Robert Kraft is better known as owner of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots than as a paper-products exporter. But International Forest Products Corp., part of the Kraft Group, ranked 43rd on the JoC's list of Top 100 Exporters, with 20,000 TEUs.
Robert Kraft's sports and entertainment holdings also include the New England Revolution of the Major Soccer League and the Gillette Field, where the Patriots play.
The Kraft Group is a privately owned, family operated company whose business units include paper products and packaging, sports and entertainment, and private equity investment. International Forest Products handles the sales and marketing of paper products and arranges transportation.
The company ships its products in containers as well as breakbulk. Affiliated companies include the Rand-Whitney Group, a manufacturer of corrugated containers, and Rand-Whitney Container Board, a manufacturer of recycled linerboard.
Arranging transportation is a key component of International Forest Products' operations. Transportation charges represent as much as 25 percent of the delivered price of paper commodities. The company's logistics managers evaluate vessel accessibility and transit schedules to arrange cost-effective, reliable transportation.
The transportation staff oversees shipments from the placement of the purchase order to the delivery of the product to the customer's door.