BY TREVOR STEWART
It?s fair to say when the late George A. Gray started his customs broker business out of his insurance company?s office at 7 Cedar St. in 1950, he had little idea what his business or the customs industry would look like 55 years later.
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Ellen Gray, George A. Gray?s widow, celebrates at the recent 55th anniversary open house with Pirkko and Jim Conrad, who now own the company. |
Luckily, he left George A. Gray Customs Brokers Limited in the capable hands of two of the first full-time employees he hired, Pirkko and Jim Conrad, who bought the business from Gray in 1979.
When Pirkko and Jim, now president and vice-president respectively, decided to hold an open house to celebrate the company?s 55th anniversary last week, they made sure Gray?s widow Ellen could attend.
?I think he?d look around and say ?wow?,? Ellen Gray said of the company?s freshly renovated offices on LaSalle Boulevard. ?(George) started by asking around to see if any companies needed a customs broker. After he got one, he got another, and they just kept coming and coming. He worked by himself at first. He did everything.?
Now, the Conrads have 12 employees, who have helped more than 600 companies move their goods seamlessly across international borders.
?You never get bored in this business,? said Pirkko Conrad at the open house. ?Customs regulations are always changing.?
For most businesses that rely on importing and exporting goods, clearing customs can be a real hassle, due to the amount of red tape, paperwork, and the ever-changing regulations not only in Canada, but in the foreign countries with which they deal.
That?s where a customs broker becomes a necessity for companies, large and small. They know the ins and outs of the laws, the paperwork, and have the contacts that make the import-export business run smoothly.
George A. Gray Custom Brokers recently added a freight forwarding component to its services. The company now goes as far as securing rate quotes and arranging transport for goods.
?The reason for the open house is to invite our clients to celebrate our anniversary with us,? Pirkko said.
Another reason for the open house was to introduce clients to all the services the company provides.
?A lot of our clients didn?t know all the services we provide and that those services can be found locally,? she said. ?I?m a big believer in supporting local business and we want people to realize everything our company can do right here in Sudbury.?
The Conrads have not only secured local business, but deal with large and small companies as far away as Vancouver. Locally, they?ve been buoyed by doing customs work for Inco, school boards, and hospitals.
?George was lucky to leave the business in the hands of two workaholics,? his widow said. ?They?ve worked extremely hard and deserve everything they?ve gotten.?
Gray hired Pirkko Conrad as a typist 39 years ago. A year later, Jim was hired.
?When I started, I was using a manual typewriter and we didn?t have calculators, so my math skills were much sharper then,? Pirkko reflected.
Over 55 years, however, George A. Gray?s business has been a much bigger mirror of the changing times than the transition from typewriters, pens and pencils to today?s world of computers and calculators.
The local customs broker has effectively become an economical barometer because of the changing nature of international business.
?In the early 1980s there was a lull in Sudbury?s economy. Mining was down,? Jim Conrad said. ?Local companies weren?t doing business, so we weren?t doing business. We tried to keep our employees as long as we could, but we eventually went from nine to three. But we survived.?
After surviving that downturn, the Conrads? business continued to feel societal and economic events such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the introduction of GST, and the aftermath of the Sept.11, 2001 World Trade Centre attacks.
?Everyone said NAFTA was going to open up the border and put us out of business,? Jim said. ?In reality, it added paperwork.?
NAFTA lowered duty rates and promoted cross-border trade so much that since the agreement was ratified, exports have become an even bigger chunk of what George A. Gray customs brokers handle.
In 1991, the GST was introduced by the Mulroney government.
?That made our business much riskier for us,? Jim said. ?We now have to put up $1 million a month in GST for our clients to move goods across our borders.?
The World Trade Centre attacks have had a profound effect on the way customs are handled. Laws are still being tightened and many of the new regulations haven?t been put into full effect yet.
?By next year, customs will be pre-alerted on all goods traveling across the (U.S.-Canada) border,? Conrad said. ?That means notification of any goods crossing the border by highway will have to reach customs one hour before the truck reaches the border, or it may not get across.?
All these changing laws make it essential for businesses to rely on the expertise of customs experts to get their goods safely into and out of the country.
