Bruce A. Fenimore

Bruce A. Fenimore is a successful transportation executive with more than 40 years of experience in the ocean freight and logistics industry. Mr. Fenimore started his career with Trans Freight Lines, Inc. (TFL) in several operations capacities, throughout the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast, which spanned port operations and intermodal. In 1982, he was responsible for the start-up and management of the intermodal department at TFL. After launching Trans Freight Express, TFL’s trucking company; Mr. Fenimore was promoted to Vice President of Operations.

In 1990, Mr. Fenimore joined Columbia Coastal Transport as its President. Under his leadership, the company expanded its service routes and the size of its U.S.-flag barge fleet operating as many as 11 barges connecting multiple U.S. ports. As a result, Columbia Coastal Transport earned its reputation as the leader in containerized cargo feeder services and the provider of the most environmentally sustainable mode of container transportation available in the market. To this day, Columbia Coastal Transport provides one of the only successful and unsubsidized container-on-barge services in the country calling Norfolk, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

As the industry developed, Mr. Fenimore understood the importance of inland transportation and equipment services to accommodate the overall growth of the trade. To strengthen the company’s position and capitalize on the growth, Mr. Fenimore orchestrated the acquisition of a leading depot operator, renaming it Columbia Container Services, and started a chassis leasing and trucking division, Columbia Intermodal, to create the Columbia Group of Companies. Columbia Container Services is now a well-established provider of off-dock container and chassis storage, handling, and maintenance services and Columbia Intermodal is the chassis pool operator for the Port of Boston.

In 2008, along with his business partner John Armstrong, Mr. Fenimore purchased the Columbia Group of Companies from its previous owners. Since the acquisition, the company has continued to expand. In 2015, envisioning the need for a return to container-on-barge services, due to the introduction of larger vessels calling on fewer ports, Columbia built the Columbia Freedom a state-of-the-art 910 TEU container barge. On the landside, Columbia has experienced exponential growth including the opening of the Bayonne Chassis Depot, operating the chassis pool in the Port of Boston, relocating the Maher Terminal empty container depot into the Port of New York and New Jersey, and opening of the Elizabeth Chassis Depot. In 2018, Mr. Fenimore purchased the remaining shares of the company to become the sole owner of the Columbia Group, LLC and its operating companies.

Mr. Fenimore currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Marine Maintenance Contractors’ Association.

Mr. Fenimore is married to his wife Jackie and has three daughters and four grandchildren.