Truckers Battle Winter Weather
Shippers depend on freight transporters for timely deliveries. An unplanned layover forced by bad weather can be costly to all. But the risk of staying on the road must be weighed against the threat of damaging cargo in an accident.
Companies such as Contract Freight Inc., United Parcel Service and Yellow Freight can’t control the weather but do the next best things:
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om Glaser, vice president of operations at CFI, said his company preaches this message to its drivers: "If you are — or feel — unsafe, stop."
He said CFI has informed its customers that a late delivery is preferable to no delivery, especially when bad weather could cause a driver pressed for time into an accident.
CFI operates a "War Room" to deal with severe weather conditions. About 45 fleet managers, customer service representatives and other personnel coordinate activities from the room, which features a large electronic map that receives information from the National Weather Service.
"You’d think you were watching the Weather Channel," Mr. Glaser said. "Our map has the same information."
The war room gets three-day forecasts to identify potential weather hazards, he said. Once the danger spots are known, drivers are notified via a satellite-to-cellular telephone linkup in each of the company’s 2,000 trucks.
Yellow Freight doesn’t have a war room, but the company puts the same emphasis on informing its drivers about hazardous weather conditions, spokesman Roger Dick said.
"Our dispatchers have 24-hour access to the National Weather Service," said a company spokesman. "We know who’s about to get hit, and we can direct traffic around it."
For the full story, see the Jan. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
