SEVERAL shippers participating in a panel at the Southern Bulk Carriers Conference said their companies are looking for trucking companies that are flexible, but the shippers understand the problems involving transportation.
“We need to be a company that carriers want to do business with,” said Leo Stupur of Huntsman International LLC at the November 9, 2006, meeting in Houston, Texas
Joining Stupur on the panel were Summer Camp of Chevron Oronite Co Llc, Bruce Nied of Baker Petrolite, Doug Hammen of Albemarle Catalysts, Ron Beeson of Lubrizol Corp, and Lee Barron of Rohm and Haas Texas Inc.
Camp said shipper representatives should attend driver meetings held by carriers in order to better understand their problems.
Barron said that carriers can educate shippers on how they can improve their personnel's relationship with drivers who load at their facilities.
Members of the audience said drivers deserve respect and civility and noted that many of the negative interaction problems arise with security guards at chemical facility gates. One audience member agreed and in addition said he heard few complaints about personnel at the loading racks. They also suggested improvements in the shipper/carrier/consignee communication.
Addressing some of the problems carriers face, Hammen pointed to just-in-time schedules. Trucking companies are getting squeezed in order to be flexible while meeting the demands of shippers and consignees, he said.
Camp noted that Chevron/Oronite has begun a logistics study looking at its storage and terminaling locations. Goals include determining if backhaul opportunities are being missed and if carrier dedicated equipment would be more beneficial.
Nied acknowledged the problems carriers have with road congestion, but added that even more congestion occurs within a chemical plant. He said his company has extended its loading hours and is attempting to make real-time information available to carrier dispatchers.
Stupur said chemical plants have been slow to understand the need to extend loading hours with many still operating on a Monday-Friday, 8 am to 5 pm schedule. “That's gradually changing,” he added.
Responding to questions about standardizing security procedures for carriers, Nied said technology eventually will solve the problem. “It behooves the industry to be active about this,” he added. “I think standardization will evolve.”
After a question about fuel costs from the audience, Beeson said his company's costs related to energy expense are sometimes passed through while others are absorbed.
In a discussion of future prospects, Hammen noted that the use of ISO tank containers appears on the rise as a result of more international bulk products arriving at US ports for distribution to manufacturers.
Nied predicted growth in the use of rail/truck transloading facilities by chemical companies that prefer shipping product via rail for long distances to be transloaded.
Stupur pointed out that using trucks for shorter distances by loading at intermodal facilities may help driver retention because it reduces the time they are away from home. At the same time, some railroads encourage the transloading logistics while others don't, he said.