David and Tanya Petrino, Nathan Sprague
Vancouver, WA
https://www.pacwestfreight.com/
Founded 2016
In their own words
PacWest Freight is a family-owned brokerage group located in the heart of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in Vancouver, Washington in 2016, PacWest has quickly become one of the most reliable brokers in the region.
At PacWest Freight, technology is at the core of our brokerage operations, helping us work more efficiently, reduce costs, and provide superior service to our shippers and carriers. Our tech-driven approach allows us to streamline processes, improve visibility, and optimize decision-making.
We are committed to delivering excellence in every aspect of our business, from building strong partnerships with our customers and carriers to ensuring the highest level of service. At PacWest Freight, your success is our priority, and we pride ourselves on being a reliable partner you can count on.
When was the brokerage founded, and what prompted you to start?
PacWest was started to support the overflow freight from our asset side (Jacko Logistics) and then expanded to other niches.
What type of brokerage model do you operate?
PacWest operates a Managed Capacity — Power Only model, but we own our trailers and have a strong network across the 11 western states that we operate in.
Does the brokerage specialize in specific freight types or markets?
We specialize in dry van, freight forwarding, and reefer.
What products are essential to the day-to-day operations of the brokerage?
We use the DAT Load Board and RateView on a daily basis. These tools have allowed for faster carrier sourcing, market rate transparency, and support efficiency in negotiations.
What did DAT simplify or make easier for your brokerage?
DAT has supported our brokerage operations in a number of ways:
We’ve expanded our carrier network – DAT has allowed us to quickly and consistently find high-quality carriers. It’s great. They’ve helped us scale without sacrificing service quality.
We’ve adopted data-driven pricing strategies – DAT’s real-time rate analytics and historical trends enable us to make informed pricing decisions, ensuring we stay competitive while maximizing margins.
We’ve made things more efficient – The automation and search tools within DAT save us time when matching loads to carriers, allowing our team to do more with less manual effort. Plus, our TMS integration makes day-to-day work much easier and more fluid.
How does DAT support your short-term goals?
DAT’s load board and digital freight-matching tools allow our brokers to quickly find and book loads, helping them ramp up faster. It’s hard getting started, and this is a great help.
Plus, their huge carrier network helps us connect with new, reliable transportation partners.
Automated carrier vetting tools ensure we work with safe, compliant, and dependable carriers.
We’ve started to tap into AI-driven tools to streamline load matching, rate benchmarking, and market forecasting, improving efficiency. We’re getting leaner and more precise. We can begin to pivot to excelling in customer service now. Real-time tracking via Trucker Tools is huge with this. We can give continual updates to shippers. It gives them peace of mind and makes our relationship strong.
How does DAT support your long-term goals?
We’ve got some lofty goals as a business and are aiming for 30% year-over-year growth. While that sounds like a tough hill to climb in today’s freight market, it’s become easier now to envision how we’d expand our service offerings. DAT provides access to LTL, intermodal, and specialized freight solutions, helping us diversify. They also help in moving to new markets, freight rate intelligence ensures we stay competitive as we enter; we operate across the 11 most western states and are actively expanding into Texas.
The DAT Broker TMS integrations and automation tools make scaling operations smoother. We won’t have to abandon those tools when we get bigger.
What are the greatest challenges facing the freight or brokerage industry?
We see a few.
Volatility – Freight rates are constantly shifting due to economic conditions, fuel costs, seasonal trends, and supply chain disruptions. Brokers everywhere must navigate these fluctuations while maintaining profitability and strong carrier relationships. It’s not easy.
Capacity concerns – Finding dependable carriers, especially during high-demand periods, remains a challenge for us..
Fraud – Freight fraud, including double brokering and carrier identity theft, is on the rise. DAT has helped us cut down and worry less about this, though.
By leveraging DAT’s advanced technology, market insights, and automation tools, PacWest Freight is positioned to scale its brokerage, expand service offerings, and achieve long-term business success.
