Everardo Sustaita, CEO

Learning about the logistics industry came naturally to  Everardo P. Sustaita, CEO of Sustaita Logistics Center LP.

“I went to work my last year of college as a verifier of shipments for my father, a longtime Mexican Customs Broker,” Sustaita said. “During that time it became clear my father needed better control over the shipments going from the U.S. to Mexico. He needed someone who would cover his back, and that was me.” He and his father both realized what a vital job it was.  “Discrepancies on shipments found at Mexican Customs could have landed him in jail in Mexico.”

Putting aside his dream to become a professor of economics, Sustaita first rented a shared warehouse in Hidalgo but without the tight security Sustaita wanted. Within two years, he bought the land on his current site and built his first 5,000 square foot warehouse.

Today he has a total of 82,000 square feet with 47 employees on the U.S. side and 170 at his Reynosa facilities, working mainly with manufacturing plants. Sustaita provides Mexican customs broker services, border transfer transportation and warehouses goods arriving from the U.S., which are shipped to Mexico and distributed across the border. The company handles inventory control management for its clients and when the finished goods come back across the border, Sustaita Logistics Center processes the distribution of the end products throughout the U.S.

Developing computer software to track the shipments, Sustaita can know in an instant where a shipment is, the metrics as it goes through customs, whether it’s red or green lighted, and how long it takes to get through.

Having obtained his PhD in Customs Law and International Trade Law, Sustaita has been invited to Spain for a conference in Customs Law. He has also been asked to be a professor at UTRGV.  His dream of teaching lives on.

“You never knew 22 years ago what you were going to be building, did you?” I asked.

“No,” Sustaita chuckled. “I just wanted to be a professor.”