Lexington-based Longship is a third-party logistics provider — a 3PL in business parlance — specializing in over-the-road truckloads of fresh and frozen produce and dry commodities. The bulk of the company’s shipments are refrigerated produce loads.
Kenny Ray Schomp
“Through hard work and common sense, Longship has developed into an efficient and trustworthy transportation source for carriers and shippers throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico,” said Kenny Ray Schomp, founder and president. “Our vision is to be America’s freight concierge.”
Schomp founded Quality Logistics LLC, doing business as Longship, in 2012. He started the company in a double-wide trailer, facilitating truckload shipments of produce. “We cut our teeth on some of the toughest goods to ship,” he said.
In fall of 2016, the company expanded operations to a retrofitted warehouse on Newtown Pike. Last summer, Longship moved into a 30,000-square-foot facility on Sir Barton Way in the Hamburg area. In November 2019, Longship opened its first satellite location in Nashville and plans to open additional regional branches in the future.
With approximately 100 employees and growing, Longship works with 600,000 Longship-qualified trucks and moves more than 41,000 loads annually. Because it is a third-party provider, Longship’s logo doesn’t appear on any semitrailers transporting goods.
“Our employees oversee customer shipments from pickup to on-time delivery, assuring an efficient process,” said Courtney Putthoff, Longship’s chief of staff. “The company milestones we achieve are a direct reflection of the hard work and dedication our employees have to the success of Longship.”
Longship has grown steadily over the past decade and has experienced a particularly brisk momentum over the past several years. “This growth has fueled the need for hiring qualified and tenacious employees who have energy, enthusiasm and, above all, a passion for learning,” Schomp said. “Like many other companies, we are always challenged to hire and retain intelligent and entrepreneurial-focused individuals.”
A 2005 graduate of Xavier University with a degree in entrepreneurship, Schomp is a Lexington native with extensive knowledge of the trucking and logistics industry. “I have been in the trucking industry my entire life,” he said. “As a business owner, I want to surround myself with people whom I can trust. … We’ve created a team mentality for this business and provided a clear-cut road map for success. Nothing makes me prouder than seeing our new salespeople find success.”
The name Longship represents what the company does: long-distance shipping. A thousand years ago (and more recently on the History Channel’s “Vikings” series), a longship was a Viking boat known for speed.
Longship was founded in 2012. The logistics company has since expanded to 100 employees and a fleet of more than 600,000 affiiated trucks.
These days, far more shipping takes place on land than on water. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, by way of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, transborder freight from the United States to Canada and Mexico represented $1.325 trillion for 2021, 62 percent of which was moved by trucks. Intracontinental freight by rail made up 14 percent, with the remaining freight handled by pipeline, water vessel and air.
Schomp is proud of the local and state-level partnerships Longship has developed over the past decade. He cites the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development in promising to create 155 new jobs in the commonwealth. Longship is also involved with programs at the University of Kentucky and sponsors a Longship Club at Kroger Field.
Says Schomp: It’s all to be “front and center of recruitment of Central Kentucky’s top talent.”