Posts Tagged “refrigerated trucking”
As technology creeps more and more into our daily lives it is becoming more invasive through monitoring and surveillance devices. Whether it is the collection of our buying habits or social media postings, we are being tracked. It certainly extends to professional drivers who deliver most of our nation’s freight.
“The electronic policing, or monitoring, has got to be incredibly irritating to the drivers,” states Rich Macleod (see photo) of TransFresh Corp. in Salinas, CA, who has spent nearly four decades studying in-transit issues that have resulted in valuable information for the refrigerated trucking industry. For example, his creation of the Fresh Produce Mixer & Loading Guide in the 1990s is still used as a reference, and has undoubtedly contributed to preventing countless number of claims and rejected loads.
Macleod laments during the past two generations of truckers, it has moved away from the independent owner operators, or the “cowboy” image, towards team drivers and relay teams.
He correctly views the long haul drivers as very independent individuals, but now those truckers are being asked (or told) to have electronic monitoring of their log books, not to mention deal with other modern day devices.
“I imagine there is a lot of grinding and gnarling of teeth (by drivers),” Macleod says. “How that relates to loading and check lists is just going to be a fact of life.”
It is noted there are trucks coming out of Mexico being ripped off by gangs and cartels, which is just something else contributing to the monitoring and surveillance of the physical location of loads, not to mention the in-transit temperature at any given time.
“We are just going to have to get over it and play in that Orson Wells world,” Macleod relates. “In some respects it is unfortunate, but it’s a fact of life.”
Continuing, Macleod adds, “The reality is, you can have all of this fancy technology and this ‘eye’ in the sky, but if that reefer unit is not maintained properly, if the bulkheads are not maintained properly, and if the load isn’t unloaded correctly, this monitoring is quite frankly blowin’ smoke.”
He reminds everyone the real goal in trucking is to deliver fresh perishables at the right temperature in a timely fashion.
“It still remains with the foot print of the driver to assure his load is protected and with the correct temperature.”
However, it also is important to have a good relationship between the buyer (receiver) and the shipper at loading point. Macleod gave a scenario where a driver may have a great checklist, know what he is doing, yet be forced to compromise, due to something like the number of pallets being put in the trailer.
“It is upon the driver to be vigilant,” he stresses. because one or both of the parties involved in the transaction may want to put two or four more pallets in that trailer that already has 26 or more pallets in it. The driver knows it could adversely affect anything from air circulation to being over weight. “That driver may lose the argument in such a case, but he’s really the last in the line of defense, to avoid unnecessary problems – and it helps if that driver is knowledgeable in these areas.”
This is where a check list….becomes a key component. Speaking of check lists, one can be found at www.transfresh.com.
“We are doing all of this monitoring, figuring out where the load is, and making sure the load is at the right temperature,” Macleod surmised. “Yet, the loading dock person can mess this whole thing up. If the goal is to maintain the product at the proper temperature, it can be at the wrong temperature even though you tracked it perfectly across country.”
(This is the first in a five-part series featuring an interview with Rich Macleod, vice president, pallet division North America for TransFresh Corp., Salinas, CA. He has been with the company since 1976, and has a masters degree in post harvest science from the University of California, Davis.)
The ports of the Delaware River are growing and expanding services for the global fruit trade, offering more loading opportunities for refrigerated trucking operations.
International produce trade is originating from countries such as Peru and Uruguay, which are expanding in their role to export fresh fruits and vegetables to the United States. Chile remains an enormous produce supplier, as that trade has become year around. Central American and South American banana trade remains strong as always. South Africa, Spain and Morocco are building their export volumes to the United States. Argentina, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica Guatemala and Brazil are among Latin America’s strong suppliers of fresh produce. All of these countries, and more, are shipping product through the Delaware River ports.
Bananas are coming into Wilmington, DE, Gloucester City, NJ, and Philadelphia by Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte, Turbana and Banacol .
Soft-peel citrus has become a major commodity for seaports and their service providers here both during the summer and winter months.
The area also has independent cold storages such as Manfredi Cold Storage in Kennett Square, PA, and Lucca Freezer & Cold Storage Inc., in Mullica Hill, NJ. These cold storages have been or increasing the efficiency of the ports with not only large, modern cold storages but also repacking and other services to benefit the refrigerated commodities.
Uruguay will start exporting more summer citrus. That country shipped a handful of containers last year. This year they plan to ship a lot more. Peru is a big growth market. Costa Rica is always a staple with pineapples and bananas. Ecuador is a staple. Chile is huge as well.