Page 24 - Port of Baltimore - Issue 4 - 2024

PORT BUSINESS
Frans Zwanenburg
As the company’s customer base grew, and the demand for warehouse space to hold inventories skyrocketed, Ancora’s providers strained to keep up with its volumes, which led Zwanenburg and Haines to look for their own warehouse space around Baltimore. “None was available, but finally we found a path forward and ended up getting our own large Class A warehouse and office in May 2023,” Zwanenburg said. “The best part: every step we took was done with our own capital and cashflow. No company or financial institution was willing to take any risk in financing
us during these uncertain times,
and without employees, there was
no governmental payroll help for
‘Rowing in the Same Direction’
EXPERIENCED LEADERS HELPED ANCORA WAREHOUSING & LOGISTICS NAVIGATE COVID, BRIDGE COLLAPSE
BY DERON SNYDER / Photos by Donovan Eaton Photography
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global health emergency. Five months later, owners Frans Zwanenburg and Kathy Haines founded Ancora Warehousing & Logistics, LLC.
Starting a business amid a worldwide pandemic isn’t ideal and only a few would do it, Zwanenburg said.
“Nobody was working from offices anymore and we began our journey in a conference room at one of our vendors.
We needed some more privacy and decided to move into a rental house owned by Kathy Haines, which became vacant during COVID-19. Then neighbors started to complain, and we signed our first office lease at the Maritime Center at Tributary Street,” Zwanenburg said.
[22] The Port of Baltimore ■ ISSUE 4 / 2024