A NEW name in liquid and dry bulk food hauling brings together two veteran foodgrade tank truck carriers and a management team focused on service excellence and growth.
Cardinal Agri-logistics Inc is the parent holding company of two wholly owned carriers: Landes Trucking Inc and Charles G Lawson Trucking Inc. Huron Capital Partners LLC, a private equity investment firm, formed Cardinal Agri-logistics in December 2009 with a goal of establishing a presence in the bulk foodgrade carrier marketplace.
“These are two great foodgrade tank truck fleets that we brought together,” says Roger M Ross, chief operating officer of Cardinal Agri-Logistics. “They have given us a solid base to build upon. We plan to grow both internally and through acquisition.
“We’re building a strong sales team, and we recently expanded our corporate ranks to include a chief financial officer, vice-president of safety, and southeast regional manager. We’re still looking for a Midwest regional manager.
“We are looking for opportunities to expand the range of foodgrade cargoes we haul. We are pursuing specialty products, and we are talking with the big food processors. On the acquisition side, we are looking for fleets in the 50- to 150-truck range that fit our model.
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“We have a five-year strategic plan. While we want to grow at a controlled pace, our objective is to build this company into a 300- to 500-truck operation. We just want to make sure that we don’t take on too much new business too fast. It is critical that we don’t degrade our customer service.”
Bill Patterson, chief executive officer of Cardinal Agri-Logistics, adds that Landes Trucking and Charles G Lawson Trucking are a good match. Landes operates primarily in the Midwest, and Charles G Lawson Trucking is focused on the Southeast. Each fleet has its own customer base.
Each fleet also has a very dedicated team of employees. “We have very good people at both operations, and we are working to give them the resources to be even better,” Patterson says. “The management teams are very lean. Like most trucking companies, we could use more good quality drivers. “We’re seeing the biggest driver shortage in the south.”
Together, the two fleets operate 275 tractors and 235 liquid food tankers. Landes Trucking also runs 20 vacuum pneumatic bulkers, and Charles G Lawson Trucking has 180 refrigerated and van trailers. They haul a wide range of liquid and dry bulk edibles, including vegetable oil, sweeteners, sugar, starch, vinegar, and yeast.
The two fleets continue to operate under their own names, but some programs, such as business management systems, are being integrated. “We’re almost done with the process of integrating our business management systems,” Ross says. “It will be complete by the end of the year.”
Business systems integration included the rollout of fleet management software from TMW Systems Inc and Qualcomm MCP-50 on-board computers across both fleet operations. National accounts were arranged for Michelin tires, Pilot Flying J fuel purchases, and EFS fuel cards.
Brand building
Even as it is creating system links between the two fleets, the management team is working to build the Cardinal Agri-Logistics brand. About 20 tank trailers already carry the Cardinal Agri-Logistics logo, and that effort will continue.
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The Cardinal Agri-Logistics management team is developing strategies to maximize utilization and efficiency across both fleets. Strategies being developed include relay arrangements in which shipments are handed off between the two carriers.
“Customers have already been very receptive of these strategies,” Ross says. “While the two fleets will continue to operate as separate entities, we believe Cardinal Agri-Logistics could eventually become the main point of contact for our customers. We’re already developing an internal logistics capability to help ensure that we are able to use all of our assets to serve our customers. We may eventually create a brokerage entity, but we have no plans to use third-party carriers. We’ll handle our customers’ loads with our own equipment.”
Patterson adds that the initial customer reaction has been positive. “There is a capacity shortage right now in food transportation, and customers are offering a broader range of loads than we’ve seen in the past,” he says. “We’re getting more RFPs (requests for proposals) from potential new customers.”
First acquisition
The process of creating Cardinal Agri-Logistics started in 2009 when Huron Capital Partners acquired Landes Trucking, a liquid bulk food hauler that was founded in 1977. Rusty Landes started the carrier with one tractor and one trailer, and it grew from there.
Based in Jacksonville, Landes Trucking is primarily a short-haul regional carrier. The average length of haul is 590 miles.
The new owners faced a major challenge almost immediately. One of the carrier’s largest customers was acquired by another company that had its own private fleet. Almost overnight, Landes Trucking lost better than 35% of its business.
“We reacted by diversifying the business just as fast as we could,” Ross says. “Diversification was always part of our plan. We just didn’t think we would have to move so quickly. We kept all of the equipment even though some of it was parked at least part of the time. We didn’t layoff any drivers, but some left because we just couldn’t keep them busy.
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“Our hard work paid off, though. We found enough new business to replace everything we had lost, and then some. Our operations grew by 30% just in the past year.”
Southern move
In July 2012, Charles G Lawson Trucking was added to the Cardinal Agri-Logistics portfolio. Established in 1972 by Charles G Lawson, the Montgomery, Alabama-based company also started with a single tractor-trailer rig.
Initially, the carrier focused on refrigerated operations. Liquid bulk food hauling was added in 1988 when an edible oil processor asked if the carrier would be interested in running tank trailers. Average length of haul for the company is 950 miles.
Between them, the two fleets have six terminals, one of which is still under development. In addition to the Jacksonville headquarters terminal, Landes Trucking has a facility in Neosho, Missouri, and is developing a new location in central Iowa. On the Charles G Lawson Trucking side, terminals are located in Montgomery; Gainesville, Georgia; and Opelousas, Louisiana.
Four of the terminals have foodgrade wash racks. The two-bay wash racks are kosher certified. About 75% of the tank cleaning for the two fleets is handled in house.
“We believe the in-house wash rack may be the most important part of a foodgrade trucking operation,” Ross says. “It gives us a lot more control over the quality of the tank cleaning process. We do use some commercial wash racks when we have backhauls.”
The newest wash rack is at the Landes Trucking terminal in Neosho, which opened in July 2011. The wash rack was equipped with a refurbished Sani-Kleen stainless steel vat system and computerized controls from Applied Mechanical Technology LLC. A 125-horsepower Kewanee boiler provides steam and hot water. Spinners are from Sellers.
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The single-pass wash system cleans tanks using 150-psi pressure and 100 gallons per minute. Tank trailers are sanitized for 15 minutes with 190° F water. Custom-blended foodgrade caustic is used to some products, such as vegetable oil.
The 14-year-old tank cleaning rack at Landes’ Jacksonville terminal also features a vat-style wash system. “We recently updated the wash rack electronics with Allen Bradley controllers,” says Scott Jones, manager of the wash rack and truck maintenance shop at the Jacksonville terminal.
With two eight-hour shifts, each wash rack can clean about 20 tanks a day. “We could raise capacity to about 30 tanks a day with a third shift, and we may day that if shipment volumes continue to grow,” Jones says.
At Charles G Lawson Trucking, the wash racks in Gainesville and Opelousas use Kelton single-pass units that deliver hot water at 35 gallons per minute and 600 psi. Exiting water temperature is around 210° F. Air-operated spinners are from Spraying Systems Inc.
Wash water from the cleaning operation goes through a pretreatment process that includes capture and removal or solids and skimming of oils. The wastewater is then hauled away for further treatment and disposal.
The two fleets run roughly the same makes of stainless steel sanitary tank trailers—Walker, Brenner, and Polar. Capacities range from 5,500 gallons to 7,000 gallons depending on product hauled. The insulated trailers have in-transit heat, and are equipped with a Viking product pump mounted in a rear cabinet.
On the tractor side, Landes Trucking runs Mack power for local and regional activity and Volvos for longer hauls that call for team drivers. Macks are ordered with 60-inch mid-roof sleepers and have MP8 engines rated for 445-horsepower and 13-speed Eaton Fuller transmissions. Tractors also are spec’d with STAC Thermaflow hydraulic systems that power the trailer-mounted product pumps.
Charles G Lawson Trucking has been a longtime Freightliner fleet. Currently, it runs Freightliner Cascadias with 450-hp Detroit DD13 engines, 10-speed Eaton Fuller transmissions, and 72-inch sleepers. Gardner Denver Drum Hydrapak hydraulics run trailer-mounted product pumps. ♦
