Trucking Specialists

Here’s a continuation of the yesterday’s blog article sent to me from Exel Transportation. One way to separate you from competitive freight brokers is to become an expert in shipments requiring refrigeration. The country always needs groceries requiring refeers…

“And they'll always need medicine. FedEx Custom Critical, the critical shipments division of FedEx, is doing a booming business hauling pharmaceuticals, a commodity where a controlled temperature in reefer trailers is not only demanded by drug companies, but is also required by the federal government.

"Products regulated by the (Food and Drug Administration) require more detailed knowledge about what's going on inside the cargo box at all times," said Carl Kiser, operations manager for FedEx Custom Critical's White Glove Service division.

In a service called TempAssure Validated, which Custom Critical introduced in 2004, shipments are hauled by thermal-mapped vehicles and customers are provided hard copy data logs documenting the temperature of the freight during shipment. Vehicles are equipped with a National Institute of Standards and Technology-traceable temperature probes that record temperatures at different points within the areas of the trailer.

"We send trucks in for pickup and then deliver them straight to destination unless additional stops are requested by the customer," Kiser said. "But we never commingle customers within a truck."

That kind of high-end business and other freight requiring reefer trailers or containers has been able, for the most part, to avoid the wrath of a slowing economy that has dragged down the trucking industry for two years.”

I’ll finish up the article tomorrow with a 2008 market forecast.

Moving forward,

Jeff Roach
www.brooketraining.com