need help!

[loaders]

We have a problem that perhaps one of the Western members of this site could help us with. We have a shipment stuck on a trailer in Medicine Hat that we really need delivered into Calgary. The carrier we used has a tractor problem and it has taken far to long to resolve. If anyone knows of a carrier who could take this trailer into Calgary, deliver our shipment and then either return the trailer or drop it in Calgary for the other guy to pick-up once he's mobile, I would appreciate hearing from you. You'd think it's a Friday with problems like this!

 

[MikeJr]

Call:

Steele's Transfer Ltd. - Dennis/Ken - 403-264-0808.

If they can't help you, they will likely tell you who can.

Great folks!!

Keep well,

Mike

 

[loaders]

Trying them now. Thanks Mike. I will let you know how we make out.

 

[MarkD]

Have you sorted this out? Is it just one load on the trailer? Are you positive it's in Medicine Hat and not still sitting in Toronto?

 

[loaders]

MarkD, we are as sure as one can be in this crazy business, that the trailer is in Medicine Hat. Our shipment represents close to half of the trailer. As of right now, the carrier is awaiting the delivery of a part to fix the tractor. It was loaded last week with a delivery of Mon/Tues. into Calgary. The communication between the carrier and our office has been poor on their part. When we suggested that another carrier could take the trailer into Calgary, he refused. Breakdowns are part of this industry and everyone has them, it's how one deals with them that separates the good operators from the bad.

 

[MikeJr]

When we suggested that another carrier could take the trailer into Calgary, he refused.

Leading us to believe your freight is not in AB. Next you'll find out that the truck never made it through the closure on hwy 17..

We feel for your situation (many of us have been there).

Fingers crossed this delivers soon and damage free!

Please keep us updated as to the outcome (and depending on the outcome, perhaps the carrier name in use)!

Keep well,

Mike

 

[ranger_dispatch]

If the breakdown is genuine, they should be able to provide you with the contact info of the repair shop where the truck is being fixed. Once we had a truck break down in LA, and I remember it took the shop 5 days to get the parts, and get the truck back on the road. Sometimes even small parts are hard to find in the US.

 

[RK in AB]

I guess I have to play devil's advocate. Many carriers are reluctant to give their equipment to another carrier, especially if they don't have a relationship with the carrier wanting to take the trailer. There are liability issues that can come up which most want to avoid.

Imagine you are driving down the highway and some truck cuts you off. The only name you will see is the one on the back of the trailer. I wouldn't lend my car to someone I don't know.

Some might say not giving your trailer to another carrier is a good business decision. We recently had a situation where we wanted to send a carrier to take someone else's trailer to Victoria. The trailer would not be released to the carrier until they provided a copy of their insurance showing adequate coverage for non-owned vehicles. Who pays the damage to the trailer if some occurs.

You may very well have a load sitting in Medicine Hat or Toronto and I hope it's Medicine Hat and that it gets moving quickly for you and your customer!

Cheers

 

[alx2]

LTL deliveries

I often come across comments on this site whereby it takes too long to fix a mechanical problem.
The standard shipment that pays a regular ltl. price suddenly becomes urgent, ie.. plant shutdown.
In this instance the carrier with the breakdown is supposed to turn his operation upside down and compromise his reputation and operating authorities because some 3 pl has has shaved things too thin and left too little margin for error.

We had an instance exactly last week where we had 8 shipments on a northbound truck that broke a leaf spring in Richmond Va.
We found several partial solutions to the problem, we had garages that could look at the problem but did not have the part, and others that had the part but their service depts. were closed until Monday am.

Fortunately, our local spring shop had the part and they were in doing inventory that Saturday, hence we got the part.
We sent the truck in to the dealer in Richmond and they were working on it Saturday am.

We put the part on our next outbound Sunday morning, the part was at the dealers @ 8:00am Monday, all that was left was to put it back in. BY 13:00 the dealer had not looked at our truck, it was now captive. The repair was thankfully carried out @ 20:00.

Driver got 3 hours up the road and had to shut down due to both fatigue and logbook.

Driver arrived the next day @ 18:00 hours and we had headed to one 3pl's urgent delivery set for that evening between 20:00 and 22:00hrs. We just had to be there because the MULTINATIONAL would shut down production. Our driver got there and it took 2 hours to unload the 5 skids because no one knew what we were talking about.

The next morning due to another possible shutdown we had to be at the consignees @ 6:30am, we did as we were told , the only problem we had was that the consignee did not open until 8:00am, hence we did not start getting unloaded till then.

So the end result was that we had a driver come in to do the after-hour delivery that was out of route and caused an inconvenience to the consignee. We then wasted 1/1/2 hrs the next morning for the urgent delivery staff to open . All extra costs to us the carrier.

My question is why are 3pl's shipping such time sensitive freight as LTL?

 

[Robsan]

alx2, I have to agree with you. This happens way to often, pick up an LTL and be told it HAS TO DELIVER BY next am or something silly like that. If it's that important and/or requires a delivery appt. ship it as truck load, period! No muss, no fuss! If the paying customer doesn't want to pay for the truck load then simply tell them that it will get there when it gets there.(within reason)

 

[loaders]

My post yesterday for assistance with a delivery problem, had nothing to do with the rate we had negotiated with the carrier. The reason I was reaching out for help was because the carrier failed to mitigate his service failure. Instead of attempting to solve the problem the breakdown had created for all of his customers on-board, he basically threw-up his hands and did nothing. No one expects miracles to happen when an unfortunate breakdown occurs, but is there not some responsibility to at least try to find a solution other than say "sh** happens"? In this particular case, the carrier admitted to us that the delay had already cost him a few thousand dollars in fines associated with another of the shipments. For less than that, another tractor could have been rented from the local Penske/Ryder outlet and used to deliver all of his shipments into Calgary. I also don't think that 5 days service for LTL from Toronto to Calgary is asking too much. In any event, we are still waiting for confirmation that the tractor has been repaired and that the deliveries are on schedule for today

 

[MarkD]

If the 3pl pays for a t/l i'm pretty sure your truck (or whoevers) still breaks down and it gets handled the same way. If they were that worried they could split the order on to two or three trucks and hope one gets there on time but many people are cheap and most would rather roll the dice with someone they have never heard of if it saves $100.