Our story
The authority we work under today was granted in 1941 to a Philadelphia trucker. It has stayed in the family ever since.
Dock Street, Philadelphia, early 1900s. Public domain.
The same MC number since 1941
Look up Penn Logistics on FMCSA and you'll see MC-693. The Interstate Commerce Commission issued that number on May 20, 1941, to Harry B. Niehaus, Jr. of Philadelphia. His trucks were on the road before that, and his filings tell the story.
From the filings
- Before 1935
Trucking in Philadelphia
Harry B. Niehaus, Jr. is already hauling freight around Philadelphia under certificates from the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission. The oldest filings we have renew rights he already held.
- 1935
Seven trucks and three kinds of work
Pennsylvania renews his rights on October 8: refrigerators for the Ridgway Refrigerator Company and carpets and rugs for the Columbia Carpet Mills within 25 miles of Philadelphia City Hall; boilers, machinery and structural steel within 100 miles, rigging included; and general freight for rail and water terminals, manufacturers and wholesalers in Philadelphia, Darby, Upper Darby and Lansdowne, on seven trucks.
- 1937
Permanent rights
Pennsylvania removes the expiration date from those certificates.
- 1941
MC-693
On May 20 the Interstate Commerce Commission grants Certificate No. MC-693 for interstate work: machinery, rugs, refrigerators and refrigerated showcases, water softeners and more between Philadelphia, New York, Wilmington, southern New Jersey and Atlantic City.
- 1952
Castings to Luzerne County
Cast-iron castings for the Bonair Foundry Co. from Philadelphia to the American Chain and Cable Company plant in Exeter, Luzerne County, with the empty containers coming back.
- 1961
Between two carpet plants
Freight for the Downs Carpet Company between its Philadelphia plant and its plant on Davisville Road in Upper Moreland Township.
- 1963
Deliveries to a wool scourer
Niehaus trucks are delivering to the Delaware Valley Wool Scouring Company in Philadelphia.
- 1971
Textiles and building products
Wool, cotton, yarn and textile machinery around Philadelphia, including for Frederick Lord, Inc., Robert Krook, Inc., John Wilde and Brother and the National Waste Company. Later that year, adhesive cement, caulking, roofing cement and tile for the Pecora Chemical Corporation, from Lower Salford Township to Philadelphia and Delaware County.
- 2012
From carrier to broker
After more than 75 years as a motor carrier, the company becomes a freight brokerage under the same MC number.
- Today
Penn Logistics
Penn Logistics LLC holds MC-693 as a licensed broker of property, based in Bensalem, just outside Philadelphia. It has been in the family the whole time.
What carried over
The freight in those early orders was heavy and awkward: boilers that needed rigging, refrigerators, rolled carpet, structural steel. It had to arrive in one piece.
We don't run our own trucks anymore. We arrange carriers, and one person owns each load from the quote to delivery. The job is the same: get it there the way we said we would.
Why the number is so low
The Motor Carrier Act of 1935 put interstate trucking under the ICC, and the ICC numbered applications as they came in. MC-693 was one of the first 700 filed in the country.
Look up MC-693 on FMCSASame number, same standard.
Send us a lane. The person who quotes it is the one who runs it.
(800) 908-7366