The Story of LBC

Luzon Brokerage Corporation. (LBC)

Warehouse 74 Calle Oscariz & Bazan, Quiapo, Manila.

Derham Building, Port Area compound, Manila.

Pre-war establishment, c1930s

Araneta-owned LBC Founded, 1945.

Luzon Brokerage Corporation was already established years back before World War II and has been engaged in brokerage business offering services such as handling foreign freight sending and deliveries, heavy trucking, cargo forwarding and contracting.

Apart from their warehouse in Quiapo, they were also based in Port Area in Manila with offices at Derham Building where the office side of the brokerage was based.

After the destruction of the Battle of Manila in 1945, the original warehouse was destroyed, leaving only the shell of the former structure. The business was then acquired by the Aranetas, and have not changed the name in the process.

Today's LBC was improved and operated by the Araneta family in 1945 as a brokerage firm and continued on with the same line of service that it did pre-war. The Aranetas expanded their family-owned courier business into an air cargo agency and later as a forwarding service provider to clients.

As a third-party shipping provider, the company is responsible for dispatching shipments via asset-based carriers, and arranges shipment space for their customers. The company continued to expand their logistic services in 1973 and introduced the 24-hour overnight delivery services in the country later on.

In 1985, the first branch of LBC outside the country was established in San Francisco, California, in the United States. Along with the opening of its US-based branch, the company introduced the famous “Balikbayan Box” and their money remittance service to cater to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).

The moniker "Hari ng padala" was created by the company in 1990. Products such as Branch Pick-up and Bills Payment were added in 2005, while the more secure mail service for personal documents, loose cargo, and container loads were introduced in 2010. The company also began to target business owners.

A 23 storey warehouse now stands on the same site today. The warehouse in this photo was when it was still under the original management prior to Aranetas, and prior to it being destroyed in the Battle of Manila in 1945.

Photo courtesy: John Tewell