Past, present, and future of The Pasha Group

Through three generations of “Georges”, the company has grown from a single service station to a diversified empire of global logistics and transportation services.

purchased the “Flying A” service station and began offering storage of privately owned vehicles in San Francisco for World War II personnel who were assigned overseas. This led to the incorporation of the first Pasha business, Pasha Overseas Automobile Processing Company. From there and over the next 30 years, the company added:

• Pasha Truckaway to transport customer vehicles across California to port facilities;

• the first independent automotive port processing on the West Coast;

• auto-processing operations at Pier J at the Port of Long Beach;

• Pasha Services (today Pasha Automotive Services);

• Maritime Services International (later becoming Pasha Maritime Services); and

• the acquisition of AFI Worldwide Forwarders (now Pasha Relocation Services).

The growth didn’t stop there. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Pasha Maritime Services opened an omni terminal for breakbulk, containers and other cargoes at the Port of Los Angeles, and added steel products to their stevedoring services. Pasha Automotive Services opened a new facility in San Diego; Pasha Distribution Services was created to provide total logistics management for finished and pre-owned vehicles via an extensive overland transportation network throughout North America; Pasha Hawaii was formed to operate ocean car/truck carriers for the Mainland/Hawaii trade lane.

The 21st century saw a continued expansion for The Pasha Group and its subsidiaries. Pasha Hawaii added a second ocean cargo vessel to its fleet and the company acquired Horizon Lines, Inc’s. Hawaii trade lane which included four containerships and Hawaii Stevedores, Inc. The company also launched new auto-processing facilities for Pasha Automotive Services; and in 2018, announced a joint venture with the State of Hawaii to construct the Kapalama Container Terminal on Oahu.

A family affair

No background on The Pasha Group would be complete without recognizing the legacy of founder George W. Pasha, Jr. and the subsequent generations of “Georges” who continue to build on that legacy. Pasha Jr. started his career at the age of 17 in the automotive industry before working as a machinist in one of Seattle’s shipyards and then returning to the auto industry. The first acquisition made by George Jr. was the Velie Automobile Agency in Vancouver, B.C., in 1928. When Velie discontinued the manufacture of its autos, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and eventually purchased the Flying A Service Station across the street from Fort Mason in San Francisco, the true root of today’s company.

As a young boy, George W. Pasha, III began working at the Flying A as a mechanic and parts runner, as well as running a drive-away service, and picking up and delivering POVs belonging to troops deployed in and out of Fort Mason. He joined the company in earnest after graduating from the University of San Francisco and, by the early 1960s, began expanding the company’s reach, adding automobile processing facilities, as well as stevedoring services for vessels. Taking on the role of CEO in 1970, George III expanded the company even further, including the establishment of Maritime Services International which quickly grew from just the automotive import industry into breakbulk terminal and stevedoring operations, with additional locations added on both the West and East Coasts.

Current President and CEO, George W. Pasha IV, assumed the leadership role in 2008. He spent his childhood summers working in various departments of the company, and, after obtaining his Bachelor of Science in Economics and working in the finance industry, returned to the family company in 1985. Roles have included Vice President and then President of the Transportation division, as well as President and Chief Operating Officer of The Pasha Group.

In true family-business fashion, George’s siblings also worked for the company during summer vacations — sisters Maureen and Mary Jane, and brothers Michael and John — and played key roles from the 1990s onward. Janet Pasha, George’s mother, and wife of George Pasha, III, was also involved in the company for many years, serving as Vice President of Personnel and later as Vice President, Public Relations. Michael Pasha, George’s younger brother, currently serves as Vice President of Pasha Hawaii, overseeing the company’s over-highand-wide division. John Pasha, the youngest sibling, serves as Senior Vice President of Pasha Automotive Services.

The Pasha Group at a glance

Today, with five divisions synergized to act as a single-source supplier for trade, The Pasha Group’s success can be attributed to a set of principles first established with George Jr. —delivering excellence to customers and expecting the same from employees; acting with honesty and integrity in all that they do; recognizing that to move forward as a company and as individuals,