Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/117975
Innovator of the Y e a r |Boyd Bros. Corners, New Mexico, where there isn���t an intermodal yard for that has two hydraulic gantry arms on either end of the deck that can be raised and lowered as needed. The gantries allow the 500 miles,��� Wagner says. During the test phase, the company operated in six lanes flatbed to function just like any other container, with the ability between the Southeast and Northeast, and since has expanded to double-stack loads and even place the flatbed on the bottom its intermodal network to Chicago and points west, opening up dwell with a fully loaded box container in the top position. new customer opportunities in the process. But perhaps the best feature of the new design is the ability ���We didn���t serve the West Coast before [intermodal], so that���s to lower the gantry arms and stack empty flatbeds ��� up to four virgin territory for us,��� says Bailey. ���We will serve that market high ��� for the return leg. ���We can ship four loads to the Northprimarily out of Memphis and Chicago and into Los Angeeast and send them back empty in one load,��� says Bailey. ���That les. We already have a good lane now between Chicago and is a competitive advantage because that is something dry vans Denver.��� and reefers can���t do.��� Boyd Bros. even has hopes to expand its intermodal operaBoyd Bros. quickly realized capacity improvements during the rollout phase of its intermodal operation. ���Our local opera- tion into Mexico with southbound service into Monterrey. ���That holds a lot of potential because you don���t have to worry tor with a daycab can shuttle four or five intermodal loads into about a border crossing and transfer service,��� says Bailey. a customer in the same day as one or two of our over-the-road drivers,��� says Bailey. Additionally, the company was able to remove 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions last year during Gaining acceptance Like any new product or service offering, customer accepthe 820-load million-mile test phase. tance is an unknown. In Boyd Bros.��� case, some customers got Boyd Bros. has 52 Raildecks in operation, each allowing the onboard with the company���s intermodal company to haul up to 44,500 pounds concept from the beginning, while others safely. Boyd and Raildecks are currently on are taking a wait-and-see approach. Boyd their fourth-generation Raildecks design Bros.��� sales team has to be proactive with ��� now manufactured by Jasper, Ala.-based Raildecks product demonstrations at Fontaine Trailer ��� that, when paired with customer locations in order for them to new lightweight daycabs, will allow Boyd understand the concept. Bros. to haul 46,000 pounds. ���That���s the ���The biggest concern customers have is magic number,��� says Bailey. ���That converts if it can be as service-sensitive as trucka heck of a lot of freight from over-theload service,��� says Bailey. ���And in a lot of road to intermodal for us.��� Richard Bailey, president, Boyd Bros. our lanes, it is. You can actually go to the Intermodal currently makes up about West Coast faster via intermodal than by 2 percent of the company���s shipments, but Boyd Bros. expects that number to grow dramatically as its sending a truck out there. And we can offer two-day intermocustomers gain confidence in the concept and rail companies dal service from Atlanta to the Northeast ��� that is the same as continue to improve infrastructure. truckload service.��� ���In five years time, there is the potential for intermodal to be All intermodal flatbed loads require special securement to 20 to 25 percent of our business,��� says Bailey. meet Association of American Railroads regulations, which are different than standard flatbed truckload requirements. ���There Pairing up is a customer learning curve on loading and securing, but once In order for intermodal shipping to remain profitable, Boyd we get them over that hurdle, it works,��� says Bailey. Bros. has to be selective about the lanes where it operates. The company���s ideal scenario for intermodal is city pairs with Doing the right thing lengths of haul greater than 700 miles with dray operations on When it comes to finding ways to serve its customers more either end of 75 to 100 miles. efficiently and effectively, Boyd Bros. never has shied away ���It���s a very specific point-to-point service,��� says Wagner. from trying new things. That���s essentially how the idea for the ���Then we have to build critical mass in those lanes.��� intermodal stack train came about, so the 57-year-old company Because of these limitations, not every customer is suited ide- probably isn���t finished with its innovations. ally for intermodal service. ���When a customer comes up with something different, we���ll ���We can���t provide intermodal service to a customer that is sit down and talk to them about it,��� Wagner says. ���Some things 250 miles from an intermodal yard, or even a customer that don���t work out, but we���re willing to look at it.��� sits right next to an intermodal yard that wants to ship to Four One recent idea that didn���t pan out as Boyd Bros. had hoped We felt like if dry vans could do it, and reefers were starting up, why couldn���t flatbed? commercial carrier journal CCJ_0413_BusinessFeature.indd 41 | april 2013 41 3/21/13 10:08 AM