A Brief History of James Brown Contracting, Inc.

James W. Brown started out in the trucking business in West Virginia with a dump truck in the mid-1960’s, and moved to the Atlanta area in the early 1970’s. He started James Brown Trucking Co. with 4 trucks, and formed James Brown Contracting, Inc. in Lithonia, GA in 1976.  At first the company handled flatbed freight, but in the early 1980’s, at the request of the Weyerhaeuser plant manager in Lithonia, the company took over Weyerhaeuser’s private fleet operation, hauling corrugated containers in van trailers.  Brown Trucking’s reputation for service quality spread quickly, and the dedicated van operation grew.  Eventually Mr. Brown decided to concentrate totally on dedicated service to the paper and packaging business, and his growth in that business segment came as a result of his customers asking him to handle more and more of their business.  The relationship with several of our customers goes back two decades or more, and the company has grown at a double-digit rate for over 10 years.  Along with a strong focus on customer service and on-time delivery, the company also grew its technology capabilities, providing its customers with information critical to their businesses. James Brown Contracting, Inc. is now the dominant southeast regional carrier of paper and packaging, and is one of the acknowledged leaders in the dedicated hauling business nationwide.

In 2008, after forty years of building and running his trucking business, James Brown decided to retire, and he went about finding the right people to acquire his business and carry on his legacy.  He sold the business in May, 2008 to Navigation Capital Partners, an Atlanta-based private equity firm.  Both the new owners and the management team are committed to carrying on Mr. Brown’s legacy of dedicated on-time service and to growing and expanding Brown Trucking while keeping the family atmosphere that makes this company a great place to work

The Company's Vision

James Brown Contracting, Inc. is a growth-oriented dedicated transportation and logistics services provider focused on the middle of the supply chain of our customer base, where time-sensitive delivery and information services are critical to our customers.  Our focus is on the Southeast U.S. market, expanding to contiguous markets in the lower Midwest, Middle Atlantic, and lower Mississippi Valley. We will effectively use technology to make the company more efficient, provide our customers with tactical advantages, reduce costs and facilitate predictable synergies. We will maintain an asset-light structure, utilizing a mix of owner operators and company-owned trucks, and small, local terminals that allow us to be flexible, responsive and nimble in changing markets. As we grow, we will use our economies of scale to improve our profitability and, at the same time, lower our customers’ overall cost of service.