John Amos: Mr. Breakbulk

By Iain Macintyre

From river ice flows in Alaska to the war-torn roads of Iraq, industry veteran John Amos reflects on his remarkable six-decade journey in breakbulk logistics.

From Issue 5, 2025 of Breakbulk Magazine

(6-minute read)

Working on one of history’s largest civil engineering projects, moving cargo to the world’s most remote corners, surviving life-threatening moments and leading the formation of Breakbulk Americas are just some features of the extensive career of John Amos.

Often referred to as “Mr. Breakbulk” for his extensive knowledge and long-standing influence in the industry, Amos’ early career involved roles with the Santa Fe Railroad, Fibreboard Corporation and United States Air Force 349th Troop Carrier Wing.

In 1970 he began an over 26-year tenure at Bechtel Corporation, initially engaged as senior expediter and ultimately rising to global manager of logistics with responsibility for 162 staff around the world. Amos recalls being both in awe of and inspired by the 50,000-employee engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company and the opportunity it presented to learn “real logistics” on massive global projects.

“I felt that I had found an area I could really enjoy and work in,” he told Breakbulk. “You’re working with thousands of professional men and just a few women in those days, dealing with engineers and solving the logistics problems. As the work progressed, I found that if this was going to be me, I would have to devote myself to problem solving and working towards the success of the company.

“Your whole life is devoted to what we call the “time vice”: project material is due to arrive at a certain time and so, you may get delayed, but that time for delivery never changes. I’d look forward to going to work every day.”

Defining Career Moments

Amos highlights his involvement in the 1970s and 1980s development of the Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia as a standout moment in his career.

“I spent three years in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia working on the largest civil engineering project in history [according to the 1983 Guinness Book of Records]. That was a major break because I found myself, after being [at Bechtel] for eight years, promoted into construction management and that opened up a whole new area. And if you’re a construction manager, you can yell at everyone!

“We had 50,000 construction workers there. It’s a city, container port, project cargo port, airport and training facility with the concept that the Saudi Government decided they have to do something other than lift oil and ship it around the world. There were seven major industries built in the Jubail Industrial City. It’s still expanding; it’s just amazing.”

He groups the solving of logistics problems in remote global locations, such as the Highlands of Papua New Guinea or at Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, as well as coordinating logistics planning with project management and jobsite delivery, as recurring challenges.

“Solving logistics problems in global remote locations is difficult. You could go and study the terrain and the infrastructure, if any, but during a major project, something is always changing. It could be a delay, a change to the scope of the project. Everything gets bigger, it never gets smaller. So then it’s ‘we’re going to have to charter ships or charter airplanes.’

“Last but not least, you have to deal with the client who in global projects is frequently the government of the country where you’re working or it’s a mammoth oil company and they dictate how they want to do it, even though it may not be the way to go. So you have to learn to hear out what people say and then have a solution that works. And then cross your fingers!”

As Amos progressed upwards in management, he says overseeing a large global staff of professional logisticians presented a different challenge.

“I lost a lot of the hands-on. The first big boss I had, said ‘you’re taking over an organization that is not doing well’ and I said ‘well, I know what to do and I’ll do it’ and he said ‘if I catch you doing any work, I’ll fire you!’ “You're managing a global function fitting in with others. You’re dealing with engineers and construction people and management people who really don’t know logistics, they just say ‘well, get a boat and get it over there.’ I say ‘the dimensions have changed, this is huge,’ and they say ‘well, so what? Just get it done anyway’.”

Trials Along the Way

Amos reflects that there are “ups and downs” in any career.

“There are times where you don’t think things are going right. For instance, I had a man that worked for me and he wasn’t happy — he thought he should be promoted — and he said ‘after all John, look how lucky you’ve been.’ I said ‘I’ve been lucky? In the First Gulf War I had a gun pointed at my head and in Iran before the revolution I was grabbed by three Iranians on the street and they were going to kidnap me.’”

He references “always looking forward to the next challenge” — as per involvement in the First Gulf War clean-up, not long after starting at Bechtel.

“I was sent over to help structure the work to extinguish the oil well fires. Several hundred thousand tons of cargo were imported. It was really wonderful, but if you work for an engineering and construction company, you’ve got to be flexible when they say ‘we want you to go here or go there.’ You either go or find another profession.”

Evolving Industry

The world of project construction has changed a great deal over the past couple of decades, says Amos, with projects becoming larger, construction schedules shorter and costs rising.

“The size, dimensions and weight of cargo has expanded almost beyond the capability of available vessels. The logistics have gotten more and more difficult, and the conflicts — political and military — have made it very hard. And I think that many logistics managers do not have a logistics background, it’s a compilation of different skills, and so Breakbulk events are a great way for people to learn about logistics because it’s complicated.”

Furthermore, Amos observes that there has been a move away from family status foreign assignments on projects, noting the stark contrast from his first Saudi Arabia deployment where the family settled in for three years and friends were made “that have lasted a lifetime.”

“For years it was fine if you were in management, you could bring your wife and your kids along, but that’s very expensive to do. I personally feel you can do a much better job if your family is with you. I lived in Canada alone. I had a second tour of duty in Saudi Arabia and I was alone. I just went back to a single room at night, and you can get depressed.

“So, I say that if you want to work in project logistics, whether it be with a carrier, freight forwarder, shipper or construction company, you have to want to have that kind of a career. I think you have to really enjoy the work and you have to either be single or have a family that understands it. I’ve seen some horrible examples of breakups.”

Sustaining a Career Through Family Backing

Amos jokes that someone might ask his wife “You and John have been married for 63 years, how could you possibly last that long?” and she might respond “Oh, it was easy because he was never home!”

On a serious note, he expresses much gratitude for the support of his family throughout his career and including single-status deployments. “It took a few years for my son to forgive me for making him live in the desert in a caravan!”

As well as a means of mental refuge during the tougher assignments, long-distance running also became a shared past-time for Amos, who estimates that he has run about 17,000 miles and completed over 200 marathons and half-marathons since 1980. “We started a run at Breakbulk more than 20 years ago, an early-morning run, and that always was fun.”

Having had to cease running in recent years — and quipping that, with cane in hand, he now enjoys having doors opened for him and convenient access to disabled parking spots — Amos says he now enjoys walking for exercise regularly with his wife on a local former railroad right of way. “I also love to read. I like historical reading, mainly nonfiction, but some fiction.”

At the height of his career with Bechtel, Amos was separately engaged by the Journal of Commerce to lead the development of the Breakbulk Americas conference, first held in Atlanta in 1990 with around 100 attendees.

“I was tapped to be the very first keynote speaker and recruit other speakers. There was support by senior management of companies, ocean carriers and freight forwarders in particular, that recognized they needed to be in front of people and that there needed to be a program for people to learn some of the ins and outs, to learn the language. There was support from the ports.

“We also had a focus on having people from regulatory government agencies come and speak, and for the maritime administration in Washington DC. They really needed to be better informed so it was important to have them come."

Having moved around different cities, Breakbulk Americas eventually settled in Houston, “ground zero for project cargo in the United States,” and today attracts close to 6,000 industry professionals. With a number of attendees having also been drawn from Europe, Amos says the event expanded overseas, initially to Belgium and then such countries as Singapore, Brazil, South Africa and China.

“This has developed more and more, now to where the two huge ones are in Rotterdam and Dubai with more than 10,000 people each. I just enjoyed all aspects of working on Breakbulk and seeing how it grew.

“To this day I make a list of those that I want to make sure I stop and say hello to and I think I don’t know where else in the world you could go for a few days and see the whole universe of logistics. When I attend Breakbulk and participate on the program, I feel the energy. So I see it continuing to grow.”

Life After Bechtel

After stepping down from Bechtel around the middle of the 1990s, Amos joined Swiss-based global freight forwarder Danzas as director of business development for North America, before establishing San Francisco Bay-based Amos Logistics in 2001.

“For years I was very busy solving logistics problems and designing logistics plans for shippers, freight forwarders and manufacturing companies, so I thought why not take my body of knowledge and put it out on the market? My future goal is to continue Amos Logistics consulting utilizing my logistics, procurement and construction management experience and knowledge.

“One of my best friends in the business accused me of handling the logistics on Noah’s Ark! But as I sit here and look around, I’ve got a very nice office. It’s got this and that on the walls from over the years, and I can’t imagine not doing it.”

Amos describes his career as having been just “fine.”

“I didn’t move left or right — I just moved straight ahead. And you know, it took me all over all over the world over the years. I always liked being with the staff wherever I was and meeting people, talking to them to get their take on things, and take the ribbing about America from them, that’s okay!”

John Amos will be participating on the Industry Legends: 35 Years of Breakbulk and Beyond panel at Breakbulk Americas.

Top photo: Amos moderates a panel session at Breakbulk Americas 2023. Credit: Hyve

Second: John Amos onsite at Prudhoe Bay project in in Alaska, 1980. Credit: John Amos

Third: Amos surveying a project in Papua New Guinea, 1970s. Credit: John Amos