Global logistics leader rallies support in rebuilding Ukraine

Logistics Plus was an early responder to 9/11 terrorist attacks, moving 100,000 pounds of cargo from six European countries onto one of the first international charter flights booked into the United States after the attack to keep then-GE’s production lines moving without disruption. During the COVID-19 shutdown, Logistics Plus helped source, warehouse and deliver much-needed personal protection equipment (PPE) to people and businesses worldwide, leading to the creation of its Logistics Plus Medical Division.

“We’re always the Sherpas,” explains Berlin. “We’re the first ones in, helping people find a way.”

An unorthodox business leader, Berlin knows how to get things done. In 1996, the veteran truck driver founded Logistics Plus in Erie, Pennsylvania, a small port city on the Great Lakes. A then-modest startup, LP mainly provided logistics and supply chain services for GE Transportation Systems. But as Berlin found new opportunities, LP added more services — everything from logistics and transportation to warehousing, fulfillment, global logistics, business intelligence and technology.

Nearly 30 years later, Logistics Plus is still headquartered at the historic Union Station train depot in Erie, with a growing network of resources that includes over 1,000 employees at offices and warehouses in more than 50 countries and annual global sales over half a billion dollars.

“With our trademark Passion for Excellence™,” according to the company, “we put the plus in logistics by doing the big things properly plus the countless little things that ensure complete customer satisfaction and success.”

Support for Ukraine

For Logistics Plus, the Russian war in Ukraine is not just business; it’s personal. The company employs 85 people in three offices in Ukraine and approximately 30 Ukranian-born professionals at LP operations in the United States.

LP’s Chief Operations Officer Yuriy Ostapyak is proud of the company’s ongoing response to support Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022. Ostapyak was born and raised in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine before coming to America nearly 25 years ago as a Rotary exchange student and has worked at Logistics Plus for the past 20 years.

“We have many years of expertise and experience and knowledge of Ukrainian markets, and we started using it basically on Day One,” he says. “We’ve donated a lot of money on our own and made sure that the money that we donated or raised went exactly where it was intended.”

For example, Logistics Plus facilitated more than $1 million in donations and relief in the transportation of medical supplies, food and clothing, as well as power generators to support communities affected by conflict and displacement. LP also purchased and outfitted two custom-equipped vans as mobile trauma units for Ukrainian field medics in Bakmut, a southern border town with Russia.

LP has made significant investments in its Ukranian-based operations as well. In July 2022, LP acquired Concor-Trans, a Ukrainian-based freight forwarding and logistics company in the capital city of Kyiv and second office in Odesa. Before that, Logistics Plus already had a significant presence in Ukraine, with an office of nearly 50 people located in Ivano-Frankivsk, in the western portion of Ukraine.

“In typical LP fashion, we purchased the company basically strictly on a handshake,” explains Ostapyak. “The company didn’t have much business, but what it had was amazing people with great skill sets in terms of customs and in terms of true logistics.”

LP’s services in Ukraine have been particularly crucial in maintaining the flow of essential goods, which are vital for Ukraine’s economy and people.

Emily Grein, LP’s director of Airfreight and Ukraine Development, is intimately involved in the trade lane from the United States to Ukraine and the growth of LP’s operations there. With air space shut down for safety, her airfreight team has been responsible for maneuvering and developing a corridor with Poland and LP’s Warsaw office to expedite goods over to Ukraine. When Polish truckers put strikes on the border, it was LP’s team that navigated other options through Hungary and Romania.

“We know that the Ukrainian economy must keep moving. It can’t stop with this war,” says Grein. “They need money to go in; they need goods to go out. We’ve been helping the agricultural sector, transportation sector, and we’ve been a big advocate for the rebuilding of Ukraine.”

When Ukraine’s Black Sea ports were cut off, Logistics Plus was instrumental in helping get critical infrastructure shipments delivered. The company worked with an American oil and gas supplier Vorex, also in Erie, to manage the complex delivery of 22 thousand tons of gas pipes — the equivalent of 47 million pounds.

LP rerouted the shipment through Romania’s Constanta Port via ship, then onto dozens of barges, and lastly to end destinations across Ukraine utilizing more than 1,000 truck shipments. LP’s teams in China, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey and United States were involved.

In 2024, Logistics Plus delivered the final shipment of these materials directly to Ukraine’s Black Sea Port of Chornomorsk, southwest of Odesa. It marked the first time a non-grain, U.S.-managed ship successfully delivered and unloaded at the port since the onset of the war.

“Shortly before that and during it, Odesa was being bombed and they had bomb alerts and sirens going off, so that to me is really one of the craziest things we’ve been able to pull off there, just knowing the circumstances around it,” says Grein.

Representing the U.S. on the World Stage

The tenets of Logistics Plus are rooted in Berlin’s entrepreneurial spirit and a “do whatever it takes” to make the impossible possible.

This “can do” approach may be one of the many reasons Berlin was appointed to serve alongside two fellow U.S. representatives from Northrop Grumman and McDonald’s to help support Ukraine’s economic stability and pave the way for future reconstruction from the private sector. The Business Advisory Council consists of 18 business leaders across the G-7 nations, Ukraine and key donor states, and is led by Dr. Christian Bruch, chief executive officer of the multinational energy giant Siemens.

“McDonald’s probably does more business in one day than we do in a year, and Northrop Grumman is a world-class defense contractor. Logistics Plus almost doesn’t fit in that group, so it was a little bit humbling, but I think we’re there for a reason,” Berlin says. “They wanted some folks who were more willing to kind of push the envelope a little bit, and again, try to lead the way.”

“As my son, Derek, puts it, ‘You get the Special Forces to go in quietly to start, and then the Marines come in and then all the Armed Forces come behind them,’” adds Berlin. “I think we are kind of the ones willing to take a little more risk.”

Derek Berlin, who joined his father at the G-7 meeting in Berlin, Germany, is LP’s senior vice president of Global Government Solutions. He has been active in the LP’s Ukrainian initiative and brings more than 20 years of government relations-related experience to the company. Derek has worked for the U.S. State Department and the Department of Defense, followed by a career focused on international policy and finance while working for the Council on Foreign Relations. For nearly a decade, he was with JP Morgan, helping clients understand how to best compete and navigate challenges in foreign markets.

Recently, Derek Berlin moderated a panel discussion on Risk Management at the 2024 U.S.-Ukraine Partnership Forum Discussion. The forum was hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the U.S. government on activating U.S. private sector support for Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction.

The goal is “identifying partners that Logistics Plus can work with primarily from the private sector who are like-minded and trying to operate in these difficult-to-operate environments, such as Ukraine, and figuring out ways that we can work together to achieve business outcomes while taking into account the realities of the policy and security landscape,” he says.

Derek Berlin also recently joined his father on a trip to Ukraine. They were both impressed by the Ukrainian people and their team members who continue to persevere amid air sirens, power outages and devastating attacks, such as the bombing of the Kyiv Children’s Hospital.

“Seeing the spirit, diligence and resilience of those men and women representing Logistics Plus out there in these very challenging times is just mind blowing,” says Derek.

As Jim Berlin sees it, the Ukrainians fight against Russia is a fight for the West and future of democracy. “Ukrainians are fighting and dying and all they’re asking for is support from the rest of the world,” he says. “That’s a hell of a deal for us, I think.”

Support on the Homefront

Back in the United States, Logistics Plus is also rallying support and investment in Ukrainian rebuilding efforts with local fundraising and donations, and other initiatives. One notable program is the Ukrainian Hockey Camp and Cultural Exchange, which aims to provide youth with opportunities to engage in sports, develop teamwork skills and build a sense of community. Started in 2023, the program provides rigorous training aimed at skill enhancement and team camaraderie. In 2024, the camp hosted 20 Ukrainians, five Romanian and 15 local kids from Erie and Buffalo.

LP logistics analyst Pasha Nayda helped with the efforts. Nayda is a former Mercyhurst University hockey player whose father Anatoliy played for the junior All-Soviet Team, senior Ukraine Team and was a Team Lead of the national Ukraine Team for years. “It’s definitely very inspiring to see the kids come here and give them the opportunity to skate because of everything going on,” he says. “They absolutely enjoy being here.”

Also in 2024, Logistics Plus hosted the Whistlestops for Ukraine tour. The tour was organized by the German Marshall Fund and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to drum up support for Ukraine across rural American communities that specialize in agriculture and manufacturing.

Several high-profile CEOs and business leaders from across the country and world attended, including American businessman and philanthropist Howard Buffett.

“I’m trying to help bring those people together if they don’t know one another, and seeing what can come from that,” says Jim Berlin. “But there’s a lot of support out there, and I think we’re kind of pulling it all together and maybe amplifying it a little bit.”

LP is also supporting efforts by Diane Chido of DC Analytics for Erie to become a “Seaster” City with Chornomorsk. Erie was pivotal in the U.S. War of Independence in 1812, and Chornomorsk is playing a major role in the fight for Ukraine’s independence.

According to Jim Berlin, sister cities are a good way to connect people through schools, universities, businesses, sports teams, different levels of government, the Port of Erie, of course, cultural institutions and others. Chornomorsk cheers for Odesa’s Seasters women’s soccer team, while Erie has the Seawolves baseball team.

“It’s exciting,” he says. “We’ve talked to everyone behind the scenes, and they’re all on board.”

Looking Ahead

As Ukraine continues its journey toward economic stability and growth, the support of partners like Logistics Plus will be instrumental. The company’s commitment serves as a model for how logistics providers can contribute to global development and foster meaningful change.

Logistics Plus is poised to continue making a positive difference in Ukraine and beyond, embodying the true spirit of a 21st-century solutions provider.

“Our efforts just show that this is the ‘LP way’ and that we are not going to stand by or be the followers,” says Ostapyak. “We always try to be the market leader — jumping in and figuring things out.”