LTL carriers depend on regular business to keep trailers filled and moving productively. Small LTL carriers thrive on the loyalty of shippers that need trucking service to maintain a steady flow of product to receivers throughout their trade area.
“For the business we target, we have all the best customers on the West Coast,” says Mike DeSimone, president of Cross Creek Trading Company in Central Point, Oregon. “We fill the Interstate 5 corridor from San Diego to Seattle and even serve one big customer in Anchorage, Alaska. We have been able to grow by encouraging business from a lot of small customers and treating them as though they all are big customers.”
Cross Creek is a relatively young company that actually started as DeSimone Produce in 1981. In 1988, DeSimone sold the distribution side of the business and kept the trucking side, which at that point had grown to a fleet of seven trucks. Among the steady customers available was the purchaser of DeSimone Produce. That small trucking operation has grown to a fleet of 95 tractors and 126 refrigerated trailers along with a separate fleet of 18 dry vans and tractors acquired as Harvey Frampton Cargo Company in 2003.
Within the Cross Creek system, freight may move the entire length of the West Coast or for segments along the way. For instance, the company hauls seafood from Portland to Medford six days a week to supply two dealers in Medford. In addition, Cross Creek dispatches 10 to 15 loads a week into the Midwest for one of its biggest customers. The traffic pattern stretches all the way to Alaska. “We pick up produce in California and deliver it to the port in Tacoma for movement to DiTomaso Produce in Anchorage,” DeSimone says.
Central Point is one of the small communities surrounding Medford in Southern Oregon. Medford, proper, has a population slightly larger than 63,000 and a metro area of more than 100,000. The area about 30 miles north of the California state line is a major agricultural area with a high concentration of fruit orchards, especially pears.
Those fruit shippers, and their associated businesses, constitute a major source of business for Cross Creek. One such shipper is Harry and David, a Medford-based fruit company that has built a large catalog business around gift boxes of apples, pears, cheese, candies, and smoked meats. Cross Creek is one of the major outbound transportation providers to Harry and David, moving individual gift boxes from Medford to postal depots and distribution carriers on the West Coast as well as to a Harry and David location in Ohio. Harry and David is so confident in Cross Creek that the shipping information page in its catalog uses a photo of a tractor and refrigerated trailer. With a little effort, it is possible to make out the Cross Creek name — although not the address or motor carrier registration number — where it appears on the fuel tank fairing of the Kenworth T2000 tractor.
Shipper claims fast delivery
Harry and David claims, “Nobody delivers like we do. Each gift arrives in perfect condition, by the date you request. When you order, we place your gift inside a refrigerated truck that maintains the ideal environment in transit. Then your gift is released to a local delivery service for quick arrival at its final destination.”
In addition to delivery to postal depots, Cross Creek delivers some Harry and David product to retail stores. This store door delivery requires a fleet of 15 trailers equipped with Todco overhead doors and Waltco lifting tailgates. Trailers carry a pallet jack to aid in the unloading process. The special trailers began service as standard refrigerated vans in the Cross Creek longhaul fleet before being converted for ground delivery by removing the hinged doors and installing the overhead doors and lifts.
The relationship with Harry and David has provided Cross Creek with access to additional business as well. Bear Creek Corp, parent company of Harry and David, also owns Jackson & Perkins, a nationally known grower and marketer of rose bushes, by virtue of the company's acquisition by Harry and David in 1966. Jackson & Perkins was founded as a floral nursery in 1872 in Newark, New York. Headquarters now is in Medford, and most of the nursery stock is grown in California's central valley north of Bakersfield. Although most of the roses are grown in California, they are packed and shipped from Medford.
Pool loads of roses are shipped to small nurseries throughout the country. A load of rose bushes may contain up to 20 delivery stops. Plants are packed in two different ways for shipment: some are in soil, while others have bare roots. Roses are maintained at 37° to 40° F during transit.
Special trailer graphics
Cross Creek cooperates with three of its shippers — Harry and David, Jackson & Perkins, and Sunkist — to promote their products with Cross Creek equipment. The company has 16 trailers that carry extensive graphics packages to showcase the shippers' products. In each case, the shipper paid for the decals and had them installed, says Scott Fowler, Cross Creek general manager.
Fruit from Harry and David is typical of the freight handled by Cross Creek. The company concentrates its efforts on food products, using a little bit of lumber to reposition equipment, DeSimone says. In all, roughly 90% of the freight hauled by Cross Creek is food. About half the northbound traffic is produce, and two-thirds of that ships in LTL lots. The remaining third of the northbound LTL is food supplies.
Like any other produce hauler, Cross Creek moves its origin points north as the growing season progresses. In winter, the carrier picks up produce after it crosses the border from Mexico at Nogales, Arizona. As spring and summer progress, hauls north become shorter as crops in the Imperial Valley mature and the harvest moves north through the central valley and into Monterrey County around Salinas. A lot of the loads — 10 to 15 a week — are organic produce for one of its biggest customers. Cross Creek also hauls cut flowers for seven florists in the Medford area. On southbound lanes, a lot of freight originates in the farming areas of eastern Washington, particularly fresh potatoes and apples from Yakima, Washington.
Load consolidation in Medford
A load from California to Portland may require six to 12 stops to gather freight. That same load may take up to six stops for delivery. In general, northbound loads use Medford as a relay point so that longhaul equipment can be turned back to California. Cross Creek uses a 35,000-sq-ft terminal building to consolidate loads from California for delivery in Oregon and Washington. Freight spends just a few hours in Medford as part of two-day service from California to points north. From Medford, the relay runs are fairly short — 300 miles to Portland or 450 miles to the Seattle area. Sundays and Wednesdays are the heavy work days for load consolidation, Fowler says.
Oregon has a growing wine industry also served by Cross Creek. “We don't handle wine as outbound loads, but we do haul a lot of empty wine bottles on our inbound lanes,” DeSimone says.
Handling LTL helps make Cross Creek successful, DeSimone says. Putting several shipments in a trailer raises total revenue for the load quite a bit. On lanes where a single truckload might produce a rate of $1,800, the same amount of freight made up of multiple shipments could generate up to one third more revenue, he says.
High gross weights
Weight laws in the West are favorable to a carrier that depends on dense freight such as potatoes from the Northwest or citrus from Southern California. “Apples, carrots, citrus, and potatoes generate heavy loads,” Fowler says. “We currently have nine trailers to take advantage of state laws that allow up to 92,500 lb gross weight on trailers with spread three-axle suspensions. The spread is 10 ft from axle center to axle center. Within the next few months, we plan to try at least two eight-axle combinations that will allow 105,500 lb gross weight. To reach this weight, we will have standard three axle tractors with an additional lifting tag axle at the rear and trailers with spread four-axle suspensions.”
Standard trailers in the Cross Creek fleet are 48- and 53-ft refrigerated vans from Utility. In a fleet of 126 trailers, 10 are new Utility 3000Rs with Thermo King SB-210 refrigeration units. Prior to that purchase, the company took delivery of 24 3000R vans in a fleet otherwise made up of Utility 2000RX reefers. In addition to the new SB-210s, Cross Creek has a mix of Carrier Transicold Ultra, and Thermo King SB-III and Super II units. As the fleet replacement cycle progresses, the company is moving to 53/102 trailers with 22 already in service. However, trailers live a long service cycle at Cross Creek. “We evaluate the fleet constantly and keep the equipment that remains efficient,” DeSimone says. “Some of the trailers are 10 years old and performing quite well.”
The tractor fleet is built around a core of 87 Kenworth T2000 tractors. Most recently, drive train specifications have included Caterpillar C13 engines rated at 435 horsepower with Eaton Roadranger 10-speed transmissions and Dana Spicer drive tandems with a 3.55:1 final drive ratio, a combination that provides a steady road speed of 70 miles per hour.
Like trailers, tractors are expected to provide a long service life. DeSimone says Cross Creek has a number of tractors from the 1998 model year on a regular run between Medford and Portland. “We take good care of our equipment and expect it to last a long time,” he says. “That's why we survive while some other companies have trouble.”
Putting the right equipment on the road to start helps ensure a long life. DeSimone is quick to credit his vendors for recommending proper specifications and providing good service. “We owe a lot to Todd Rice at MHC Kenworth in Kansas City, Russell Kelly at Utility Trailer in Portland, and Bill Pasco at Portland Thermo King for helping us buy and maintain an efficient fleet,” he says.
With its slightly out-of-the-way location in Central Point, Cross Creek takes full responsibility for its own fleet maintenance. Work goes on in a 12,000-sq-ft building with 10,000 sq ft dedicated to maintenance and repair and 2,000 sq ft housing a parts department that includes an inventory of at least $10,000 just for refrigeration units. The shop is staffed by 12 technicians and is open around the clock, seven days a week.
