Reefer rookie questions

Cherries.

Ima going to make a mention of those Cherries.

A trailerful of classic red cherries with the stems on them (I forget the proper name off hand) is a hassle. You think you are handed nuclear weapons or something more common than these Cherries by the way everyone is acting all secretive about this load.

You will find them in a Bonded Warehouse, usually somewhere really quiet and so ordinary no one passing by gives these places a second look. People go nuts over a Cherry load for some reason. Again you think you are being told to carry nuclear bombs or the Queens Crown Jewels or something.

I hauled Cherries three times in my life with my wife. I'm very grateful for the privileged. But someone else can deal with that kind of load. It's not for us. You can almost feel the heat from the Board of Directors all the way down to the Dispatch Weenie going stressed out and in a bother over those stupid Cherries.

I hate to be difficult but I don't understand those Cherry loads. Maybe someone who lives and breathes the #### things can explain this plain.

 

Some loads like strawberries you run it continuous no matter what. The last thing you want is a hot spot.

 

Another thing if you're running frozen, no need to set to -10 (unless ice cream). When I was running frozen, I pretty much had unit set to 0 and on/off. Really hot and humid (90 or above) I set to 5. Even with the temp recorders and never had the problem. Half the time the freight sits on the dock for an hour or more while we were stacking it. Then at the last freezer (which the dock was rarely below 60) you'd have 30 odd pallets stacked up while you reload in order. Hot, humid, product sweating away, just a typical day running frozen.

But the money was so good you put up with the shenanigans...

 

I am still angry over a transloader warehouse. (Actually just a big concrete dock rectangle with 10 docks a side. Up in Jersey City.

I had bacon on the trailer one summer day. They say put these pallets here in the corner under the sun.

Long story short. 90 degrees then 86 degrees and 92 on the third day not counting sun and humidity if any. That bacon rotted. On the 4th day I was back and it was still there.

I told my dispatcher do not ever send me back there. He asked why. I said the bacon you loaded me with is still rotting in the hot summer sun on the open dock after being delivered properly.

I tell you what. It's over 30 years and I am still incandescent over that such BS. The neglect, the apathy the sheer loss of desire to move anything within their business should condemn them to failure.

 

When on cycle a tip I’ve told drivers who were having battery issues due to outside temp being close to setpoint .. every time you stop hit defrost if it will allow you that will charge batteries to full then shut off again if it doesn’t allow a def turn to countinous then back to cycle after it starts it will shut off when charged... if by chance you do drain the batteries on cycle you only need to connect the positive post to truck positive no ground needed .. I split a pair of booster cables in half so I could hook them together to reach positive post .. this is assuming your still hooked up and fifth wheel acts as a ground to truck

 

Run-time difference between -10 and 0 is minimal (on cycle and especially if you have a well insulated trailer) but that extra 10 degree colder product temp buys you additional insurance and time in the event of a unit failure.

Plus, many frozen shippers don't want their product to ever see temps much above 0f and this can be a problem if set at 0

 

Use to set the temp at what ever the BOL or the shipper stated. If they wanted -20 they got -20!
Also make a notation on the BOL what the shipper wants.

 

That's probably true, but some rogue countries ship oil with no destination, then when the tanker is a hundred miles or more out to sea, the oil is transferred to another ship that has fake paperwork showing the oil is from another country.
North Korea was caught doing that just recently, but other countries have been doing it for decades.
Aristotle Onassis comes to mind. Other than insurance rates, that's another reason some ships are flagged in certain countries, even landlocked countries.