Riley to Honor Trade Firms Page & Jones, AIRINC

3/07/07

By Kaija Wilkinson, Staff Reporter

Mobile-based Page & Jones Inc. and Fairhope-based AIRINC/Fokker Services are among the 2007 recipients of Governor's Trade Excellence Awards to be presented at the State Capitol next week.

Page & Jones handles international freight logistics for companies large and small, while AIRINC performs maintenance, repair and overhaul work, known in the industry as MRO, for airlines.

The awards are part of the Export Alabama Initiative, a partnership of the Alabama Development Office, Gov. Bob Riley's office and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Traderoots program, said Hilda Lockhart, director of the ADO's international trade division.

This is the second year for the awards. A statewide committee of representatives from the ADO, the International Trade Center and the International Department of commerce choose eight winners that they fell have been instrumental in promoting Alabama Exports, Lockhart said.

Lockhart said Mobile's Page & Jones, for example, has been supportive of the Alabama export community for as long as development officials can remember.

Founded in Mobile in 1892, Page & Jones works with local and national chambers to get Alabama companies into world markets, co-sponsoring events and offering free services and advice, said Mike Lee, President and CEO.

Lee said the company has clients that range from small electronics and poultry exporters to giants like Hyundai Motor Co., for whom it helps arrange exports to Canada.

From around 15 employees in the early 1970's, Page & Jones has grown to about 60 employees in 12 offices in six states, Lee said. The company handles about $75 million worth of transactions each year, he said.

AIRINC was founded in 1990.  It was acquired by Fokker Services, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Stork Aerospace, in July 2006.

The company has a 26,000-square-foot facility on U.S. 98 that specializes in repair and maintenance of aircraft components.

"We're very proactive as far as going overseas," said Greg Guzman, AIRINC's vice president of marketing and sales.  AIRINC representatives have attended trade shows in Europe and Asia, he said, and has secured multi-year contracts with companies such as Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa Technik of Germany.

Annual revenue is around $13.5 million, and the Fairhope facility employs about 65 people.

Other Trade Excellence honorees are: Alabama River Pulp Co., Inc. of Perdue Hill, Digium Inc. and Prozone Water Products Inc. of Huntsville; Thomasville Lumber Co., Inc. of Thomasville and ECS Inc. and Vulcan.