At first glance those words may appear to be a well-worn cliché, a turn of phrase that’s routinely used to describe what people often ship to the Caribbean. But on closer examination, it was clear that Dennis Hawthorne, the 52-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Dennis Shipping, one of the largest companies catering to the shipping demands of thousands of West Indians, be they Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Barbadians, Vincentians, Guyanese, you name them, was really talking about a daily fact of life for him and his ever-expanding firm.

And with the Christmas season now on the horizon, Hawthorne and the more than 20 employees of his firm, plus the “independents” who work with him to meet needs of people scattered across the northeastern region of the U.S. as well as the South are keeping up a hectic pace during what is the busiest time of the year in the shipping business to the Caribbean.

“The Christmas shipping season really began on October 15 and it ends about 10 days before Christmas day itself. It’s our busiest period and it tells an interesting story about people from the Caribbean and how they feel about their relatives back home,” Mr. Hawthorne told the BSJ. “They ship refrigerators, stoves and other appliances, as well as clothes, food, furnishings and yes, the kitchen sink to their loved ones. A telling part of what happens is that in some cases they send items to the Caribbean that they don’t have in their homes in the United States. It’s an attachment to family that’s really unbelievable and our first commitment is to get their goods to their destinations, quickly, efficiently and just how they were shipped.”

Incidentally, another busy period for the company is around the time of Jamaica’s independence anniversary celebrations in August. That’s when nationalistic impulses spur Jamaicans wherever they are to send much needed items back home.

“They want to ensure that relatives have an enjoyable independence celebration,” he explained. “It wouldn’t match Christmas in terms of volume but Jamaicans have their country on their minds and they want to give to the country by giving to those they care dearly about.” 

The businessman, who grew up in Westmoreland in Jamaica raised by his mother without the presence of a father, freely admits that his first love in business wasn’t really shipping. It was photography, something he pursued with zest in his native land and he continued once he was in America. Hence, the early company name, “Dennis Photography and Shipping.” Back in those early days of the 1980s, the camera was an extension of the entrepreneur himself, ever present. But as the professional picture-taking side of his operation began to slip, he devoted more and more of his energy and attention to shipping, so much so that by 1992, he reversed the order of the name to emphasize shipping and four years later photography was dropped from it altogether. By then, he had acquired a 12,000 square foot facility along Brooklyn’s busy Utica Avenue, which remains his New York headquarters with satellite facilities in the Bronx, Kingston and Montego Bay in Jamaica. He recently added a new branch in Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

An established presence there makes sense for Dennis Shipping.

“Most commercial shipping to the Caribbean is done out of Florida and an extension into Fort Lauderdale would enable the company to move barrels and containers much more efficiently and faster,” he said. “We are really looking forward to the new place because it is going to make a substantial difference to the time it takes to collect and ship barrels and other things to the Caribbean.”

Right now it takes about 10 days, door to door to get cargo into the region from the United States and he is hoping to cut the time, depending on the schedules of ocean-going vessels.

Hawthorne needs the additional space in Florida. Shipping about 1,000 barrels of personal effects every week to different Caribbean destinations, he must be on top of his operation to remain ahead of the competition.

And he does it by paying attention to detail and to the service he provides.

Interestingly, unlike most businesses, his federally-licensed company has registered growth every year during the extremely difficult economic times in the United States.

“One would have thought that with unemployment at such high levels and people from the Caribbean really struggling to make ends meet that they would reduce what they are shipping to the Caribbean,” he said. “But that hasn’t been the case. We have seen growth every year since the economic downturn.”

Discuss that growth and other aspects of business and you would hear a story built, in part, on looking to the next opportunity while keeping his thoughts fixed on where he came from.

“I don’t know my father. The person who laid the foundation was my mother with the care and love and I would never forget what she did for me,” said the father of four children. “That’s why one of my biggest accomplishments was being able to provide my mother with a well-built home, fully furnished, with the pledge that she would never have to work again.”

But she isn’t alone in benefitting from Hawthorne’s generosity and his desire to give back.

He provides an annual scholarship to a needy student of the University of the West Indies, not simply at the Mona in Jamaica, but any campuses of the Caribbean’s premiere educational institution. He also gives freely to community institutions in New York and Jamaica, especially to the Lions and Kiwanis social services clubs.

“I just have to give back something because I have been blessed and it’s important to share,” was the way he explained it.

With homes on Long Island in New York and Jamaica, Hawthorne is now planning to acquire a residence in Florida which would make it far more convenient and comfortable to move between the three places to oversee his operation.

Not being left out of the equation are his employees, he said, the “people who have made me and Dennis Shipping what it is today.”

What does he have up his sleeve?

“I plan to make the announcement at the official opening. They have been very loyal and committed and that’s worth something,” he said.