C. R. England, which bills itself as the largest refrigerated carrier in the world, is in the process of acquiring 300 containers for use in domestic rail double stack service. (Read what England has to say about the high quality of rail service.)
There is a huge (no exageration) opportunity for the railroads in the long haul, heavy volume movement of temperature controlled food products. Food production in the US concentrates by commodity to geographic areas where it is most economical to produce that particular food. i.e., fruits and vegetables come from California, potatoes come from Idaho and Washington, apples come from Washington, poultry comes from the southeast, and red meat comes from four states in the heartland.
This concentrated production must be moved long distances to population centers. For decades, trucks have dominated this movement. The railroads once handled this business, and they did a very good job handling this business, but the railroads were by in large driven from the market by regulation that did not apply to the truckers. Those regulations are now thankfully gone. But temperature controlled movement is a specialty and once the railroads lost that special ability it was very hard to reqacquire. Companies such as C.R. England have the expertise and can put it on the railroads.
If there is enough volume, and with food there is, the economics of double stack will defeat trucking in these long haul lanes.
J.B. Hunt was once strictly an over the road trucker. A huge over the road trucker, but strictly over the road. No rail used. Then they dabbled in intermodal. They became primarily an intermodal company - and they’re doing quite well with that while their remaining trucki
Based on what I saw at Canal Street in the past, CR England has been using intermodal for a while and apparently likes the results, leading to this next move.
England gotta do something to pay off theMultiple LAwsuits they have lost regarding the Lease Ripoof Scam they run. Englan right now is looking at close to 200-300 Million in Payments Courtfees and Legal fees for the Winning side in Just ONE case. See a Federal Judge ruled that What England charged as Intrest if it was great for Engleand on any Balnace due to the Company well the Drivers are getting it back Compunded Monthly. That rate is 19% and some of these people are due money since 1998 and at 19% compounded Monthly your looking at Major Cash.
300 Containers for England considering that well they no longer with these can carry 26 Pallets Straight IN or28 Pinwheeled or 30 Sideways they shot themselves in the Foot. About the only place these are going to work and I doubt even there would be floor loaded meat. But even IBP/Tyson does not do that anymore. They bought a 53 Foot Trailer that can only haul the same amount of pallets of a 48 footer when EVERY CUSTOMER out there wants a 53 footer.
I’m pretty sure in the last month or so I saw an article that J. B. Hunt was acquiring a fleet of refrigerated containers as well. I’m committed to some other things for most of today (though I’d really rather look into this . . . [swg]), but I’ll look it up later on and see if I can find it. - PDN.
EDIT: Link to photo (not mine) of 53’ reefer container from Dec. 2010 - caption says 300 more on order. Commenter seems to be affilliated with J.B. Hunt ?
Link to a trucker / intermodal forum and neat photos of both a C. R. England and a J.B. Hunt 53 ft. refrigerated container on top of a double-stack - posted by the same guy as the above link, I think:
Locally, it was reported that C.R. England took quite a hit when one of its major customers - DHL - got out of the domestic package shipping business. Perhaps this is an attempt to find something else to do ?
I believe Ed is referring to the class action suit brought by OOIDA (Independent Owner-Operators), which does not appear to be settled or ruled on, and suits against the training school run by CR England.
My gut tells me that recruiting of OTR Long Distance drivers is getting to be problematic within the trucking industry. Lots of potentail driver have opted for military service. New DOT Regs are becoming more burdensome, and problematic as far as individual driver’s compliance with internal company rules. Also on the road compliance as more and more regular police officers become certified within their individual juristictions as DOT Compliance certified; not to mention various fines have gone up exponentially in many juristictions for failures to comply.
An issue that has been bubbling within the industry is the various companies that have PROMISED new hires policies that make guarentees, to get drivers home at specified intervals, individuals whose families do not understand the commitments that drivers must make as drivers and dove tailing those with services that have been sold by companies promising to do sometimes impossible deliveries.
The Regional delivery comcept is supported by the railraod’s abilities to move loads long distances a speeds that assure service on pick up and delivery. That allow companies to base drivers around those load /unload facilities for container and TOFC trains. A driver can work out of that type of facility and run regional dispatches and still be home very regularly and satisfy his need to be with wife and family more than if that driver was strictly OTR.
I think that these elements will work well for those companies that can co mingle their operations with those of the operations of the railroad container and trailer movement operations.
What has killed the OTR compaines are the Compaines themselves. They came up with policies that punish the drivers for wanting to stay cool when it is 100 degrees in their Trucks then they Punish them for being late whent hey are delayed for HOURS at the Shippers. Then refuse to give them Equipment that would help and there bottom line but it would mean the VP and his Wife can not get a Brand New Mercedes this year. Things like APU’s so they can have Heat and AC without Idleing the truck yes they are Expensive however they work. Then you have the States that see Trucks PERIOD as the means to Balance the BUDGET when a lane Violation ticket in IL if you hold a CDL is 900 plus Court costs and a speeding ticket for a car is 150 what does that tell you. Or logbook tickets approaching 2000 bucks and they will use a freaking recipet from a truckstop that you stopped at to pee get a drink to prove you LIED in your book to take 2 grand from you and then place you out of Service for 34 hours as another punishment.
Yet we take it because we love the job. Why is the OTR trucking pool shrinking because alot of the OLDER drivers are RETIRING the ones that are sick of the BULL that is rammedsown the throats of Drivers Regulations that have nothing to do with Safety are all about Revenue. Take the TWIC and Hazmat Changes that happened after 9/11 all that meant is and extra 300 dollars for a Driver to get everything he needs to Do the job. Now you throw in CSA2010 were a driver can be penalized for something the SHIPPER does if he picks up a preloaded and SEALED trailer. Thento top it off we have people that have NEVER been in a truck rewriting the rules and regs on the HOS were all of a sudden when you start your clock you can not stop it 14 hours later regardless of were your at YOUR DONE. No Breaks allowed you spend 14 hours at a shipper getting loaded spend 10 more there because that is teh LAW. Before if you needed a break you
I can only imagine what OTR trucks are being socked for tolls in these days of states (and thier toll authorities) needing more an more money. One local bridge the toll is $2.50 for a car. For a car towing a single axle trailer - $9.00. I didn’t have the time to look down to what the toll would be for a 18 wheeler.
Everywhere I tow my single axle race trailer and have to pay a toll, it is alway more than twice what the car tolls are.
I( know what they are across the PA Pike If your the Normal 80K lbs try close to 600 Bucks. Ohio is 300 Indiana is around 75. IL is based on the time if it is before 7am or after 7 PM it is only 3 bucks at a time. After 7 AM and before 7PM they rip us for 9 bucks a shot half that if the company has I pass.
Asked our local food plant if they would load one of theseif it showed up since England is their West Coast Carrier. Was told this by a Clerk that works in their Shipping Dept and is a Neighbor 3 doors away. If England ships us one of these POS the Company will tear up the Entire Contract that they have with England for Everything that is Shipped with England. They said they could haul 30 Skids on a Trailer Not 26. We Cube out before we Weigh out.
Not when they are having to Ship more Containers to ship the same amount of Product. They ship 30 skids sideways on a 53 foot trailer they can only get 26on the Reefer Containers. So for what would have taken 6 trailers for the they need 7 Containers. That means 7 wells on the train 7 Drivers on the each end 7 chassis and redoing the production runs to accomodate the less amount of Products that can get shipped out to the Final user of the Product. Just because someone thinks an idea is the best thing to ever come out of the pipe since the Janney style coupler and hte Westinghouse Airbrake does not mean it IS. Reefer Freight is very Specialized people think that you can just set it and forget it. You can not do that I have seen the Temprature Control units in even the most advanced Reefer units FAIL and when they do your in a world of hurt.
Same issues. There are spots that if that Unit Malfunctions you have less than 1 hour to get it to a repair shop or that load your carrying is nothing more than going to become using landfillspace. Just how close is Ado Canyon to a Thremoking Shop or the Moffatt Tunnel to one if a unit breaks down. These shops do not have a clue where those spots are and also Road calls are Expensive. Normally the service call is 200 bucks an hour plus 2 dollars a HUB Mile. Now which way is cheaer to repair a breakdown and also if he meets you and does not have the part he needs YOUR SCREWED that clock is still running and he has to go get it. is the RR going to hold that super hot train while that trailer is getting repaired. I doubt it.
Makes you wonder how the rails handled all that business using mechanical refrigeration right into the 1970s. No doubt there were occasional spoiled loads – so what?
This afternoon I saw exactly that on a slow-moving EB NS intermodal train about halfway between Reading and Allentown - about a half-dozen reefer trailers as piggyback, scattered throughout the train. At least 2 were marked for “BNSF Ice Cold Express” - the others were a mix of names, none of which I recognized or can remember right now . . .