Beyond The Road (The Transportation Industry Podcast)

Ep. 17 | Common Tactics For Protecting Open-Deck Freight During Transport: Overview and Comparison

• Anderson Trucking Service (ATS) • Season 1 • Episode 17

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Protecting cargo is top of mind for many companies. That said, ensuring freight arrives at its destination in good condition can sometimes be challenging on open-deck shipments which have external elements, like the weather, to contend with.

It’s not like you can avoid shipping these cargoes. So, what can you do to ensure your load is delivered damage-free? You’ve never been one to shrink from a challenge and even though open-deck shipments can get a bit complex, this doesn’t mean the quality of your products should suffer. 

But what can you do? 

In this episode of Beyond The Road, we’ll sit down with an experienced logistics professional to take an in-depth look at the most potent things you can do to keep your open-deck freight safe from A to B.

Topics Covered in This Episode:

  • What Kind of Freight Is Commonly Moved on Open-Deck Trailers?
  • When and Why Is Freight Tarped?
  • What is Gift-Wrap Tarping?
  • Why Use a Conestoga Trailer Instead of Tarps?
  • When Should Shrink Wrap Be Used? 
  • When Should You Crate Cargo?
  • What is a Securement Plan and Why is it Important?
  • What Are V-Boards?
  • What About Beveled Dunnage?
  • What is Most Important For Keeping Open-Deck Freight Safe?

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Eli:

Protecting cargo is top of mind for many companies. That said ensuring freight arrives at its destination in good condition can sometimes be challenging for open deck shipments, which have external elements like the weather to contend with. I mean, it's not like you can avoid shipping these cargoes. So what can you do to ensure your load is delivered damage free. You've never been one to shrink from a challenge. And even though open deck shipments can get a little bit complex, this doesn't mean the quality of your products should suffer. But what can you do? I'm your host, Eli Simonson. And in this episode of Beyond The Road, we'll sit down with an experienced logistics professional to take an in-depth look at the most potent things you can do to keep your open deck freight safe from A to B. Stick around. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of beyond the road, the transportation industry podcast where we talk all things transportation and logistics. Joining me today, on his debut on beyond the road, is Andrew Beckman.

Andrew:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Eli:

Yeah, Andrew, you are an operations manager at ATS logistics. Tell me a little bit about what you do.

Andrew:

I manage a couple of different offices of our locations outside of ATS help grow some of their regional offices, get some operation support to them. I have a central team in St. Cloud as well as operations folks in other offices. So trying to be that kind of central point of contact and help these offices get on their feet.

Eli:

Sure. And what is the role of the operations employees that you oversee within, you know, ATS logistics? What do you do what do what are you in charge of?

Andrew:

My employees are out there covering the freight that are salespeople book. So our salespeople just talk to their customers and our, you know, our operations reps are only dealing with with the carriers that we work and selling freight to that make sure it picks up on time keeping track of that service and, and making sure that our customers are getting what they pay for.

Eli:

Sure. What kind of freight are you most familiar with?

Andrew:

I started in my operations role in the van world, moved through that for a couple years and then focused only on open deck. And now I'm doing a little bit of both. So whatever my salespeople throw out, whether that's van, reefer, flatbed, or open deck, and some oversize, so a little bit of experience and everything.

Eli:

Yeah, seems like a lot of see a lot of different kinds of freight working at a big brokerage like ATS. Is that generally the route people take when they're first starting out as a carrier rep? They start with vans, and . .

Andrew:

Not necessarily, it's it's always kind of where our need is, right? What type of the business is growing? And, and where do we need support? And then we just kind of shift people where, where we need help.

Eli:

Sure. And how long have you been doing this?

Andrew:

Just celebrated 10 years here.

Eli:

So 10 years. . .15 years and yeah, I think you get a parking spot the amount of parking we can get you back into the corporate office

Andrew:

Yeah, someday

Eli:

Which is happening, for you listeners who don't know, ATS is start is doing a big expansion project on the corporate office trying to get the operations employees back under the same roof.

Andrew:

Yep.

Eli:

Where they belong.

Andrew:

Back together.

Eli:

Where they belong. All right, well, Andrew, thanks for coming on. Today we are going to talk about open deck shipping and keeping that freight safe during transit. I know that open deck you know is is unique in the fact that you know it has to deal with the realities of the elements, right? Wind, dust, dirt, debris, rain, snow, sleet, you know, all those things. And keeping keeping products safe and in good condition from A to B is kind of difficult. Let's just kind of start set the stage here. What What kind of cargo are we most commonly shipping on open deck trailers, what are we using open deck?

Andrew:

There's, there's a lot of the raw materials and goods a lot of the metals out there, the lumber, steel, a lot of those things require that tarping and protecting it. But even on the open deck side, we're moving the machinery, a lot of construction stuff, and just about everything that just doesn't quite fit in that van trailer.

Eli:

So it's yeah, you move a lot of different kinds of freight and a lot of it is sensitive. Would you say most of it is sensitive to the elements or not, not too much?

Andrew:

I'd say most of it. Even those those cargoes that aren't necessarily sensitive to the elements, our customers still want those protected. You know, one thing that drivers always give us a hard time about is you know, we're tarping shingles. They're gonna sit outside for their whole lifetime and why do I need to tarp this? Well, you got to think about it as a consumer you're gonna go into whatever big box store you're gonna go get. You want to buy some shingles that are all dirty, that that white wrapping right they want them clean when they show up and protecting that cargo in the wintertime, especially in key The assault off it and, you know, whatever it may be. That's part of it too.

Eli:

And there's a lot of different options for shippers who need to have their cargo protected in the open deck space. And a lot of them I sure don't even spring to mind for most companies that maybe they think tarping is their only option. And maybe there are alternatives. So let's kind of talk through some of these options that we see tarping let's talk through tarping. Who, what, what is tarping best suited for? commonly used?

Andrew:

Yeah, tarping I mean, almost all cargoes can get a tarp on it one way or another. Does that always mean it's the right choice? You know, not necessarily, but a lot of those bulk commodities, the steel, aluminum, the lumber, those have been tarp forever. And those probably will continue to be some of the cargoes out there that are getting, it gets more specialized and more sensitive, right, there's been a demand for conasauga trailers, and there's been a lot more of those added to the market. For a couple of reasons, it helps protect that cargo a little bit better, and also a lot easier on the driver. Everyone out there throwing those tarps anymore, especially since the ELD mandate, and everybody had to have their, you know, these in their trucks. tarping time for a driver can be upwards of, you know, an hour or two hours depending on what the conditions are and rolling back and kind of Soga really cuts down, right? You're talking one to two hours down to a half hour. So it helps get that driver get that time back on his clock and make him more efficient as well.

Eli:

Right. Yeah, you think about those hours of service.

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah, the number one thing you want your drivers to be efficient, and on the road. They're not making money unless they're on the road.

Eli:

So let's, let's talk about just how common tarping is, so does every open deck driver, they carry tarps with them, they always have tarps on them.

Andrew:

Just like anything you can ever say, you know, all the time, right? There's there's a lot of drivers out there that don't want to tarp, for whatever reason, right? Don't like doing it, physically aren't able to, for whatever reason, maybe anymore, getting older, whatever it is, there's still a lot of commodities out there that don't necessarily need tarps. You get into those, you know, equipment moves, you're not putting a tarp on on a bulldozer, right. Or some of that equipment. So those guys gravitate into that equipment, they usually have a little bit more experience. But if you're pulling a flatbed and then you know mostly even a step deck in this in this market, we're in pretty common for guy to have talks with him.

Eli:

And if I'm a shipper that needs tarps, what should I expect to pay for for a tarp charge? Would you say competitively?

Andrew:

Pretty standard right around 100 bucks. If it's an if it's, you know, an easier one, maybe a little bit less. But like I said, it comes back to that time, a driver has to have time to do it. And tarps aren't cheap. You know, a brand new set of tarps can cost me you know, probably on average 1,000 bucks.

Eli:

Do you see the tarp charges change based on the commodity? Like if something has sharp edges or anything?

Andrew:

Definitely. It's it comes back to that time, right driver has to have a few more resources, have some, you know, some corner protectors, some carpet, you know, it's a common one to use some carpet chunks to protect it. Not only are we protecting the cargo, but the driver is also protecting his investment and as tarps. He doesn't want that cargo to get wet. But he really doesn't want those tarps to get ruined either because going to get them and with all the shortages we're dealing with in the world. I'm sure tarps aren't the easiest to find right, exactly what you want.

Eli:

Yeah, if I have to, if I have sensitive freight that, that I want to have tarp, but I wanted a little bit more protected. We talked about gift wrap tarping, can you kind of walk me through what that is?

Andrew:

Gift wrapping is when you're really adding that tarp to the bottom and making sure that no moisture comes in. It's mainly moisture, I just like in our houses, water is the number one enemy. Same with a lot of the cargo that we're moving. So getting that gift wrapping under the commodity before you do it, then you bring that tarp up and then a tarp over it. It really adds that next level of protection. Whereas just a drop tarp, you're just protecting it from top down rain. Or if you get some some sideways rain or whatever it is, you just a little bit more open.

Eli:

I guess I don't know if you can speak to this or not. But what kind of cargoes are typically needing to be gift wrapped tarpped or is that just up to the discretion of the shipper?

Andrew:

It's up to the discretion of the shipper. I mean, most of the time, if they're shipping goods that are expensive, they're usually doing it so they've had issues, you know, with clams or water or whatever it is, and they know and they've been educated that you know, maybe this is a route that we need to go. But that sensitive equipment, equipment that CNC machines, anything with electronics in it, right that even if water is not directly on and if it's you know, a little too humid, or if it gets too close, it can really damage them. So that's where we usually see gift wrapping, but a lot of those customers have gravitated towards those Conestoga trailers now. So at least me personally seeing those loads that require gift wrapping and starting to get a little bit less common. We're just looking for those Conestoga trailers.

Eli:

Yeah and why? Why choose the Conestoga over tarping? What are the, you know, what are the main factors driving someone toward the Conestoga over tarping their cargo?

Andrew:

They're just a better better protection, it's it's, there's less human error with it, you know, it's either closed or it's not. There can be some holes within it, but it's a little bit easier to see those holes. If you have a hole in a Conestoga. And your tarps have been kind of hard to see, right, you have to get on top of the cargo or, or really inspect the driver's tarps before you're putting commodities on. And there's a lot of customers out there that do that, right. And I look through and make sure that there's no little holes or big holes, whatever it is, but it just leaves less room for error.

Eli:

It gives you the 360 protection. Yeah, without having the cargo to be like touched by the material.

Andrew:

machinery or, you know, keep going back to that machinery, those things that stick out that I'll poke through. You don't have to worry about it when we run on a

Eli:

Right. If I'm a shipper trying to make this decision Conestoga because it's just it's the van, basically van trailer between the Conestoga and tarping. What, at what point that removes. should I start making like actually decide on the Conestoga go the tarps? Because I know that finding a Conestoga or securing a Conestoga, just because there's fewer of them in the market is a little bit more expensive than. . .

Andrew:

Yeah, it can be a little bit more expensive. It can be a little bit more of a time thing too right, is it time versus money? How fast is this need to get out there? Somebody's screaming at me to get this cargo delivered? But I think the big factor is what's that cargo worth, right? And how sensitive is it to the elements, that's, you know, what they're weighing, is it worth spending a little bit more to protect that is, you know, a true $100,000 machine, probably worth that couple extra 100 bucks to find a Conestoga to take that load.

Eli:

So it's a high value freight is also common, definitely. Let's talk about the some of these other things that I have written down here. I've got a list of them. For you listeners that are interested, we have a article which lists you know, the common ways to protect open-deck freight. And that's where I'm pulling these from. Let's talk about shrink wrapping, shrink wrap, wrapping my cargo, maybe this sometimes goes hand in hand with tarping. I don't know if sometimes customers would shrink wrap and tarp or whatever. But. . .

Andrew:

Yeah, sometimes we shrink wrap and tarp, you see, the more of the goods that you see shrink wrapped or coming off of a vessel coming off of a ship, where they really, really want to protect it there because a lot of things can go wrong on the ship and maybe not aren't monitored, like a driver pulling the pulling that trailer behind him would look at it and check on it. But sometimes we are typing over them because shrink wrapping is great on a boat when they're not going fast. You start going 70 miles an hour, that shrink wrap might not hold up. So having the tarps with them, maybe we're not typing right away. But we have just in case, you know, that shrink wrapping does fail.

Eli:

Sure. And the shrink wrap is meant to protect the cargo or the it's meant to protect the paint job like you said, right?

Andrew:

Yeah, a little bit of that. But it also it's that one one more thing to seal it, right. Nothing's totally airtight, you know, are watertight, but it's just that one more layer of protection. I used to see a lot more of that I've seen less and less of that shrink wrapping. I think it has to do with the availability of those kinds of soldiers and, and what that's really done to change the market.

Eli:

Yeah, it is really convenient. If I was to shrink wrap my freight. I mean, does that require the like the purchase of a special, like Shrink Wrap Machine? Or?

Andrew:

Yeah, I mean, you'd have to do a lot of volume, if you're going to shrink wrap if you're going to invest in that type of equipment. Otherwise you're looking for someone to come out and do that at your facility. And is that always convenient or is that even doable? It's it's getting fewer and far between? Yeah, definitely. Well, creating, creating is a great one. I mean, if you have creating more common there's a lot of creative goods again, a lot of export stuff needs to be created but if you have even that new machine coming out of the factory if it's made in America, having that crate really helps it's it's easier for that cargo to not move during transit you can pull it down to something it's easier to secure we get some machines out there that are tough you kind of look at it and go how am I gonna tie this down and you know what's sensitive? We're relying on a driver to be an expert on some CNC machine that he's never operated or you can secure this cargo down that's a part of it. But it also it's it's way easier to tarp right your tarp in a box versus whatever it may be right it's easy to tarp a box and make sure you can see everything and it's easy for a driver to tarp them as well; you can get on top of that crate and walk his tarps over.

Eli:

So talk about when we're going back to this having the driver relying you know or relying on the driver to to strap down or tarp or secure a piece cargo that they they don't understand at all let's talk about these, like the importance of having a securement plan. Yeah, you know, is that something that shipper typically shares with you?

Andrew:

We typical maybe not but, but the shippers that that do this a lot are they have those sensitive equipment what It is they do have some securement guides, some of our customers, our larger customers have a plan published plan could be 30 to 60 pages really detailed, right? They want to make sure that their cargo is delivered in good, good order, right, not damaged and entered correctly as well. Some people take a lot of time into it. But those are the customers that are shipping a lot of volume. Where we see it lasses. You get a one off two off, maybe someone showed sold the machine and they don't know how it got there. They don't. You know, they're they're just trying to get rid of it. Right. That's the kind of the head scratcher. Were the drivers concerned. And we try and walk them through and get our safety team involved, too.

Eli:

Yeah, some of those things are really complex. Yeah, they can be. So yeah, securement plan especially. Yeah, on those more sensitive goods is definitely important.

Andrew:

And nobody likes being surprised. You know, if you have, if we have something that we think is going to be a challenge, if you look at that commodity, and the driver is asking a few more questions, he just wants to be prepared. And nobody's getting into pictures of questionable loads. Right. And I mean, questionable isn't, you know, sketchy by any means. But that sounds like they might be a challenge pictures really helped prepare driver, they prepare us, so we know what to look for. So when you have those loads out there that have been sitting inside or those machineries those really help us with issues, right, because if you're hiring rigging to come in, you don't want that truck to come in and not be prepared. And then you have people waiting on us, and we're waiting on them. And that gets to be kind of messy.

Eli:

Going back to the crating, if I have something that I want to have created before I ship it, how does that done? How where am I get corona? Where do I get crates round? Most companies have their own crates?

Andrew:

It depends. There's companies out there, we've hired plenty of companies over the years to come out and create something on a truck or recreate something a crate failed. And they're never cheap. But you know, if you're in that business, getting a crate designed for the goods that you're hauling, and getting that on the front end, it's almost as if it's done. Yeah. If they're shipping something, they're creating it for export. There's a lot of creating companies local, you know, in the cities that whether it be a rail yard, or if you go up and down the ports, there's a lot of those customers out there where we may ship it directly to a trading company, and then they'll get bring it to the port. So we'll take care of that. And yeah,

Eli:

yeah, if you're a high volume shipper that crate crates things, I'm guessing the best the only time you'd want to customize a crate, right?

Andrew:

Not necessarily, again, but those one off things that you really want to protect are sensitive. It's a great way to really ensure or at least, maybe not all the way in Sure, but increase our chances,

Eli:

right, because you don't want to end up in a situation where like a hard stop sends the thing through the front of the crate. Right? Right. So that's definitely something to think about. Let's jump on to I got v boards written down here, what are V boards?

Andrew:

Those protect those sharp edges, whether it be you know, some steel, we have some buildings every once in a while that they want to tarp, those, those V boards help secure that protects the cargo from the straps so that there's not strap damage. You can also use them maybe a little bit they don't help too much with protecting the tarps from ripping or, or damaging the cargo truly helping make sure that we have good even pressure on cargo that we don't want to break. Foam Insulation is one of them where you put a strap through it, it's gonna punch right through now divide and disperse that weight a little bit more to ease that strap damage.

Eli:

Right. And are those things that trucking company supplies?

Andrew:

Yeah, yep. A lot of drivers have been with them. Again, that's kind of that flatbed. If you're on a flatbed, you got those tarps with you and usually have some type of edge protector V-Board,

Eli:

If that's something so that's something that you would need to have specified to you prior?

Andrew:

Yeah, it not necessarily need. It always helps, right? The more prepared we can be, the more prepared we can have that truck that comes in. Surprises are always a challenge, right? Yeah. But the more information we can have on the front end. And if a lot of the times if you give us what that commodity is, right, if it's insulation board, we can look at that and think, oh, we should probably have a guy that hasn't customer didn't ask for it. But yeah, we can you know, if we're upfront and we know what that commodity is, we can really help make some better decisions.

Eli:

Yeah, I'm personally working with a with a experienced provider. Yeah. Beveled dunnage beveled dunnage.

Andrew:

Yeah, yep. Again, that doesn't totally apply to that tarping it's, it's helps with a lot of the coils in the industry to keep them from rolling. It's just cutting, cutting a 45 and it's so that you have something that can't roll off whether it'd be a cable reel, or really common in the steel coils. Part of the business

Eli:

And that beveled dunnage, is that something that you typically show up to a shipper and they have a stack of beveled dunnage to use?

Andrew:

Not, usually, if they're shipping a lot of them, yeah, they'll probably have some out there for purchase. I've worked with enough customers in the past that they do have that or they have another business down the road that can supply him. There's enough need out there. Pipe sticks is another one that a company that ships pipes that sometimes they sell them on site, or they have Oh, sure. A metal fabrication company 15 miles down the road?

Eli:

Sure. So there's a way always ways to get them if you need them.

Andrew:

There's usually a way yep, yep. But again, always being prepared.

Eli:

Cool. Well, that wraps up what I have, as far as that list, I do want to ask you, if you had to narrow it down to one, maybe one or two things that you have found help you make sure that cargo is protected properly. What what what are those things? What are the things that you need to know from your, from your customer?

Andrew:

Number one is pictures, a picture really helps. It can gauge a lot of things, whether we need that padding that other protection gives us an idea of what the value of that commodity is to be concerned about that, you know, if we're going to try and type something, we want to know what the value is and how sensitive it is. The other thing that helps us dimensions and we know what size tarps we need to bring? How tall is that cargo? How wide is it and along as well, you know, if we do need to gift wrap it, that's a whole nother tarp or sometimes to want to put that tarp underneath of it as well. So those are always great, great to have. But you know, a picture, especially if it's just a little bit outside of the normal really helps us be prepared. We can send that directly to a driver so he can be prepared, he or she can be prepared and know what they're getting into.

Eli:

So as a as the operations side of the freight brokerage, how are you narrowing your pool of carriers for like more specialized loads and stuff?

Andrew:

Yeah, we look at what type of history that carriers had with us. A lot of us had been an operation side have been doing this a long time and know a lot of the carriers that are good at it. Okay, and move a lot of it. What usually comes with that experience is that higher your cargo value? They have they carry a little bit more cargo, because they're consistently moving loads that are more expensive, right? So their drivers are trained. They have everything that they need to make sure that they're prepared, as well. So that's a real good indicator.

Eli:

Right. So it's your job to maintain relationships with carriers. Yes. How is that done? Exactly. Is that so you have an internal I know you have an internal I don't care your database or something?

Andrew:

Yeah, yep. We have a lot of tools within our system to help us point our carrier reps or operations folks in the right direction. But a lot of our relationships are more old school of just you know, picking up the phone and talk to somebody. A lot of memory a member may have been doing this 10 years, not the longest, but there's people that I've used five, eight years ago, and I remember, they did a great job and I want to remember them and talk to them if they get into that unique situation again.

Eli:

Awesome. Well, I appreciate you coming on here, Andrew.

Andrew:

Thanks, sir.

Eli:

Have a great rest of your day.

Andrew:

You as well. See you next time.

Eli:

Yes, thanks. You have been listening to Beyond The Road, The Transportation Industry podcast produced by Anderson trucking service. If you like what you heard here today, make sure to follow along wherever you listen to podcasts, so you don't miss our next episode, which we publish every Tuesday. For more transportation industry related content and information head over to the ATS Inc. Learning Hub atsinc.com/learning-hub. I've linked that in the shownotes below. On the Learning Hub, you will find the comprehensive library of answers to transportation's most common questions in the form of articles, videos, podcasts, like this one, case studies, downloadable tools and more. All created to help you become the supplier that always delivers for its customers. If you're looking to learn a little bit more about protecting your cargo from the elements. When shipping an open deck trailer, I have linked an article in the show notes below that I invite you to check out. Finally, thank you for joining me and I hope to speak to you again soon on another episode of Beyond The Road The Transportation Industry Podcast