Winter will be long haul for trucking companies

Jan. 8, 2014
Hauling companies in Pennsylvania respond to the cold weather recently affecting the U.S.

Record-setting temperatures in the Midwest Tuesday created some pretty unusual circumstances for local companies, especially those that haul products.

Michael J. Marcinko, general manager of Van Bennett Food Co. Inc., a food-services company at 101 N. Carroll St., Reading Eagle, Pa. said: "It's disaster for us, this weather. The funny thing is, even when it isn't snow like today (Tuesday), all the schools (Van Bennett's deals with) are closed.

"We do a lot of school business, and we're trying to get to schools, hoping for a janitor working or someone in the office to let us in.

"Snow, we plan for it, but I didn't expect the schools to be closed."

Redner's Markets Inc., based in Maidencreek Township, adjusts to the winter weather so products still reach their destinations.

Companies, such as Redner's with more than 40 warehouse markets and 19 Quik Shoppes throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, have trucks driving hundreds of miles.

Sometimes they have to reconsider their planning to ensure the weather doesn't prevent them from getting products from point A to point B in good condition.

Eric B. White, spokesman for Redner's, said the company can look at weather forecasts and bump up delivery times so locations aren't short on food. But he said it's mainly snow and ice that cause those adjustments, not record temperatures.

"We want to minimize the amount of risk that can occur," White said.

Otherwise, the food and products inside of delivery trucks won't suffer from cold weather conditions because they are in containers held at certain temperatures, White said.

Brian V. Levan, president of Levan Machine and Truck Equipment, Ruscombmanor Township, said he sees more truck repairs in the inclement weather.

"The diesel can gel when it gets too cold," Levan said. "It literally turns to jelly. For that, you use a fuel additive and properly maintain the fuel system. You want to take the water out of the fuel and use dry gas."

Levan said some truckers report they can't move their trucks in the extreme cold.

"Most large trucks operate on compressed air systems, which form condensation, and if not properly maintained, the brake system can freeze," Levan said, adding that the solution to avoid that problem is air water separators.

If the system freezes up, the solution is to warm up the truck.

"You have to throw a blue tarp on the truck and use a Torpedo heater underneath to blow out heat into the system, and that is a long time-consuming process," Levan said.

Penske Truck Leasing, Green Hills, which operates a truck fleet of 215,000 vehicles across North America, doesn't have any set of rules for companies to specifically follow in regards to what conditions they choose to drive rented or leased vehicles in.

Penske spokesman Alen Beljin said it's in the hands of the companies that rent or lease trucks to settle on shipping logistics during inclement weather.

While Van Bennett can still deliver its foods to restaurants and day-care centers on a day like Tuesday, the company loses money in the long run because everything it packs onto trucks on the night shift in preparation for the next day's deliveries has to be put back.

"It's not like we're losing tons of money, but it's someone's time," Marcinko said. "Weather like this is why we think about relocating to Florida, but we've been here for over 70 years so I guess that's not going to happen."

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