Adam Abbate
President
With CTS since 2007 and President twelve years later. Outside work, time with his wife and three kids — and learning to DJ.
Our story
It started with one shipment a day.
In 2000, founder Ray Abbate bet on the freight niche the big brokerages overlooked — and a belief that logistics could be more personal, more creative, and more relentless than the industry standard.
26Years
40+ Yrs founder experience
2000Year founded
2000
Betting on himself
Founder Ray Abbate spots the freight niche the big brokerages overlook, drives to San Francisco for a business license and an MC number, and Creative Transportation Services is born — built to move freight across California and the country.
Day one
A phone, a fax, and a steno pad
For the early years CTS runs out of a back bedroom — dispatch sheets pinned to a board, calls to the East Coast at 5 a.m., one shipment at a time. The pitch: you don’t need to own a truck to move freight, and partial shipments arrive faster with less risk of damage.
2003
First office — and the first trade show
CTS moves into its first office on Old Crow Canyon Road. Months later a customer asks if we can handle a trade-show shipment. Ray says yes, then learns it cold — and trade-show logistics becomes a CTS signature.
Family-run
Building a team, and a family business
The crew grows through the 2000s — Adam Abbate joins in tracking and tracing and later becomes President. CTS stays privately held and family-operated, with every load carrying the name on the door.
Today
26 years, every mode, all of North America
Specialty freight and full-service trade-show logistics — still independent, still anticipating what’s next, still adapting fast.
