Episode 19: Technology, Respect & Strategy: How Excargo Services Became Houston's Premier Container Carrier

Join SCORE Houston host and mentor PV Bala in an inspiring conversation with Marcia Faschingbauer, CEO of Excargo Services, as she shares her remarkable 45-year journey building a logistics powerhouse in Houston's male-dominated trucking industry.

From starting as a transportation manager in her family's food business to becoming a trailblazer at the Port of Houston, Marcia reveals the strategic decisions, leadership principles, and innovative technology adoption that transformed a struggling startup into one of Houston's premier container carriers.

In this episode, discover:

✓ How to transition from a small family business to a 100-employee logistics company ✓ The secret to achieving exceptional driver retention in a high-turnover industry ✓ Why early technology adoption became Marcia's competitive advantage ✓ Essential funding strategies for small business owners—from navigating multiple banks to building creditworthiness ✓ Leadership lessons learned from 45 years in supply chain management ✓ How to survive freight recessions and industry disruption ✓ The importance of focusing on information and people over equipment ✓ Practical advice for entrepreneurs considering the logistics industry

Key Highlights:

• Winner of SBA District Small Business of the Year Award (2025)
• Texas Trucking Association Leadership Award recipient (2024)
• Building an inclusive workplace culture in a traditionally male industry
• Navigating the complexities of Port of Houston operations

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, small business owner, or logistics professional, Marcia's story offers invaluable insights on perseverance, strategic growth, and building a legacy business in Houston's dynamic industrial landscape.

About SCORE Houston: SCORE is America's largest network of volunteer business mentors, supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration. We provide free, confidential mentoring and education to help entrepreneurs start, grow, and succeed.

📍 Visit us: 8701 South Gessner, Suite 1200, Houston, TX 77074 📞 Call: 713-487-6565 🌐 Learn more: www.score.org/houston

Give your comments at https://scorehoustonpodcast.blogspot.com or write to pv.bala@scorevolunteer.org. Let us know what you like of this episode and suggest subjects on which you wish to know more. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello, and welcome to Small Business Success Stories at Score Houston. This is where we bring insights, experiences, and the journey of successful small business entrepreneurs. Score mentors volunteer their time to guide small businesses. Score is America's largest network of volunteer business mentors supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Here in Houston, we provide free confidential mentoring and education to help entrepreneurs start, grow, and succeed. Now let's dive into today's small business success story.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Welcome to Score Houston Podcast. I'm your host and mentor, PV Bala. Today we are joined by a true trailblazer in the heart of Houston's industrial engine, Marcia Fashenbaugh. As the CEO of X Cargo Services, Marcia has spent 45 years transforming a specialized need for reliable transport into a logistic powerhouse serving the port of Houston. A recipient of the District Small Business of the Year Award into the 2025 from SBA, a 2024 Texas Tracking Association Leadership Award, and chair that organization, she has built a reputation for excellence in a high-stakes, male-dominated industry. Marcia is not only a master of supply chain complexity, but also a dedicated advocate for the Houston business community and a testament to the power of strategic growth. Welcome to the podcast, Marcia. Thank you. Marcia, I had gone through your profile, I read through all the whatever information that are available, and SBA also gave me some part of the introduction. I understand that you started uh your career in your family food business and you encountered a problem in the food business that uh led you to trucking. So, can you describe that?

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Yes, I began my logistics career as the transportation manager for our family food business, and I really fell in love with logistics and organizing and moving things. I felt like I was a symphony conductor of moving all these parts to make everything work perfectly. However, I began to have a little trouble with the family business element. Being the youngest, not having the voice, I just that part was less appealing to me. And our family vacations and family holidays began to have a lot of complications. It wasn't as joyful as we had been. So I started looking for other things to do. And my we we and also our business was really struggling. The city was growing exponentially, and the grocery business in Houston had been a family business. And all of us were having a run for our money because here comes Safeway and Kroger and these really big conglomerates that wanted a piece of this growing city, and we were really struggling. And our business really was not diversified, and we weren't prepared for this kind of fight. And my dad unfortunately passed away unexpectedly, and we as children were not groomed to take on this business. We were more grief-filled, and so it was a kind of a tough situation. And I began to look for other ways for us to make money, and I thought we're in a port city and we can export. And then when we began to export our food products, the containers would arrive late, they would arrive smelly, unworthy for food product. And I thought I can this could be better. And I talked with our customers who are in the grocery distribution business and the institutional food business, and I said, How do you manage this? And they said, That's terrible. We don't have any good service in Houston. So I thought I could do this. And I I joined the effort. My husband was very encouraging for me to do this, and he saw that I love logistics. And so I began the business as a division of our family food business, but we were a growing company that was needing resources that a struggling company couldn't provide. So that's when I began to look for ways to buy ex cargo out of the family business, and we were successful in getting that done. And then that's the whole idea is I started the company as a customer of the service, and I knew what we needed. I knew the information, I knew how critical we were to exporters and importers' bottom lines. And so that attitude and that approach has always served us very well.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Excellent. So I noted that you started your own business in 1979, and then in four years' time, you bought over the family business. That's like Chicago. Incorporated it. I know, that's right. So wonderful. Now tell me, you moving to a larger business, which is a large organization, and the transition from your own activity, small business, to a large business, and heading that organization, what is the transition like? How did you feel that?

SPEAKER_02 5:51

I began to enlist the support of the Small Business Development Center, and they helped me identify what we were the best at, what markets made the most sense for us, and we really got more focused on what we needed to be doing instead of the temptation to do everything for everybody. And that was really helpful to have that tutelage. I was fortunate to be recommended to join the Houston Business Council, which at the time was minority and women business owners, and that exposed me to ExxonMobil and Texaco and Chevron and some companies that like that who had the needs for my type of service and who gave us opportunities to compete. And then it turned out our service and communication worked better than the folks they were using. So we really grew our business with those kinds of industries. I focused on household goods, corporate relocations, petrochemicals, and beverages. And those were all industries where the service level is really important and the communication is really important. And so they valued the technology I brought to the table. They valued the safety that I embraced and the communications. And that's what helped me get a bigger.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Now, how was the competition at that point of time?

SPEAKER_02 7:17

The competition was, in my opinion, very different than it is today. In those days, it was a bunch of guys who had been truck drivers and they they were in love with their trucks and they thought it was about the trucks. They would carry their pictures of their trucks like grandchildren's pictures. They were really proud of running up and down the road. And it's not about running up and down the road. It's about being there with the right information at the right time with the right type of equipment so that we could be successful in loading and minimizing the customers, waiting time, overtime, making the cutoffs, avoiding penalties, which are rampant at the port. Maritime international business is complicated. And it was much more complicated in those days. That's not true. It's got more complicated with supply chain. But anyhow, the competition was I not taking care of their drivers. They were not, there's a real different environment than what I brought to the table. I called my company X cargo services because we were doing export cargo and I was doing a nod to escargot, kind of like gourmet trucking. We wanted to be the best. Excellent. I don't know that that's what our competition was after.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Being an international business, I have a fair idea of logistics. And logistics is one of the very high pressure industry. As a CEO, you have it's not only a it's not a I don't uh nine to six job, it's a 24-7 job. If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong, and it'll go wrong on a weekend, it'll go on the wrong on the midnight any point of time. So, how do you handle and how this kind of a high-pressure job changed your leadership style to run XCAGO?

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Well, I learned early on that the quality of the people that I had driving and working for me was key. My life would be better if they were good. And so I've always been one to make sure they understand what success looks like. I also am big on respecting them, getting to know them. I'm very inclusive in my leadership style. I happen to really enjoy Latin America and I'm fairly strong in my Spanish, and that turns out to be an asset because a lot of my drivers were coming from countries that are having civil war, like Nicaragua and El Salvador in those times. And they had never met an Anglo who had been to their home country. And so that we we built bonds that way. I'm also very big on safety, and that keeps my makes my day less stressful when we're not having accidents, when we're not pulling bad equipment, and we got the drivers enlisted in those programs. We created bonus programs, reward programs. If they did what we needed them to do, they would benefit financially from those actions. And so that's how I manage some of that. Plus, technology has always been my friend. We we had some kind of technology on board from day one, whether it was beepers, telephones, now two-way radios, now we have tablets, GPS, electronic monitoring. We can see where our drivers are. And that technology, we were early adapters to that, and that gave us a competitive advantage. Now we have many our competitors have also embraced that, and the supply chain has become as a very important business department and the in the C-suite. And companies have embraced using technology to manage their supply chain globally, and that makes the the the that's the Walmarts, that's the Amazons, that is what they did differently than their competition and their predecessors.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

I read about that. I also read a report that you have been able to have a very low attrition rate of drivers. Yes. You have a very high retention of drivers, which is something not too common in the industry where the drivers keep moving and very unreliable and all kinds of problems that you and I also read, which you just now pointed out, you are one of the early adopters of technology in your information system, data, and the technology. I think that set you apart in able to pro in you being able to provide better service to the customers and retaining the punctuality of your service. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yes, absolutely. And it helped helps our customers make better decisions, and it gives my dispatchers and my customer service team better fact-based data to help their customers make the right decisions. Because it's things change so much, more so than ever. But the technology really matters and the quality drivers, quality individuals. I looked for people like me that had been customers of this service. Intermodal trucking is very unique, and working with the port is very unique, and with customs and all the different entities. So those folks that do that tend to be very detailed, and that's an asset. And they know how to advocate for our customers. Because the it's kind of a mysterious situation with the port. It's got the port has gotten much more transparent and much more technology, but there still needs to be, we have a long way to go, but we have a very committed business, pro-business, Port of Houston, a leadership team, and we're really fortunate for that.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Beautiful. In fact, many of the ports do not have that kind of a facility, and much of the delay takes place at the port itself. But from what you're saying, Port of Houston is one of the better managed ports and very large ports.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Yes, yes. It's the busiest in the Gulf, absolutely. So what percentage of the business is the busiest in the country. Exactly, exactly. That's what I read. It's the carotid artery of the nation. I love to hear that that statement.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

And tell me, the much of the business is from picking up cargo from the container from the port to the hub. Does that, is that the main activity?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Yes, most of what we do is we will we pick up potatoes and at the port of Houston and we take it into Texas and the region, local region for importers and exporters. And they either live and load it or they we drop it and we come back and get it. The lion's year of Fort Houston's work is local. It's within 300 miles, and that's unique. Most other American ports have rail activity that take the port is a transfer point, like in California. It goes the off the vessel onto a train, it goes cross-country. Ours Houston's, I'm sorry, the Texas Triangle is such a dense uh manufacturing hub that we have the opportunity to take most everything within the region. X cargo also does Texas in the bordering states. You are we also have a warehouse. We have we have other services to support our customers' activity. We have a warehouse, we transfer cargo out of a container into a long-haul trailer that might go inland to save inland transportation, or we might receive product on the floor, as we call it, because of the cheap labor in other countries. I'll put it on the floor and then we'll bring it to our warehouse and palletize and stretch wrap it, reconfigure it so that it can then go to a high velocity warehouse that's very mechanized, like we have so many of in this region. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

So you you own the barrels too, is it? Large barrels?

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yes. And we also have chassis, which are the wheel part the containers go on. And the strategy for that is that they're safer. And we're very committed to safety, it is foundational. And so we want to control our own wheels so that we can control the safety and the mechanics on the category.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

It's just more efficient. That's right. But with this large operation, how many how many people you may have? Employees, workers, totally.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

I have about a hundred workers. We have drivers, we have mechanics, we have dispatchers, a safety team, accounting team, customer service team, dispatch team, warehouse team.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

How how easy or difficult it has been getting people for the job?

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Actually, I have had really good success. Over the years, I've had some rough times, but we have a waiting list. And we we really treat our, we want this to be, we want to attract and retain the best in every field. And we work very hard on that. And and we have a high value on being respectful to each other, to create a good place to be working and to be respected. You don't have to, this is not a political environment. This is a you come to work and you do a good job, we respect you and we take care of you. You don't have to be anybody's best friend or look a certain way or be a certain gender or any that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Tell me, you have been at the business help for 45 years. So, in terms of leader, how your vision has changed from running a small operation to being a CEO of one of the largest companies in in the logistics area.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

I don't know if we're the largest, but my vision has changed such that I I have really learned it's all about the people and surrounding myself with good people and making my vision clear to them. And that again, the SPDC helped me identify those things that are create our secret sauce. So we've trained everybody what those things are, and we re-enforce that continually in our language and then how and what we how we reinforce each other. And so my job really is to be the cheerleader, to be the advocate, the ambassador. And I need to get out of the way and let my people do their great jobs. Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Tell me something about your funding. Where did you get your funding? I mean, which bank provided, and at what stage of your business the first time you went for financing the business?

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Many, many banks over the years. My dad was on the board of what was called Allied Bank of Texas. And I started out with them because I knew those folks. But then we reached a time when, and they helped me buy the business, but as they got rolled into, I guess, Wells Fargo or whoever, I learned that small, I needed a regional bank. I needed a flexible bank. I was with some small banks that several of them got acquired. And all of a sudden, even though I was doing business with major companies like Chevron and Exxon, they were putting a two-week hold on my money. Oh, I could not operate. I have to pay my fuel bill every week, my drivers every week. I can't hold on for like that. So I went looking, and even though they as they got acquired, my bank officer would say, nothing's gonna change. Not so. Speaking of 24 hours, that's when I get the phone calls on a Saturday morning for my drivers because they can't get a lot of them like to cash through check, especially in those days. They and we don't even do checks anymore, it's all ACH. But anyhow, when you're a woman in a male-dominated business and the rumors start that you're not paying your drivers, then pretty soon you don't have any drivers. So that was something I could not tolerate. So I went and again, SPDC helped me. Over the years, I've done business with several regional banks. Currently, we're doing business with Stellar Bank and with Mid First Bank, which is kind of a big bank now. Over the years, I did business with Channel View Bank, which got acquired by Bank of America, the West University Bank, which got acquired by somebody at Compass Bank. So, anyhow, bankers don't like it, but I'm not a one-bank banker. I need to have several options because I've seen so many times when my banker retires or my bank gets acquired, and the rules just change overnight. So I I definitely and I save my money and we have investment accounts and we've got a great strong balance sheet. And that's the message my dad taught me about. You've got to take care of your credit and you've got to take care of your word. When things are down, people will trust you if you've been honorable. And so I did that. Along the way, I used Frostbank for many years, but then I again I reached a problem with Frostbank. And that's again another time I went to the SBDC. And fortunately, the counselor there explained to me exactly what was going on. And in a way that I this didn't make any sense to me. What he explained how bankers think and what he said, bottom line is they don't want your business. You need to get out of there. And I was so focused on how my intentions and we're good and we're paying our yada. And he said, no, that they've changed the game. You no longer are valuable. Go find someone else. And he helped me interview some other banks, and we were that's how we found the it was called Emirate at the time, but now it's mid first, and we were able to do a really successful low interest rate mortgage and roll our properties into this one mortgage that's really been favorable terms, and it's been with all the craziness that's happened since the pandemic, I'm so grateful that we made that decision. I'm so grateful for that tutelage.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Uh Marcia, we have uh so many clients wanting to start businesses, and one of the main issues they have, problems they have, is uh getting funding. Getting funding from the banks is an issue for them. Tell me, for a new for a startup company, what advice you can offer on how they should approach funding.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

I would say first and foremost, understand how important credit is. Make sure your own personal credit is as as good as it can be. Pay your bills, don't take big risks, don't pay big interest rates. I I have to say that. I in looking back over the years, one of the things that helped me was I was able to invest in some real estate as a rental property for my babysitting money. I mean, I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. I used to walk people's dogs and babysit, and I saved my money. That has proved to really be a fortunate situation. So I had my little nest egg and I was able to buy some rental property that my sister also helped me co-sign. And that property was able, I was able to borrow, use it as equity, as collateral many times when I didn't the company was struggling. And so if there's any way that anybody has a something that they can put up, that would be valuable. If you have credit cards, that's scary, but you have to really watch it and be careful. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Keep your word. And I've learned that by presenting an honorable, an honest, and complete financial package and loan request to a bank, that also really helps.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

Show up with the facts, show up with your intentions are, what your plan is. Banks are not interested in in just hopes and dreams and intentions. They need to see what your character is like and what you're getting.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Perfect. Tell me the last couple of questions. If you had to look back on your career on Wit X cargo 45 years, you would have done anything differently?

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yes, absolutely. I spent way too much time in the weeds. I spent way too much time, I think, playing small and not really positioning my company and dealing with the the people that were the biggest decision makers. So I would do that differently. I would I'm I'm I am a planner and a preparer and an anticipator. That has served me well, but I would have done more of that. And I would have, I just think I would have dreaming a little bigger would have been a good idea. I've spent a long time and and not having plans for new things sometimes has has cost me. That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

We do get a lot of people coming in wanting to start something or other in the logistics b area, logistic industry. Either owning a fleet of trucks, for example, like your trailers, they come and ask whether it's a good idea to start, but they don't know where to get the business. And then of course getting the funding for that. They have been previously drivers, or they might have had some family business. Now tell me, these kind of people I keep getting, even now. What kind of advice you could offer? I mean, is there an opportunity in the industry now? And if there is an industry opportunity, what area they should focus getting into it?

SPEAKER_02 25:10

We are in the fourth year of a freight recession. This is tough times. I just came back from a meeting of my insurance company with all of the different customers that they had, and everybody talks about how tough it is. And the tariffs have created chaos. The global political environment is chaotic. I think that's a really difficult time. And I think that there's way too much capacity. That's because during the pandemic, our customers were had, we also had the supply chain challenges of getting things moved. There were what we say in the international business, blank sailings. Ships didn't go to China, ships didn't go to ports because people were sick. And so that disruption created a huge demand for product. And then everybody overbought, and and then the folks went home and they bought all kinds of stuff because they were in their houses. They wanted to remodel. They wanted new TVs, new appliances, all kinds of new stuff. So during those days, many owner operators and many businesses went into business to do trucking because we literally had major global companies willing to pay us bonuses if we would handle their freight. I've never seen that before. They were initiating incentives because they wanted, they knew there weren't enough trucks, there weren't enough drivers, and they wanted to be sure their freight got moved, so they paid extra. So then lots of folks jumped in the market, lots of folks bought equipment that they really couldn't afford in a downtime. And then they also, during that time, we've got credit cards, we've got fast pay, we've like got all kinds of mechanisms to get paid quickly and load boards to go find loads, but they were really not financially viable. So we've had all these entities that are operating really at a loss, but they're able to manage their cash flow. They're just they're managing, but they're going broke. The banks didn't want the equipment back, so the banks didn't call them on it. And so, I mean, this is a really difficult market. There are several major logistics companies that defile bankruptcy all over the country. And the, I mean, the one thing they say that riches are in the niches. And so if I would recommend if but this is expensive if they can do tankers or hazardous chemicals or something really special. I don't that is a market, I think, that needs quality drivers.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

And but that's equipment also equipment is also specialty equipment, specialty permits.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Texas has got some of the most complicated weight laws and permit, expensive permits in the country. Okay. That also makes Texas a tough market. And also insurance is really expensive. These these billboard attorneys have driven the cost up of everything for us, including food on the table for the consumer. And our whole population is being seduced into not trusting their insurance company and trying to use any kind of event as a money money grab. There are even financial institutions that are financing lawsuits. This is really adversary. So uh hate to be a naysayer, but I would think this is just a rough time to start. And I have a lot of owner operators coming to me because they were in business for themselves and they couldn't make it. And now they can't afford insurance. And even though we have a great safety record, our insurance cost is still up.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

So it's it's a tough time. Yeah, last question what's what's your vision for your company for the next five years and what kind of legacy or impact you want to leave behind for the Houston business community?

SPEAKER_02 29:12

I want people that have a dream to feel comfortable, to realize how fortunate we are in Houston. We have SCORE, we have SPDC, we have the Greater Port Bureau, we have the Economic Alliance, we have so much generosity and so much philanthropy and opportunities for education and so much interest in bridging the jobs that we need and the talent we need, that I think people need to really think about what it is that they're interested in doing and why are they interested and what brings that and what is truly the business they're in? Like I'm not really in trucking, I'm really in information. I'm really in people and creating jobs and economic prosperity for those that want to apply themselves. So, what is needed in whatever field you're choosing? And do you have the resources and the ability to accomplish that? And really, what's important, and try to shift out what your dreams kind of what's what's real versus what's important. That's what I would say. My vision is my company will be run by really bright people that will continue to do an excellent job, and I get to be the chairman of the board and then they move on and you're on.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Thanks. Thanks for joining us in the podcast. Your story after listening is truly inspiring. I'm pretty compared to what I was at the beginning of the podcast. So you are a true leader and a contributor to the Eastern community. Thank you once again for being. My pleasure. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Thank you for listening to Small Business Success Stories at Score Houston. If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, we'd love to support your journey. You can reach us at 713-487-6565, or visit us at 8701-South Gessner, Suite 1200, Houston, Texas, 77074. Our office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., except for federal holidays, and walk-ins are always welcome. To learn more, request free mentoring or register for our workshops, visit us online at www.score.org slash Houston. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and remember, at Score, we're here to help you thrive.