Tiger Cool is a start up double stack intermodal perishable company. What sets it apart from other similar companies is its senior management. Heck fire, Finkbiner was head of NS Intermodal for 12 years and before that head of the Triple Crown RoadRailer operation. They’ve got good financing.
Perishables (fresh fruit and vegetables, along with meat) tend to move long distances from production areas to population centers. They now move predominately by truck. The dang government basically drove this freight off the rails and on to the highway For example, the Federal fools economically regulated the rail movement of produce. They did not, in any way, shape, or form, economically regulate the truck movement of produce. Guess who drove off with the business.
The railroads have been trying to claw their way back into the market, but once the expertise for moving a special commodity such as lettuce is lost it is very hard to regain. Because of its leadership and financing I think Tiger Cool has a great chance of clawing its way to the top.
Please note that some of the top leadership people are former RailEx (boxcar perishable) people.
Until I watched a video of the UP’s 4014 in Cheyenne I didn’t know Tiger Cool had gone operational. The video included a stack train with two TC reefer containers. Great to see.
They certainly seem to have a ‘pretty deep bench’ on their management side.
It would seem that they are going to be ‘head to head’ with any number of national refrigerated carriers. Particularly, with C.H. Robinson. [ My guess.] [:-^] I wish them well.
The food business can be a real challenge for both Company Operators, and those on the Owner-Operator side.
Receivers on Grocer Docks can be very ‘brutal’ with their demands, and ‘quality inspections’, of incoming perishable items. Especially for the 'New Guy" making deliveries, Tiger Cool’s Sales staff is going to have to really be on their toes, otherwise, their delivered costs will be problematic; as Receivers seek to pare down the price delivered, as a profit center for their Companies.
Judging from their promotional photos posted on the links furnished by ‘greyhounds’, their main Carrier is going to be UPR (?) Drayage Costs will also be problematic, unless they have a really good Partner Company for their Terminal dray moves.
They are in a market segment that is certainly ready to grow, with Road Fuel Costs in the vicinity of of $4.00 bucks out here in Fly-over country; I’ve only to guess what retail costs ( at the pump) are out on the West Coast, and Southern Az. , add to that the costs associated with pick-ups and loading at the sorting shed locations.
Will be interesting to see how they can grow and thrive in the Produce Game.
Some of those Tiger Cool Express containers have apparently made it to Florida. There is a YouTube video of an FEC train from May 14th with 3 TCE containers. Here is a screen grab from that video …
Great post Ken! Will definitely be interesting to see if this firm can grow their business and get into some different lanes where there’s an obvious demand for it; i.e., meat and meat products out of western Iowa and Waterloo. [;)]
8.16 New York Metropolitan Area Surcharge This surcharge is for loads that are ordered to be picked up or delivered in the five New York City boroughs or Long Island: $500 charge Wanswheel. I can see that surcharge. NY & Long Island have become kind of a pain. Most deliveries there are all day affairs. And with some of the newer rules a 2 day affair. Add to that a lack of truck facilities (truck stops and other places for drivers to get required breaks) it is left to those carrierrs that will our up with doing business out there. I would advocate for someone to run a road runner or road railer for containers. Long Island could use it. The catch is getting access thru the North and East River tunnels to Long Island. Hunts Point is the other major point to deliver produce in the city. Rgds IGN
I’m easily convinced of the idiocy of the ICC, having been around in their destructive heyday. However, I’m bound to think there was more at work in diversion of perishables from the rails.
In the 1960s, shrinkage of the parade of “green fruits” through Cheyenne, where I worked for U.P., seemed to coincide with deterioration of the S.P. and – what I would take for the biggie – the inability of the collapsing Penn Central to deliver back East. The latter would have affected the business of all the western roads, not just UP’s.
I’ve been away from the business a long time, but a couple of factors …
The railroads never could master flexible, seasonal triangulation of equipment, intermodal or carload reefers. The repositioning time killed the service/utilization and repositioning expense killed the margins. If Tiger Cool, anchored as they are to the railroads, can master this, power to them.
I notice from their “Rules” that they in effect wash their hands of any claims, offering only to work with the railroads/draymen if the shipper has a claim. Of all claims-sensitive traffic segments, perishables is one, and the idea of dealing with multiple entities for claims resolution seems daunting.
But, I wish Tiger Cool well. It’s a vast market opportunity.
(btw, greyhounds, I too would be interested in your view of the history of rail’s loss of the perishables business in the 1950s,'60s and '70s. Logistics and the Interstates would be my short version.)
My understanding - based on admittedly limited knowledge - is consistent with your 1st point.
As to the 2nd, those tunnels are all about at full capacity now - nights are needed for inspection and maintenance. The added capacity would have been one advantage of the NJ Gov. Christie-aborted NJT tunnels under the North/ Hudson River - the ex-PRR, now Amtrak tunnels, which have some safety issues for passenger trains, could then be relegated to mainly freight use.
IN THE MEANTIME - bypass the tunnels by one or more of the following:
Use the “Cross Harbor RR” (now owned by the infamous Port Authority ?) and car-float them from Greenville/ Oak Island over to Brooklyn, for distribution from there. Would avoid delays from having to wait for ‘train slots’ at night in the tunnels, even; also, might allow for double-stacked containers to be used (subject to overhead clearances ?), or those Long Island RR “bogies” (see the “LIRR Intermodal” thread linked below). See:
In 2012 “The Streamliner” magazine of the UP Historical Society ran a two part series on PFE. It focused on the attempts in the 1970s to hold and recapture perishable traffic. The author was Rob Leachman who was with the UP at that time. (Leachman is now a PhD at Berkeley.)
He states that the route SP-UP-CNW-PC could deliver a consistent 6th morning delivery of California produce in New York City. This was competitive. The problem was getting the SP to want to hold up its end.
The ICC was holding down the perishable rates at a time of significant inflation. The SP questioned providing premium service at the rates the ICC would allow. You can buy the two back issues from the UPHS. (Spring and Summer, 2012) They give a good insight of what happened with both service and regulated rates.
While I tend to discount service problems on the SP and PC as reasons for the diversion to truck, I realize the declines in service quality certainly were harmful. But the Pacific Northwest perishables on the UP never touched the SP and they also diverted to truck. The Santa Fe always provided quality service and it’s perishable business also largely diverted.
While the PC seemed able to hold up its end on New York traffic, many major population centers such
Yes, bananas were a core market for the old IC. They’d be imported through New Orleans and moved north on the Green Diamond.
By the time I arrived they were gone. I tried like Hell to get some of the business back. By then the bananas had left New Orleans and were coming in through Gulfport, MS. We had “Authority” to truck loads between Gulfport and the New Orleans IM terminal.
Chiquita was moving its loads in its own containers. They were quite receptive as was Jewel (then the largest grocery chain serving Chicago.) I managed to get some banana loads back on the railroad. But not without a lot of internal fights.
I just read in the last day or two that Chiquita is moving back to New Orleans from Gulfport, but though no mention was made of truck or rail transport, I don’t expect any change away from trucks. If I remember right, there was rail access on the dock at Gulfport that I don’t think Chiquita used.
Oh Gee, this one would be a good subject for a Master’s Thesis. I will try to keep it as short as possible.
I don’t know what you mean by “Logistics” being a cause, but the Interstate System certainly had a major role.
Before the Interstate network was constructed the long haul perishables moved quite well by rail. People in New York and elsewhere were enjoying fresh California produce and fresh Iowa pork, among other good things to eat. A market structure had developed that accommodated the rail movement. In this structure, which included regulated rail pricing, various entities such as producers, packers, wholesalers and retailers had functions that they performed on a profitable basis. Any change in the structure would disadvantage some of those entities to the point of threatening their continued existence.
People thus hired lawyers to fight any change and the ICC literally came to view its role as maintaining the rail price structure that enabled and protected the existing market structure. But you can’t stop progress. With the Interstate System trucking became feasible for long haul perishable movements. And the produce truckers were free from ICC economic regulation. The existing structure for produce movement was about to undergo “Creative Destruction.”
Creative Destruction is a necessary element of any vibrant economy. Old ways are replaced by new, more efficient, ways. Government power is often invoked to try to stop Creative Destruction. The people benefiting from the existing economic structure usually have access and influence with politicians. They
