Sometimes the Internet fails to deliver on its promise, not through the fault of the medium, but because those who could make use of it have not followed through to develop its potential. A lack of information on motor carriers who provide LTL service for refrigerated products provides a perfect example. In fact, this lack of readily available data about refrigerated LTL carriers is one of the main reasons that Refrigerated Transporter continues to publish its LTL Guide.
A search for sites devoted to refrigerated LTL carriers proved to be frustrating at best. Only a few carriers showed up on a search that made use of many combinations of the terms "refrigerated trucking, perishable, frozen, LTL, motor carriers, distribution." In the course of this search, we experienced finding a web site on one day, but being unable to repeat the same find later. We gave up and called the carrier on the telephone to ask for the correct web address. Many surfing the web for information on LTL carriers may have the same experience. For instance, we did find the American Trucking Associations Information Center, which provides links to trucking company web sites. None of the listed sites belong to carriers of refrigerated LTL-not even FFE Transportation Services, the largest refrigerated LTL carrier in the country. FFE, by the way, does maintain a web site. It is reviewed below.
The print version of the LTL Guide is still the best source for information on refrigerated LTL carriers. However, surfing the web and cheating a little by calling a number of carriers to ask if they have web sites and to ask for the addresses yielded information on the following carriers that provide refrigerated LTL service. We hope that more carriers will take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet and that search engines will become more adept at leading surfers to the sites desired. Information on four web sites from refrigerated LTL carriers follows.
www.ffeinc.com
FFE Transportation Services opens its web site on a page that proclaims the company dedicated to people and service. To emphasize the personal aspect of the company, a photo block changes periodically to show different drivers. Following the link to the site main page leads to a series of buttons that offer a company profile, a menu of services, an LTL schedule, driver opportunities, driver/family resources, and truck purchase information.
The Profile button leads to a page with three links: company information, a Y2K statement, and company officers. The company information link results in a folksy description of the company that was founded in 1946. It is written in much the same tone as annual letters to stockholders by Stony M Stubbs Jr, FFE chairman. The officers link provides a list of officers and titles with the corporate address and telephone number.
The Services button and the LTL Schedule button are interlocked. Pushing the services button leads to links for a terminal list, LTL schedule, description of company communication capability, multi-temp trailer availability, pool distribution capability, and warehousing services. Selecting the terminal list link leads to a destination chart and a delivery schedule. This same information is displayed when the LTL schedule button is selected.
The Driver Opportunity button leads to information on driver compensation, benefits, and requirements. Notably, FFE requires drivers only to be 21 years of age, compared to 23 at many other carriers. The owner-operator program link provides a list of requirements for independent contractors. The driver referral link says that FFE will pay $300 for referrals that remain with the fleet for 30 days. The FFE Truckers Association is described as a driver-operated maintenance facility. Membership is $26 a month, and the shop labor rate is $42 per hour.
Following the link to the driver hall of fame provides a profile of the drivers pictured on the site's opening page. The FFE Products page shows a photo of merchandise available to drivers and provides an 800-number for a product list and prices. The Family Resources button leads to links for family-related sites, weather sites, mapping services, and traffic reports.
The Truck Purchase button leads to information for those who might wish to purchase multiple tractors and become a fleet operator within FFE, lease/purchase plans for individual drivers, and a clean slate lease for drivers lacking the credit to qualify for a conventional purchase plan.
www.alterman.com This address leads to an austere opening page for Alterman Transport Lines. Clicking on "enter our web site" leads to a main page with seven buttons. The Company Overview button provides a comprehensive description of the company history and capability. Sidney Alterman started the company in 1938 with a 1936 model Chevrolet tractor. This section provides information on Alterman's communication capability with its terminals and with its drivers. The company's electronic data interchange capability has recently been upgraded to include document imaging that can provide bill-of-lading copies and proof-of-delivery with invoices.
The Services button lists the wide variety of service provided by Alterman Transport, including pallet exchange, loading and unloading, direct LTL service, pool distribution, multi-temp equipment, storage, bonded customs services, and load consolidation. The Service Area button leads to a color-coded map. Clicking on a state links the user to the address and telephone number of the Alterman terminal serving that state.
The site provides an e-mail link to Alterman Transport Lines. A human interest touch comes from the What Are Our Employees Up To button. At present, this section describes an ongoing computer upgrade at company headquarters in Opa Locka, Florida, and lists participants in a corporate run through downtown Miami.
www.wittebros.com Witte Brothers Exchange Inc is a carrier of refrigerated LTL and truckload freight headquartered in Troy, Missouri. The opening page of the company web site shows a collage of photos of company equipment from old livestock trailers to Witte Brothers newest refrigerated trailers. A type block under the photos boasts that company drivers have been driver of the year in Missouri three times in the past 10 years and have been recognized as drivers of the year three times nationally by the Truckload Carriers Association. Four buttons on the page link to the rest of the site. About Us describes the company's service record and the territory where it operates.
The LTL button leads to a map of the US. Clicking on any state links to a table of service availability stating whether or not Witte Brothers offers pick-up in that state and listing delivery days for receivers there. Clicking on the delivery schedule link leads to the statement: "We deliver to any dock in the US every week." This link shows the same map as the pick-up points link. Clicking on a state leads to the same service table. An additional link in this section states the conditions for LTL service-an order by fax by noon Wednesday prior to the week of delivery. Potential LTL customers can use the web site for on-line rate quotations.
The Truckload button notes that Witte Brothers offers drop trailers and 48-state service with central dispatch and EDI capability. Selecting Career Opportunities leads to a table that details the company compensation plan. It says that driver pay at Witte Brothers averages $46,000 a year. It promises a check for the difference if a driver does not reach a guaranteed pay level by the end of one year. This section lists the qualifications required for drivers and describes the equipment available in the fleet. Owner-operators are paid 80 cents per mile. They must be at least 23 years old and meet the same qualifications as company drivers. To qualify for a lease, a contractor's tractor must be less than five years old and must have a dry weight less than 17,500 pounds.
www.rfxinc.com This same web site for Refrigerated Food Express in Avon, Massachusetts, also can be found at www.refrigeratedfood.com. Entering either address leads a surfer to a black page with a dramatic image of a lit truck reflected in water as it passes in the night. A link at the bottom of the page leads to the main page with seven main buttons. The Recruiting button provides an application for independent contractors. RFX is an entirely owner-operator company. This area lists requirements for drivers and says that operators are paid 65% of revenue when pulling an RFX trailer or 75% for pulling their own trailer.
The Truckstop button has two links. The first is to an on-line version of RFX's Channel 41 company newsletter. This is still under construction. The Truckstop section also contains a message form for entry to a chat room for RFX personnel. Clicking Services leads to a list of RFX services including LTL and load consolidation.
The company Profile notes that RFX was built from a truckstop and from Mercury Truck Lines, both founded by Thomas Welby Sr in 1952. This page has a photo of Welby, father of the current president Tom Welby Jr, standing with John Kennedy. A good guess would be that Kennedy was still in the Senate when the photo was taken. This section also lists long-term employees. The most senior started in 1969 and the junior person on the list began working at RFX in 1989.
The Offices button links to a list of nine RFX branch offices. Clicking on a branch location provides a short description of operations from that branch and gives the name and telephone number of the manager.
www.caswell.nl www.magic-sw.com Firms to Offer E-Business Solution to Seabrex Magic Software Enterprises and Caswell Logistics BV will provide Seabrex, a fruit shipping agent, with an e-business-based trading and trucking system to support global operations.
The solution, which will incorporate both Magic's business-to-business e-business solution (Magic eMerchant) and Caswell's supply chain management solution (Well-Solution), will link Seabrex's logistics, information technology, and transportation capabilities with those of its distributors and customers. The deal is valued initially at more than $2 million.
Seabrex moves more than one million tons of cargo through the Rotterdam Fruitport each year. Fruit ships offload at Merwehaven, where the product is stored in one or more of eight cold-storage warehouses (with more than 70,000 square meters of total space) for sale and final transport.
www.intermec.com Intermec Debuts SureTrack Intermec Technologies Corp has introduced SureTrack, a new Microsoft Windows 95-based software program that provides real-time tracking of shipments and proof-of-delivery information over wide area wireless networks.
SureTrack is an open-system software program that can be integrated into existing logistics automation and enterprise systems. It provides information for dispatchers to reroute drivers and optimize load planning.
Clear icons let users record such functions as leave-the-gate, start trip, select stop, complete delivery, select pick-up, enter gate, and stop trip. This data, along with captured signatures and proof-of-deliveries, can be transmitted instantly to the dispatcher via terrestrial and satellite wide area wireless networks. When mapping software is added and the application is integrated into a logistics system, dispatchers can assign drivers to pickup locations dynamically, and they are able to view a map of driver stops and last-reported locations.
www.telatemp.com Telatemp Updates Micro-Series Software An updated version of the Micro-Series software, designed to allow the user to download data from the Micro-Series temperature and humidity data loggers to a PC, is now available from the Telatemp Corp.
The new 1.16 version of the software features real-time display, which allows the user's computer to emulate a strip chart recorder to provide an immediate indication and record of temperature (and humidity) events. This feature can be used with or independent of the actual logging function. Software alternately can provide graphical display and a tabular record of relative humidity, dew-point temperature, or water vapor concentration when used with the Micro-Humidity Logger.
Statistical analysis is automatically available on the whole data set or any "zoomed" subset of the data; statistics provided include minimum, maximum, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and "mean kinetic temperature." Data can be exported as a text file or as a CSV file for import into Microsoft Excel and similar programs.
www.americold.net AmeriCold Offers Internet Connectivity Tool AmeriCold Logistics, provider of temperature-controlled storage and food distribution services, has a new Internet connectivity tool for its customers: i-3PL. This system provides Internet-enabled inventory and information access to manufacturers, brokers, retailers, wholesalers, and foodservice distributors across the entire supply chain. It promotes one-stop logistics with the power to connect electronically in real-time to view AmeriCold's network of facilities. The system offers complete visibility of consolidated and cross-facility information.
AmeriCold customers need a web browser and Internet access to use the system. From one web site, i-3PL combines management and movement of frozen, refrigerated, fresh, and dry products, emphasizing online viewing, tracking, and reporting.
www.grote.com HDDC Honors Grote Industries Web Site Grote Industries has received the inaugural Best Web Site of the Year award from Canada's Heavy Duty Distributor Council (HDDC). The award was developed to bring attention to technological commitments that companies must make to be strong partners.
Grote launched its web site at the start of 1999. It is designed as an on-line "interactive vehicle safety systems" textbook for OEMs, fleets, and aftermarketers. Besides product information organized in a searchable catalog, the site includes technical information; training, maintenance, and troubleshooting tips; clip art; frequently asked questions; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard requirements; industry news; a company profile; and contact information.
www.Air-Weigh.com Air-Weigh Orders Now Online Fleet managers and owner operators now can buy Air-Weigh on-board scales and WireLink via the company's web site at www.Air-Weigh.com. Air-Weigh is offering customers a 5% discount when they purchase an on-board scale or WireLink online. All visitors registering online for additional Air-Weigh product information are automatically entered in monthly drawings for free promotional merchandise.
Refrigerated LTL Routing Guide now available online in PDF format.