Who do I talk to about changing fleets?

Has flatbed freight picked up at all? As of when I left freight was pretty slim and most of the flatbedders were pulling van and refeer.

 

It seems that most still are. I have seen lots of trucks with side boxes and headache racks pulling vans. Even the Kaukauna and Iron Mountain terminals look slow whenever I drive by them. Have not been past Prentice to see about there.

 

Flat is moving alright. The problem is Roehl has a lot more reefer freight than they do drivers to pull and they are utilizing the flatbedders to do their dirty work. In fact they were brokering out our flat freight to other companies because they didn't have enough drivers available to pull it... they were all under iceboxes.

 

If refrigerated has so much freight why dont they let dry van or any fleet with in the companey pull the loads.
That rubs me the wrong way to hear that when I know drivers are not getting the miles they need to make a decent pay check!

 

Anybody can pull them, it helps to let your FM know you are interested if they need an extra person. I pulled my fair share of reefers as a company driver. For some reason Roehl like to use flatbedders before anybody else to pull out of division. They'll let a van guy sit before a flatbed driver... no idea why.

 

Drivers just got a voice mail from Rick Roehl about the reorganization of Roehl Transport. Flat & Curtainside are going to be together and Van & Reefer are going to be together. Ray Gabriel will handle van and reefer. It makes sense since there isn't that much cross training between the two and many of the customers are the same for either type. Personally I would rather pull a reefer for a couple of days than sit waiting for a load.