The Big Apple shines with change. Time Square got a face-lift after decades of sleaziness. Public safety improved. New developments sprung up. The flip side: Some of Old New York died, and more is about to pass away. One example is the Fulton Fish Market on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Wholesalers have been doing business there for more than 170 years. The market is famous for its tough-talking workers and distinctive smell. However, the city has announced that it eventually will move from the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge to Hunts Point, the produce market, in the Bronx.
Moving along with it will be M Slavin & Sons, a major East Coast seafood purveyor with a lucrative cash-and-carry business in the Fulton Fish Market. Slavin is a third-generation, family-owned business. It started out as a small retail fish store almost 90 years ago, and still operates a retail store in Brooklyn. Next door is Slavin's main wholesale distribution center, where fish is custom-cut to customer specifications and packaged.
Besides its locations in Brooklyn and the Fulton Fish Market, Slavin operates two other distribution centers along the eastern seaboard in Arlington, Virginia, and Miami, Florida, and a packing facility in Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island. The Miami distribution center supplies cruise ships and some Caribbean islands. Another distribution center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, receives containers of fish from Slavin three to four times a week.
Slavin's Brooklyn fleet of 45 refrigerated straight trucks serves hotels, restaurants, country clubs, casinos, resorts, and cruise lines. Most trucks run within a 125-mile radius of New York, delivering to all five city boroughs; north to Hartford, Connecticut; south to Atlantic City; and west to Philadelphia. Slavin opened its new Arlington facility in the Washington DC area in 1999, and uses four trucks to shuttle from New York to Arlington.
Slavin's trucks, bodies, and fleet graphics have changed in recent years. They are lighter, sleeker vehicles with simpler graphics. The new design emphasizes photographic images of fish instead of wavy lines with cartoon fish and block letters. Since 1987, the company has leased all trucks from AA Truck Renting Corporation in Long Island City, New York. AA Truck Renting does all maintenance and repair and provides extra trucks when needed.
Slavin runs mostly Mitsubishi Fuso FE trucks with Kidron 14-ft refrigerated bodies. For longer runs, Slavin uses International 4900 trucks with 20-ft bodies. Previously, the company ran Mack Mid-Liners with heavy-duty FRP vans built by the George Hirn Company. Hirn, a Kidron distributor, continues as Slavin's body supplier.
Good Fuel Economy
“The Mitsubishis are easy to park in Manhattan; they are no bigger than a car,” says Chuck Clayton, Slavin's fleet manager. “They also provide good fuel economy. We previously specified equipment primarily for longevity, and remounted the Hirn bodies on new chassis for three leasing periods (15 years). The trucks were heavier than needed for the loads we handle. On the other hand, the Mitsubishis provide better maneuverability. They are easier to unload because the floor height is 36 inches compared to 50 inches with the Macks.”
Kidron bodies are sheet-and-post design with galvanized steel posts. They have aluminum exterior skins and FRP interior liners. Crossmembers are three-inch I-beams on 12-inch centers. Walls are insulated with three inches of foam, floors have four inches, and the ceilings have three inches. Corrugated aluminum floors provide even air circulation around floor-stacked loads.
Mitchell Slavin, vice-president and grandson of the company founder, designed the new truck graphics with the help of a New York graphics company. “We wanted our graphics to stand out more,” Slavin says. “Keep in mind that this was several years ago before pictorial graphics were widely used by distributors.”
Colorful Collage
Slavin examined many photographs of fish and did research in libraries before completing the design. It is a collage of fish displaying reds, pinks, grays, and greens. The fish are bunched together forming an arch, almost as though swimming in close formation. They include red snapper, flounder, mullet, brook trout, and striped bass.
From concept to application of decals on the last truck, the project took about two months. The fish picture dominates the truck sides and a reduced version fills the rear overhead doors. Across the rear door header and the top of the truck sides in red lettering, or in white highlighted in blue, appears the company name, M Slavin & Sons and the slogan “Eat Fish, Live Longer.” The reflective decals are from 3M.
The new design is meant to portray quality products that are delivered fresh and in excellent condition. “We stress cleanliness and safety in our product handling,” Slavin says. “We made a commitment to move to the new market terminal in the Bronx because it would provide a modernized facility to improve product quality and safety.”
Trucks Run Day and Night
Slavin draws from a demanding clientele of about 14,000 restaurants in Manhattan alone. Serving many white-table establishments, Slavin strives to provide high-quality, individualized service. To help ensure products arrive on time, Slavin trucks run day and night.
“If we miss an early delivery or product comes in late from the airport, we have trucks available for hotshot delivery at all times,” Clayton says. “On average, we make 400 deliveries each day.”
By 2 am the Fulton Fish Market is in full swing, Clayton adds, and the Brooklyn facility operates 24 hours a day. Fish is moved constantly from Brooklyn to New York. Trucks typically are loaded starting about 1 am and begin runs about 5:30 am, returning by early afternoon. “Three drivers go to airports,” Clayton says. “One goes to LaGuardia, one to Kennedy, and the other does pick-ups at night at all three airports (including Newark). We receive fish from throughout the world.”
Slavin packs all fresh seafood in boxes containing saltwater ice to keep the fish from losing its color and oils. Except for frozen product and some fish already processed, Slavin does all the filleting. “We shuck oysters on the half shell, we steam the lobsters, and all are fresh-packed.”
To ensure product arrives fresh at destination, Slavin sets truck refrigeration units at 32° F for city deliveries and 38° F to 40° F for longer runs. Delivery stops vary. On runs in Manhattan, drivers make 10 to 25 stops, typically, Clayton says.
Terrestrial Tracking
For better customer service and fleet security, Slavin has installed a radio-frequency fleet tracking system. The system uses a tiny transponder chip in the truck dash to monitor location, stops, cargo door openings, and box temperature. The supplier of the LifeTrak active security fleet management system is Ituran in Long Island City.
“We tailor LifeTrak to each customer,” says Michael Dror, fleet management specialist for Ituran. “We install sensors, readers, and photoelectric eyes to track various vehicle functions.”
Fleet managers can retrieve data almost in real time. Dror estimates computers receive the transmission after about a three-second delay. “We provide terrestrial tracking for truck and car fleets, including tow trucks, limos, and snow plows,” he says. “It is a territorial system that covers an 85-mile radius of New York. Slavin also uses it in Baltimore.”
