of it’s customers had a need for global services such as freight forwarding and customs brokerage so NFI Global was founded in that same year.

In 2006, NFI acquired Quick Pak, a contract packaging and decorating company located in Cincinnati, OH. This acquisition allowed NFI to offer its customers promotional packaging design, sourcing, custom assembly fulfillment, POP display design and many other packaging specialties.

In 2007, NFI Consulting was started. Since that time, many companies have benefited from NFI’s years of experience and custom solutions – and have only used our consulting services.

In 2009, after 77 years in the business, NFI put all eight of its Divisions under its corporate brand and came out with a new logo and positioning.

The eight NFI Divisions are known as:

1. NFI Logistics
2. NFI Distribution
3. NFI Transportation
   • Dedicated
   • Over-the-Road
4. NFI Intermodal RoadRail®
5. NFI Real Estate and Development
6. NFI Contract Packaging and Decorating Quick Pak®
7. NFI Global
8. NFI Consulting

The first of many of the 4th generation of the Brown family has joined NFI as the family-owned business continues to thrive.