How to coach up the ultimate refrigerated driver

Refrigerated fleets recently learned how to up their driver training and retention at the Truckload Carriers Association's Refrigerated Meeting in Park City, Utah. With the U.S. refrigerated trucking market set only to grow, qualified drivers are a necessity during a wide-ranging driver shortage, making TCA's special session a highlight of the event.

To discuss how to better hire and retain drivers, TCA recruited Ken Johnson, CEO of Leonard's Express; Wendell Erb, president of the Erb Group of Companies; and Brian Pattison, general manager of the Northern Academy of Transport Training in Canada. The panel of transportation and training experts described how they train drivers and what materials they include.

Leonard's Express

Leonard's Express, a New York-based transportation provider, has its training program in conjunction with its sister company, Canandaigua Driving School (CDLA), followed by an eight-week training program. Uniquely, CDLA features a driving simulator that the school uses for students and current drivers in need of remedial training, saving the school on maintenance costs while also allowing drivers to practice in varying weather conditions.

See also: What to know about regulation-driven developments in transport refrigeration

Leonard's Express also is aware that all the information drivers receive during orientation can be like experiencing "a firehose to the face." To mitigate the overwhelming amount of instruction, Johnson said they give a list of new drivers to a retired Leonard's Express salesman every week. He then contacts each new driver after a week or so of operation to check in, often getting to know them in the process.

Even for long-term Leonard's Express drivers, the company provides ongoing training via a quarterly driver meeting, which is taped and uploaded to the company's online training portal, and every driver is required to attend, either in person or virtually.

The Erb Group

The Erb Group, a Canadian LTL and FTL transportation company based in Ontario, also features an orientation process that takes roughly four days for those driving internationally, and three days if their shipments will remain in Canada. However, Erb described how the reefer orientation process covers more than just the necessary elements of driving a commercial vehicle, but the technical aspects of how the trailer works and its relation to the temperatures inside and outside of the vehicle.

See also: Temperature-controlled fleets flock to Park City, Utah

So, along with instructions regarding en-route procedures, when to check the trailer's temperature, and the Erb Group's delivery procedures, new drivers also receive lessons on heat transfer and heat sources.

"We're just trying to teach the drivers how heat is trying to get into the trailers," Erb said, and visa versa in the winters. Drivers "need to be aware [that a refrigerated trailer] is not just a box where you throw your freight in and shut the back doors and away you go."

This holistic approach to driver training helps Erb's drivers understand both what they're doing and why.

To an extent, the company also trains their drivers in customer relations, in hopes of avoiding any conflicts with consignees upon a driver's arrival. Erb noted that all of the carriers in the room likely had the experience of reaching a receiver and having their load rejected, a process complicated by how drivers are rarely allowed on docks anymore since COVID-19. But this only makes it more important that a driver be able to probe their freight and work with a disgruntled customer, hopefully shortening what could become a lengthy dispute. And, most importantly, completing their delivery.

"Once they kick you out of the dock and tell you to phone your dispatcher, that's when you're in trouble," Erb warned. "Because as soon as you pull out of the dock, you just accepted the problem and now you've got to work with your shipper."

Northern Academy of Transport Training

Finally, Pattison, of the Northern Academy of Transport Training (NATT), an Ontario-based college for transportation and safety, emphasized the school's personalized approach to training drivers. Even from the beginning, NATT verifies that its applicants aren't just invested in the training process, but are capable of following through.

"Once they've confirmed that they're coming to the school, we take them out in a car," Pattison said. "It's usually my pickup, and then we drive around just to see if they understand the basic rules of the road, so we know what we're dealing with."

This type of personal, hands-on approach is mirrored throughout NATT's entire commercial driver's license training program, which includes a 103.5-hour driving requirement before a student can even take the road test. This practice is then combined with hours of in-class theory, a Truck Training Association of Ontario airbrake course, and yard and backing training. This is then topped off with at least 50 hours of behind-the-wheel drive time, where students can ride along with one of NATT's eight full-time instructors. NATT also allows other students to ride along with a prospective driver, creating a collective learning environment.

"If you've got a good, strong student, the other ones feed off that," Pattison explained.

The school also provides several training videos that students can review at any time throughout the course, including pre-trip processes and tracking.

The key, Pattison emphasized, is the relationship NATT builds with students throughout their six weeks in the program. This then leads to interest in the company's TPS Driver's Group mentorship program, which features more personalized coaching along with paid shifts.