You know it really helps to have HIGHER ups that are close Friends in the OTR industry. One is the Owner of a 300 Reefer outfit in IL the next is the CEO of a 100 Tanker truck with a 200 truck Dry van side and has a Logistics divison that controls 2 million Square feet of Warehouse space. The last one is the OWNER of a 20 truck reefer carrier based out of OREGON. They all said the same thing JB HUNT WILL FAIL in this for one reason they refuse to think that they can fail. Their OR for the 3 companies are 94 90 96 JB last Quarter was 99. Why were the Reefer boys so much Higher simple called CARGO CLAIMS AND DEADHEAD MILES plus Reefer Maintance and FUEL. Produce is and ALWAYS has been touchy. Iceberg lettuce was devolped for one reason IT SHIPPED WELL that was it. Those Spring mix salads you get in the Stores from Fresh Express have been out of the field LESS THAN 48 hours BEFORE GETTING TO THE FACTORY TO BE PACKAGED UP and 4 days before they get to the store MAX. Those are Team loads all the way. When your hauling them the ONLY THING THAT YOUR STOPPING FOR IS FUEL A PEE BREAK AND A SUBWAY SANDWICH at the Pilot Truck stop. The rest of the time your left door is closed and your foot is BURIED IN THAT ACCLERATOR. Look I am not anti RR or OTR trucking. However I have seen how the Mega Carriers like JB Hunt treat drivers and it sucks.
You see their trailers and containers going down the rail all the time and go well they must have more Freight than they can handle. No what they have done is gotten rid of their long haul boys and forced them to all be local or Regional drivers. There are alot of drivers out there like ME still that refuse to be treated like that and will fight being forced to run like that.
Oh yeah I know all about needing that TWIC card for a Rail Yard the Fed Background check for the Haz-Mat Endorsement and even needing a Passport for going to Canada. Give me a break. Cdl is now 150 here in IL TWIC is 50 HAZMAT is another 50 yet if you can get either the of those 2 you can get the OTHER ONE. Yet if you apply for them you have to pay for each separtate Background check. I loved the clearance I had back when I drove. TS/SC level 2 so lets just say could and did pull about anything out there.
Having thought about this a bit more, perhaps what J.B. Hunt is doing does validate what Ed Benton is saying, to a degree - instead of performing the long-haul reefer run, Hunt is essentially subcontracting it to BNSF, just like it would to a truck owner-operator. That way, BNSF - not Hunt - is primarily responsible for all those operational issues.
The irony is - will we see a return to the days of passenger train and livestock train servicing facilities ? Maybe not too many of us here will know just what that means . . . [swg]
What I mean is this: Imagine a train of a couple hundred loaded reefers speeding across the desert at 0-Dark:30 - or better yet, in the middle of a scorching summer afternoon. A couple of them in the middle run low or out of fuel, the engine quits on another, another loses its refrigerant, another refuses to start when commanded by either its thermostat or the GPS-based remote monitor, another has a clogged fuel filter and loses power, another has a clogged lube oil filter or loses pressure in that system and shuts down, and another one develops a cooling system leak, loses its coolant, and shuts down - and a few other assorted mishaps that we can all well imagine, because even the
Also another BIG issue is Cross Contaimination were say you have Fresh meat on top of Veggies BELOW and that unit on top QUITS. Say Ecoli was in that top reefer of meat and got into those Veggies. Now what are you going to do as the RR or JB HUnt. When word leaks out it WAS YOU THAT CAUSED THE ISSUE. Better have DEEP POCKETS.
Having thought about this a bit more, perhaps what J.B. Hunt is doing does validate what Ed Benton is saying, to a degree - instead of performing the long-haul reefer run, Hunt is essentially subcontracting it to BNSF, just like it would to a truck owner-operator. That way, BNSF - not Hunt - is primarily responsible for all those operational issues.
The irony is - will we see a return to the days of passenger train and livestock train servicing facilities ? Maybe not too many of us here will know just what that means . . .
What I mean is this: Imagine a train of a couple hundred loaded reefers speeding across the desert at 0-Dark:30 - or better yet, in the middle of a scorching summer afternoon. A couple of them in the middle run low or out of fuel, the engine quits on another, another loses its refrigerant, another refuses to start when commanded by either its thermostat or the GPS-based remote monitor, another has a clogged fuel filter and loses power, another has a clogged lube oil filter or loses pressure in that system and shuts down, and another one develops a cooling system leak, loses its coolant, an
Greyhoiunds THE HELL THE LOAD WILL BE SAFE FOR A FEW HOURS. Even Precooled in 100 degree heat which is VERY TYPICAL in the Central Valley of California a Trailer can go from 34 degrees to 60 in 5 hours when a Reefer UNIT FAILS. How do I know this I had one BREAKDOWN in Bakersfield 20 Mins before I was supposed to RELOAD. 5 hours later my trailer was at 60. Try to Precool a reefer unit to -20 in 120 degree heat in TEXAS to get a load of Baskin Robbins on out of College Station took 48 hours with an ICE CREAM SPECED UNIT that was had 40 thousand BTU’s of cooling capacity at -30 in 120 degree heat to do it. I’ll bet you this 90% of what they are hauling is this Frozen or Dried or all ready Shreeded foods. See the USDA does not make a differance in Dried or FRESH apricots to them they are the SAME things. Imported Dried ones are marked differant. Lettuce they might be hauling Bagged Shredded for Mc Donalds. See you pack the bags with Nitrogen you can stop the decay for a couple weeks. Bet you did not know that did you. Strawberries they found out package the pallets with compressed Nitrogen gas with a touch of Helium stops them from ROTTING. Be amazed the stuff you learn on the shipping floor of the packing houses.
Having thought about this a bit more, perhaps what J.B. Hunt is doing does validate what Ed Benton is saying, to a degree - instead of performing the long-haul reefer run, Hunt is essentially subcontracting it to BNSF, just like it would to a truck owner-operator. That way, BNSF - not Hunt - is primarily responsible for all those operational issues.
The irony is - will we see a return to the days of passenger train and livestock train servicing facilities ? Maybe not too many of us here will know just what that means . . .
What I mean is this: Imagine a train of a couple hundred loaded reefers speeding across the desert at 0-Dark:30 - or better yet, in the middle of a scorching summer afternoon. A couple of them in the middle run low or out of fuel, the engine quits on another, another loses its refrigerant, another refuses to start when commanded by either its thermostat or the GPS-based remote monitor, another has a clogged fuel filter and loses power, another has a clogged lube oil filter or loses pressure in that system and shuts down, and another one develops a cooling system leak, loses its coolant, and shuts down - and a few other assorted mishaps that we can all well imagine, because even the best and most diligent Preventative Maintenance can do only so muich. All of this is duly reported to J. B. Hunt’s operating HQ by satellite radio.
Now, what do Hunt and/ or BNSF do then ? Do they just conti
If stuff drips out of top container it will go onto WATERPROOF roof of container below. 2. Receivers who deal with produce do check out of what is being received. If the receiver sees blood in a trailer full of produce 1st USDA gets called for inspection. 2nd When USDA gets there the load is condemned , 3rd condemned cargo must now be disposed of, and 4th certification must be issued that this was done. (In the instance I saw of this an owner operator did not get trailer washed out and then I suspect the shipper did not look at trailer before loading. Helped the guy at land fill toss the stuff out of the back of the truck)
Rgds IGN
IGN trouble is NOt all places DO THAT. Anyone remember a couple years ago that Spinach recall. Guess who was HO<DING the bag them the OTR truckers. NOT THE PACKERS THE GROWER NOPE THE FINAL LEG OF THE SHIPMENTS. BTW all contamination is NOT BLOODY either. Improper cleaning of equipment can a does cause more issues whit FOOD BORNE stuff yet does JB Hunt know how to handle it. I doubt it. Also What Watertight containers. you have to allow drainage from these things or MOLD GROWS IN THEM FASTER THAN OPRAH AND KRISTIE ALLEY EATING A PIZZA TOGETHER. That is why there is 4 drains in EACH of these things one in each corner so after they are Washed out they can drain the excess WATER OUT OF THEM.
comments: 1 If a load melts and leaks out of its container the roof of the container underneath should keep out the liquid.
Produce is checked pretty closely, as it goes bad all too easy. If a receiver sees blood inside a trailer, or other transport container here is what happens. 1. USDA is called for inspection. 2. When USDA inspector sees blood he/she condemns load. 3. carrier must then remove offending cargo & 4. must provide USDA certification of how load was disposed of.
Watched this happen to an owner operator. He emptied out on a meat load that left blood all over the trailer. Then helped him unload cargo at a land fill. He had to get someone from landfill to witness the disposal and sign a statement that cargo was then made unrecoverable. The guy from landfill just stood there as we (the driver, his wife & myself) tossed cargo off the back of trailer, and then when it was covered in ground.
I think Dole is shipping lettuce by rail again. Heard some rumors bout this when I was out in California last year. The biggest surprise on the list is broccoli. Broccoli is pretty sensitive, and you need to ice it down after loading to keep it from drying out. I think this may be going out as frozen, not fresh.
Grapes are another surprise, but again shouldn’t be. During the winter we(in the US) get a lot of grapes up from Chile. They take about a week in transit. and a couple of days to the stores.
Ed, if they weren’t watertight there would be no need for the drains to let the water out.
You see, when they want to clean the inside of the container somebody takes a high pressure hose and intentionally puts water inside. Otherwise, the idea is to keep water out. But when they use water to clean the inside they have to remove the water… Oh, never mind.
The mess with spinach turned out to be a problem of animal control. Specifically a herd of cattle wandered onto the field where the spinach was being grown. It was not a problem with the shipping container.
I was in the middle of that as a whole lot of shippers were absolutely nuts about cleanliness. Now you have to provide a copy of washout receipt before loading or dropping a trailer.
And no trucking co’s had any liability at the end of that. Just got stuck disposing of a whole lot of spinach that went bad whilst everyone was figuring out what to do.
No, that’s fresh broccoli. The numbers are from a “Fresh Fruit and Vegetable” report. If the produce is frozen the USDA doesn’t include it in the report. (I wish they did include frozen products. Potatoes are a big volume commodity and most of them go as frozen processed product or dehydratred product. It takes a lot more work to quantify the potato transportation market.)
It’s also not processed lettuce. It’s heads of Iceberg and Romaine. The USDA breaks out processed lettuce as a seperate commodity and no processed lettuce shows as moving by rail.
The railroads can haul this stuff well enough. But I fully agree that railroad operating supervisors sometimes tend to lack a “Customer Centric” approach to their jobs.
You loose your bet. The numbers are for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables.
As to McDonalds…Before my Ex Wife acquired the “Ex” prefix she worked in distribution for McDonalds at their Oak Brook, IL corporate headquarters. I remember going with her to a distribution facility near Lemont, IL and watching her stick a thermometer into some shredded lettuce. She told me all about the lettuce thing.
I also know about controlled atmosphere use in shipping. Do you know that it is now possible to move fresh (not frozen) pork by ship to Japan and have it arrive with a good shelf life remaining? While you’ve got a lot of knowled
Is ice cream shipped transcontinentally? Or regionally? Are there local facilities which manufacture for regional distribution? Seems like it would make sense?
Most if not ALL Baskin Robbins is made in Kentucky and Shipped all over the USA. Most EDY’s Brand Ice cream is made in Bakersfield along with Drumsticks and their style of Ice Cream snack there. Now there are som regional daires however Ben and Jerries only has 2 Plants in the Nation and they are Nation Wide. Dippin Dots has ONE and they IIRC are in about all Amusement parks anymore. What made shipping Ice Cream easier was when Carrier came out with a Screw style Compressor in 1999 in fact I had a load rejected for BEING TO COLD with one of them. Seems Baskin Robbins did not like their Ice Cream at -30 in summer.
The load I described that I had a unit go bad on me was 43000#'s of ice cream. By the by C.R.England is sending ice cream by rail. I think someone else may be doing so as well for Nestle’s.
