Mastering Reefer Logistics and Overcoming Challenges, with Colby Varley of ATS

Navigating the Reefer Transportation Industry during a Freight Recession with Colby Varley

In this episode of the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast, hosts delve into the complexities of the reefer logistics world with expert Colby Varley from Advanced Transportation Services. 

Colby discusses the current freight recession, strategies for obtaining top dollar in volatile refrigerated cargo, and the importance of specialization in the industry. The conversation also covers how technology and standard operating procedures can prevent and manage issues, thus ensuring high-quality service, premium rates, and long-term customer trust. 

Colby also emphasizes the value of relationships and communication in the trucking industry, providing insights for carriers looking to improve their operations or enter the reefer market.

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/colby-varley-5ba57a69/
www.advancedtransportationservices.com
Instagram Colby_varley_ats
Office 831-757-4244
Email – colby@atssalinas.com


Your Hosts: 

John Farquhar
Summit Risk Solutions: summitrisksolutions.ca
1 226 802-2762
John@summitrisksolutions.ca


Chris Harris
Safety Dawg Inc: safetydawg.com
Chris@SafetyDawg.com
1 905 973 7056


00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
00:49 Meet Colby Varley: Expert in Reefer Logistics
01:49 Navigating the Freight Recession
02:35 The Importance of Specialization in Reefer Transport
05:12 Technology's Role in Reefer Logistics
06:23 Handling Rejected Loads and Claims
08:24 Ensuring Proper Reefer Settings
16:16 Building Strong Relationships with Carriers
20:43 The Value of Communication and Transparency
26:20 Advice for New Entrants in Reefer Transport
28:22 The Importance of Mentorship
30:51 Conclusion and Final Thoughts



Keeping it Safety Dawg Simple!
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Do you need a "Truck Driver Safety Policy?" Get it today! https://safetydawg.com/policy

Transcript

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg 1: 0:00

And welcome to another episode of the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast. This week we are delving deep, and I do mean deep, into the reefer logistics world. Where we have Colby Varley from Advanced Transportation Services. And he's talking about a freight recession and how to navigate it. Colby's expertise is unparalleled and he is discussing the ins and outs of reefer transportation and around minute 22 or so he discusses what the hell he does when the invariable screw up, as it does always in trucking, the screw up happens so stay with us. Colby is next. Welcome to the Trekking Risk and Insurance Podcast. Hey Colby, welcome to the podcast. Can you take a second and introduce yourself to our listeners and viewers? Yeah, absolutely. Good morning. Uh, thanks for having me on. My name is Colby, last name Varley. I work for Advanced Transportation Services, the one out of Visalia, California, not to be confused with the one out of Minnesota or the one out of Canada. This year will be our 40th. Year in business in October. We specialize in highly perishable food and produce transportation all over the U. S. Go figure, out of California you specialize in reefers. Yes sir. As if you might need a reefer in California. Yeah, we wrote quite a few. Hey, one of the topics that I really wanted to address, and I think you were the right person to ask. I think we're in a freight recession at the moment, even though there's not much talk of it in the newspapers and stuff. However, I believe we're in a freight recession. How do we get top dollar? To move, especially refrigerated stuff. It's so damn volatile and you're open to so many claims, different ways. How do we get top buck to move that load of, uh, strawberries? Yeah. So that, that's a great question. You know, how, how are you going to be able to get the top dollar in the freight that you're hauling? Um, I think you need to be a specialist. And what you're doing. Uh, there's a lot of guys out there that do a little bit of everything. I'm not saying that that's wrong or incorrect. Um, there's no right or wrong way from my experience, being a specialist has helped get that top dollar in freight, uh, for whatever freight you're hauling. You know, we deal with people that are in say the heavy haul industry that specialize in moving, uh, freight. a different part of the refrigerated world. They transfer, you know, like the tubes and all the heavy equipment that it takes to run on the back end. And that's all they do. And they're the specialists at that. We don't, we don't compete in that market, but I think ultimately to get top dollar in this kind of market, you have to be a specialist. In, in the market that you're going after. Well, and I was going to say, that's, that's, that gets tough because when you have a volatile market, like we do right now, a lot of people will try to dabble, they'll hear their buddy goes, Oh, my buddy's in reefer. I got new drive ins. Let's just buy two reefers and see if we can do better. And you know, they're not specialists by any means. Yeah. And I, I think ultimately doing that, it hurts the industry even more because you're getting people that are going into a, an area that they're not, Familiar with they don't know how to quote it. They don't know how to operate in it. They don't know what the costs are to be profitable in it And that's just dragging down everybody else in the industry that you know knows what it takes In that specific market and the other part of what you just said is have they even trained their drivers? Because reefer is is a whole different ball game than dry van frame. Yeah reefer is It's In a league all by itself. Um, Go ahead and swear. It's okay. It's good when it's good. And sometimes it's really bad when it's bad, but, uh, you know, no one, no one, what to do and how to do it. Really makes, makes the difference. Like you said, and, uh, we really try and help coach, uh, monitor everything going on in the shipment from the driver to the dispatch to the customer to, to make it as flawless as possible. And, uh, I know we kind of mentioned AI, uh, prior to jumping on and, you know, the technology now has really brought the reefer freight to life. To a whole new level. You know, you can see what the reefer setting is in transit. The recorders now have, are operating off 5G cell service to, you know, monitor the temperature, just things that are in the industry that have really helped in my opinion. Colby, I didn't tell you, but John and I both have an insurance background and part of that background here in Southern Ontario in Canada, not to be, Mixed up with Ontario, California, we have the Ontario producer. What's that called, John? We're on the Queensway there in Toronto. Yeah, yeah, the, uh, the food terminal, we call it is the nickname of it. Yes, but yeah. The food terminal, and when I was in the insurance business 10 years ago, they were notorious. For rejecting loads for being off temperature. Has the technology, you mentioned trackers and things like that. Has that helped your company in, in fighting these rejected loads? Absolutely. Uh, the technology has helped immensely and not so much in fighting, but preventing, uh, these devices now are allowing you to get in front of it. Um, you know, probably 10 years ago when you guys were doing insurance on, on, you know, the produce market or terminal market, they'd show you a Ryan recorder, which was a, uh, a printout that the only good it did was, okay, this truck ran hot. Well, that's great. Now, now we have a hot load. Like what problem did that really solve, uh, in regards to now with these recorders being hooked up to 5g. You set the parameters. As soon as that temperature inside the box gets out of the range, you're getting an email, text message, um, saying, hey, this, this, this shipment's out of range. And we have a staff that just, that's their job. They're monitoring that account 24 7. To get on the carrier, get on the driver. Hey, we need a picture of the reef for setting. Is everything okay? Is it in the right operating mode? I mean, things happen. Uh, unfortunately, sometimes the units aren't set correctly, but these devices allow us to prevent, uh, those type of claims rather than fighting it or dealing with it. upon arrival. Sure. Well, it gives you the ability to act in real time rather than, you know, maybe if the driver stopped four hours, five hours later and had a look and went, Oh God, no, four hours. The temperature is all wrong. I got to call dispatch, let him know. Well, four hours has already gone by and maybe the road's, the load has been spoiled. Whereas this, I get to go before he pulls out of the dock, we know what the temperature is. So that's pretty cool with that technology. Yeah, that's definitely helped immensely. Sorry, I just, somehow this just popped into my mind. I was working many years ago for a reefer carrier here in Canada, and of course we use Celsius, um, predominantly, but not in reefers. In reefers, it's all Fahrenheit. Don't we pick up a reefer trailer, load it with meat, and not realize that the reefer temperature is set to Celsius? Uh oh. And set it to 32 degrees Celsius, which is what, John? 70 some odd degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, yeah, yep, yep. 80 some odd degrees, yep. That'll take long. So, we're transporting a load of meat. Um At a very warm temperature. If it was steak, it'll be medium rare when it arrives. How do you go about at ATS avoiding mistakes like that? That was, and I can't blame the driver in that case because, you know, it was a brand new, he went and picked it up from the, uh, sales place. Um, it was a brand new trailer and for some reason they put it in Celsius. And I don't know of any trucking company in the world. That doesn't matter. How do you monitor, especially the driver's performance, to make sure they set the right temperature on the reefer? Um, maybe we can get into reefer, driver reefer training. Again, I had a load of ice cream when I was in the insurance business, delivered at 45 degrees Celsius. Because the driver didn't hit the confirm button when he changed the temperature he changed it But you know the technology was there says he hit confirm How do you go about preventing that type of crap? Well, I think that we have a pretty strong, um, I like to call it like hand to mouth with the driver, uh, in regards to, you know, we don't just send it to a carrier and hope they do their best. Uh, you know, we get the driver's number, we get the driver on the phone. We make sure that we've done everything in our power to communicate that. Um, and then I feel now as we've evolved in technology and SOPs, a lot of the coolers are verifying that this. trailers operating correctly before they even load it. You know, when it gets backed into the dock, they're in there, they're inspecting it, number one, for cleanliness and making sure, hey, no cracks or holes or anything that could affect the cargo. And then, you know, nine times out of ten from what we see is, you know, they're in there with some sort of temperature monitoring device to see, hey, what, what's the trailer temp right now? You know, is it blowing out coal there? So, those are some good, um, Ways that, you know, we have some checks in place and then there's some customers that we, we require that the driver sends a picture of the bill lading and a picture of the reefer setting prior to departure. And just, you know, with the use of technology and cell phones, I mean, every driver has, has pretty much a camera phone, uh, on them nowadays. I mean, there are exceptions to the rule that you get somebody that says, Hey, my driver's got a flip phone. He doesn't text. Um, whatnot. So, I mean, they're, they're still out there, but that's, you know, the one percenters probably, um, so yeah, that, that's just a great way. To make sure, you know, you get a picture showing the reefer, the reefer setting. I know whether it's on continuous or if it's on a cycle century, just from looking at the picture so I can address that. Hey, you have it set on cycle. We need it on continuous mode, um, or, and even down to the set point, you know, Hey, this customer requires 32 degrees. You have it set on 33 degrees. That that's not right. You know, you need to set it to 32. So those are some of the. Probably the best practices that we use to ensure that, you know, these units are set properly. And again, going back to my original question, what I'm hearing from you, uh, with all the SOPs, uh, standard operating procedure, in case somebody didn't, um, that's how you get premium dollar. Going back to that question. Um, if, if you can train your drivers correctly and monitor their performance and the performance of the equipment. Now you can ask for premium dollars in my, like, that sounds like I know something about reefers and I don't own a truck, so I, I'm damn good at safety, but, uh, you know, so Colby, would that be right though? Yeah, that's definitely, that's definitely part of it. Uh, you know, you, you need to have that to get that premium dollar. Um, and it's also just being from on the brokerage side, you know, we deal with an array of carriers and it goes for what we're paying. There's carriers that, you know, they're sending updates three, four times a day. Hey, here's the location. Here's the temperature. This is the set point. And that just makes our job so much easier. Uh, and then there's carriers that you're chasing them around, uh, at seven, eight o'clock at night. And it's like, Hey man, Um, you know, we went over all this, these are the expectations and you're not meeting 'em. And I, I think sometimes people are, don't really know what else is out there. They think, Hey, mm-hmm, , you know, this is how it's, do you know how it goes? I don't really need to do all this. And, you know, there's people out there doing it and they're really doing a great job at it. And it shows, you know, you could pay them a little extra because, you know, you're going to have less touches on that load knowing that they're going to be providing you three, four updates a day. And we're not even asking for that. That's just the service level that they're providing us. Well, and that's gotta be peace of mind for not only your operation, but also to be able to convey that back to your client, you know, uh, who's putting. A lot of trust in you guys to find the right carrier to transport that load to its end delivery point. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and also going back to the original question of how, how can you, you know, get that extra dollar? Every problem is an opportunity to gain more trust from your customer on how to, um, You know, get extra dollars. If there's a claim, a problem, arrival, a late truck, how you handle that good, bad, or different, whatever the situation is. I mean, you guys, you guys know, if you're in the insurance business, like bad things are going to happen, but how you handle that is the separator, you know, that that's just, things are going to go wrong and how it's handled and how it's presented is how you're going to get more profit on, you know, in a bad market. One of the thoughts I had as you were speaking, as a broker, what vetting, um, or what checks do you do on a trucking company before you reach out and give them a load? Yeah, great question. So obviously for us, we've been in the business for For it's going to be coming up on 40 years. And also with that 40 years, we've specialized in that highly perishable food and produce. And luckily for us, we are in California. So from Bakersfield on 5 and 99, all the way to Yuba city, California, it's just, there's a plethora of refrigerated carriers. So that, that makes it really easy to get boots on the ground. To go see these guys and see the operation and break bread with them. Have dinner, have lunch, know these. You know, people as your vendor, that's really how we've kind of excelled. I think we know who's hauling our freight, you know, it could be a 300 truck carrier. I have the cell phone number of the owner, you know, something's not being handled correctly, or, Hey, we need to do better on this. I have, or we have the direct line to, to the guy. He knows who we are. We know who he is and it's vice versa. If something's going on and he feels on, or they feel unhappy with how something's being handled, they have our direct cell phone number. So it's a two way street. It's a two way partnership, but getting your feet on the ground at your carriers. is there's no better way to vet and get an understanding of what kind of carrier you're dealing with. You start doing it long enough, you see enough trucking companies, you're gonna know which ones are legit and which ones are not. Well, you're, you're building that relationship and, and that goes a long way to, to go back to what you'd mentioned a little bit earlier, like even when dealing with a claim or situation that happens, how you handle that. That relationship can help in how you handle that, you know, because if you have a better, tighter relationship, better chance you'll work at it as a team and they'll be up front and forward with you very quickly. Uh, without that relationship, I think I find more people kind of, eh, let's not say anything to anybody. Let's try to fix this ourselves. So it doesn't look bad. Whereas you're just really ruining the relationship right off the bat. Absolutely. Yeah. It's all about the relationship. I would imagine it's the same for any other specialty type trucking in, in produce or highly perishable food and produce. It is the, it's the golden key, in my opinion, is you have to have those kind of relationships on both sides. on both sides. I mean, every receiver has heard the excuse. Oh, my truck had a flat tire. Damn, there ain't that many flat tires in the world, you know, but that's what a relationship can do is you can be truthful and say, Hey, we screwed up one out of a hundred loads. We dropped the ball and this is what we're doing to fix it and get it back on track for you. Yeah. And technology has helped in that sense, right? With, you know, cell phones, uh, you know, the amount of blowout pictures that I have on my phone is just ridiculous. You know, it does happen. Um, it does happen. And, you know, there's a lot of things that come with a blowout when, when they get real nasty, um, they can tear up a lot of components on the truck and the So having the ability to get a picture and send that off. As soon as it happens is just, I mean, yeah, it's a bad situation, but look how you handled it. You know, you gave the customer a physical piece of evidence like, wow, that's really bad. Glad the driver's okay. You know, I'm glad the load, the load's okay. You know, we're going to be a few hours late and we can pass that on to our customer. So that's really helpful. And part of what I'm hearing too from you about the premium dollar one is communication. You've got to communicate and be open to communication a lot with your customer. Yeah. If you're not a good communicator, you're, you're, you're not going to get it. Um, and being able to communicate bad things, you know, everybody can communicate the good things, but being able to communicate the bad things and relaying that message in a way that's eloquent and they understand, and sometimes they don't, and you know, you're going to hear about it. It's nothing personal. You know, you got to take your licks and just tell them, Hey, here's the solution. Here's what we're going to do to prevent it next time. And, you know, going forward, it's not going to happen again. And, uh, make sure that it doesn't. Yeah. I mean, sometimes equipment breaks down. That's, you know, in the equipment, I'm also including drivers. I mean, drivers. Get sick, you know, the blue happens. God, God bless the truck drivers when they do get sick and they're stranded somewhere. But it's all in how you handle those situations, and I believe the communication, especially in those events, is critical. Yeah, just tell the truth, be, be transparent, and You know, there, there's a customer that we deal with and one of his, uh, main lines is the speed of trust. And we've really kind of adopted that being able to, you know, Hey, just get it done and we'll make sure that everybody gets taken care of on the back end. You know, the customer is more important at this point, making it right is more important. And a hundred percent of the time you do that, it all works out. Because everybody, I think everybody understands. There's nobody in this world that's perfect. Mistakes happen, uh, we're human beings still, thank God, and we screw up from time to time. That's the bottom line. That's life. It's how you react to the screw ups that determine who the men, who the real players are in the industry. Yeah, you know, like you said, things do happen. We are human, acknowledging it. Um, you know, one of the lines I like to use is, Hey, If I mess something up or we mess something up, we're going to be the first company to raise our hand and admit we made a mistake. And when you're vulnerable like that to a customer, it really goes a long way. And what, you know, what did you learn from it? And what are you going to do to prevent it? You know, that's the biggest thing that. You know, we really take to heart is things are going to happen, especially, you know, we transitioned to a new TMS two years ago. There's just, there's so much that goes into that and things happen. And, you know, sometimes there's some unforeseen speed bumps that, Hey, this didn't get added or whatnot. And. You know, working through that and, you know, talking to the customer about it, just get it fixed, you know, come to them with a, with a plan. Hey, here's a corrective plan of action. This is what we're going to do about it and make sure it gets done. I just heard you say, admit to it. And this is something currently in our society, too many people are quick to say. It's not my fault. And trying to blame somebody else all the time where damn it, it is your fault. Just admit it and we can move on. Like, yeah, absolutely. And especially if you're the leader of that organization or the person in charge, yes, you may have not made that mistake yourself. But for example, I have a team of people and If something goes sideways, the customer is not worried about who's the individual that made the mistake. They're looking for the person that's in charge or in leadership, managing everything to say, Hey, you know what? We made a mistake and here's what we're going to do to take care of it and fix it from happening going forward. Um, so to your point, yeah, the, uh, it, you know, I didn't do it or it's not my fault. That just, it's, that's driving you to get less dollars. Yeah. Yeah. And even sometimes when it isn't your fault, you don't have to say it's not my fault. The customer, all they want to hear is the solution. Yeah. You know. Agreed. So. Yeah. I think, you know, if there is an issue, the worst thing you can do is say, Hey, here's the problem and not say anything else. You know. Yeah. You got to come down with the problem and the solution at the same time. Um, if you're not doing that, you're not providing a value. And if you're not providing a value, you won't get paid as much. Yeah. You're going to get paid. You're going to get paid for what kind of value you bring. Yep. Yep. Yeah. And so if you want to up your rate, provide more value. So, so with that, with that said, we've talked a lot about a lot of good things that, that a carrier needs to have in place, um, you know, to, to work in this environment and whatnot. For somebody that's maybe getting into, uh, maybe wanting to not dabble, but actually get into the refrigerated end of transport. What would you tell them? You know, uh, whether they be a new carrier or an existing carrier that's looking to get into this and it's new for them and, and say they wanted to work with an ATS or something like that, what would you be telling them in order for them to become one of your good carriers down the road? Yeah, so something that I would recommend to anyone new looking to get into it is you, you got to align yourself with people that have a solid foundation and, you know, some sort of, uh, industry name that know what they're doing. And go align yourselves with them somehow, do some sort of partnership, uh, work together, figure out how, you know, you, you can kind of align yourself with somebody that's an expert in the field that you're looking to get into. And, and that really goes for anything in life, right? Or anything in, in, in business. Like if you're trying to do something, go align yourself with somebody that's doing it, that's an expert at it. Learn the best practices and, you know, obviously be transparent upfront with what your intentions are. Um, and you know, I think basically learning under somebody else's, you know, leadership and guidance is probably the fastest, most effective, uh, efficient way to, you know, kind of get in the game and not get just completely slaughtered. Like so many good things in life. Find a mentor. That will walk you down, whether it's in trucking or just other, anything in human relations. Learn from the others that did it before you that did it really well. And get them on your side. I think that's, that's a great way to wrap this up. Find a mentor. Maybe Colby, uh, well, Colby, I mean, I don't think you've been in the business for 40 years, but ATS has been in the business nearly 40 years. That's a lot of experience. Uh, yeah. You know, how long have you been in the business? Since 2010. So I'm coming up on, it'll be 15 years at the end of this year. Um, and I had the opportunity to. Learn under two different mentors that are probably the best, uh, in their field. One was, um, in LTL, the other one was in full truckload. And learning underneath them has definitely gotten me to where I am today. Um, you know, they were incredible teachers. You know, the amount of knowledge that I was able to gain over the last 14 years has just been incredible. I mean, I still talk to them today. Um, you know, I'm just so blessed to have those guys that help me get to where I am. That's so, so great to hear because I know there's a lot of drivers out there that would like to become an owner operator, would like to become a company owner and have their own fleet eventually down the road. But unfortunately with a lot of them, I hear, Oh, once I'm an owner operator, I know it all. You know, and it's like, no, there's so much more to learn in each and every step as you go, you know, to absorb and learn. And, and you've said it right on your, uh, earlier, find a mentor, work with a mentor. It's going to make you a better driver. Better owner operator, better company operator, so that you can work with top notch operations like ATS. Yeah, absolutely. And like, to your point, you know, we're never going to know at all, you know, I mean, I'm still learning, you know, looking to learn more, going to conferences and seminars and just, there's so much information out there now, you know, available at your fingertips. I mean, it's just, it's a constant, you know, you should be constantly learning. Yeah. Great. Hey, there's one nugget right there for our viewers and listeners. If you're not constantly learning something every day, it's in my opinion, it's all was a wasted day, but Colby. Thanks so much for coming on to the trucking risk and insurance podcast. And a huge thanks to Colby for coming onto the show and sharing with us his experiences. All right, that's it for this week. Please click the like button. The comment, leave us a comment. Tell John and I what the hell you liked, didn't like. Tell us to go to jump in the lake. That's it for the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast this week. See you next week.