Rob began his Access America career in 2005 and was the company’s 5^th employee. Access America now employees more than 300 nationwide and has quickly become one of America’s top logistics providers. “Rob has a passion for developing relationships with our customers and carriers,” said Access America Transport CEO Ted Alling. “His work ethic and experience make him the logical choice to lead our growing ranks in Columbus.”

Access America Transport is a third-party logistics company based in Chattanooga, TN. The company operates seven locations and specializes in truckload, less-than-truckload, and supply chain management services. The company is ISO 9001:2008 certified, SmartWay approved and an industry leader in technology. Visit their website at http://www.accessamericatransport.com

Czarlite – a pricing alternative used primarily with LTL shipping. Combined with Discounting to determine what percentage of the total shipment cost an individual shipper must pay.

Rate Per Mile – takes into account the distance being traveled and multiplies this by the base rate to arrive at a total cost.

Ease of Handling – a factor where the difficulty in moving the freight can have an impact on the final cost of the shipment.

Pallet Rate – a flat rate charged to move or store a single pallet of freight.

• re-routing equipment to reduce empty miles
• utilizing rail when possible
• encouraging vendors to use alternative fuels

That doesn’t even include the things we do in the office such as conducting most of our business electronically, allowing us to cut down on paper use. We’ve also made sure that all of our locations have recycling bins, energy efficient lighting installed, and have eliminated styrofoam products from our office supplies.

The industry may have a ways to go, but here at Access America Transport we’re doing everything we can to be green.

Without door to door pick-up and delivery, not only do you have to plan for getting the freight from point A to point B once it’s on the truck, but also from point C to point D for getting it on and off the truck. Not only does this add extra time and stress to the situation, but it can also add to the cost of moving the freight.

With door to door service the truck comes to your location, loads the freight, then transports and drops off at the final location – not a terminal from where it has to be moved to another truck and then delivered. This cuts down on the chances for damage and shaves precious time off the shipping time, making it one more reason that Access American Transport is your best choice for freight hauling.

Access America Transport, a leading third party logistics provider headquartered in Chattanooga, TN, has promoted Regional Vice President Ronald Ramsey to Vice President as the company continues to build momentum and experience record growth in 2011.

“Ronald’s intensity and work ethic have made him an invaluable leader within our company and much of AAT’s success to date is the result of his mentorship of our salespeople,” said Chad Eichelberger, President of Access America Transport.

Ramsey joined AAT from US Xpress in 2005 and began working as the Director of Parcel Shipping before being promoted to Director of Sales and eventually Regional Vice President.

Last week Access America also promoted Lookout Mountain native Carter Garrett to Regional Sales Director after 2 years as a top producer at AAT.

“The company culture we strive for at Access America relies on driven and focused individuals like Carter who set the standard,” said Ronald Ramsey, AAT’s newest Corporate VP. “Carter’s pursuit of excellence puts us ahead of our competition and we’re excited to see what he does with this new opportunity.

Last year Inc. Magazine recognized AAT as one of its 500 Fastest Growing Companies in the United States. AAT now has offices in seven locations across North America.

Refrigeration in trucks isn’t entirely new, but it’s certainly come a long way, allowing for foods and other perishable items to be transported further than ever without having to worry about losses from spoilage or contamination. GPS devices are proving beneficial for both drivers and those sending the cargo. For the drivers, the explosion and easy access of GPS devices ensures that they get to their destination by providing them with the ability to find alternate routes in unfamiliar areas when traffic or other issues arise.

For those shipping the cargo, GPS tracking devices provide the security and peace of mind of being able to track in real time the status and location of their shipments to better anticipate when it will arrive and to see if any trouble arises during the journey.

Finally, at both the point of origin and the final destination, scanner technology allows for the quick accounting of cargo, with scanners wirelessly comparing the cargo on a truck with what is in the manifest and giving a quick accounting of whether there are any discrepancies that need to be investigated.

All of these advances are just some of the ways that technology is helping the trucking industry function more effectively and more efficiently. It will be interesting to see what technologies come out next to that will benefit the shipping and trucking industry as time moves forward.

“The Eagle Ford Shale is a hydrocarbon producing formation rich in oil and natural gas fields. The shale play area starts at the Texas-Mexico border in Webb and Maverick counties and extends 400 miles toward East Texas. The play is 50 miles wide and an average of 250 feet thick at a depth between 4000 and 12,000 feet. The shale contains a high amount of carbonate which makes it brittle and easier to use hydraulic fracturing to produce the oil or gas.The oil reserves are estimated at 3 billion barrels with potential output of 420,000 barrels a day.”

So what does that really mean? It means that right now the Eagle Ford Shale trucking industry is having one of the great booms of all time, with vast amounts of equipment flowing in and out of the area so that workers can get at the natural resources below the earth. Companies like Access America Transport are supplying truckers with a huge amount of work as they carry oversized loads of digging equipment, as well as the necessary equipment for creating a pipeline to move the resources once they’ve been removed from the earth.

“We are excited to have a physical presence in one of the nation’s largest and fastest growing markets,” said Millican “Our customer base is nationwide, but the ability to operate in close proximity to some of the nation’s largest corporations will be advantageous to the growth and expansion of this location.”

Access America Transport is a third-party logistics company based in Chattanooga, TN. The company operates seven locations and specializes in truckload, less-than-truckload, and supply chain management services. The company is ISO 9001:2008 certified, SmartWay approved and an industry leader in technology. Visit their website at http://www.accessamericatransport.com.

Access America Transport is focused on Van, Flatbed, Refrigerated /Reefer, Oversize freight, Inter-modal and Less-Than-Truckload shipping.  We saw an opportunity from companies that needed to outsource their transportation spend to a party that solely focuses on transportation.   We have customers Nationwide that use us for a variety of their shipping needs.  Like in any industry that is booming, once a company does something well many more will follow, which will make the 3PL industry to become more competitive with pricing and experts in their niche.  The 3PL trend is not just seeing an increase in overall companies being created yearly, but also in shipping companies trusting 3PLs to manage their freight.  Imagine that you as a manufacturer didn’t have to hire 4 shipping managers to run your company, but rather only have 1 that works with a 3PL in the transportation industry.  Also, your accounts payables / receivables department will only have 1 source to deal with for transportation, no matter how many different modes or shipments that your company ships during a month.

Deciding on how to effectively choose and use a 3PL will solely be based on a company’s needs for the immediate and future business model.   A 3PL fits nicely for a company when they are allowed to leverage the amount of business that they are currently managing with the business that the 3PL would be allowed to mange for the shipper.  If a manufacturer has $1M in freight spend, but the 3PL has $100M in freight spend then combining the freight  will inevitably have a lower transportation cost due to increase in business that a carrier can receive.
Understand too, a 3PL is in the transportation market every day and will see a market trend much more quickly than a typical shipper will see it.  If you already have rates in place then you may be paying too much for the rate per mile or all in cost.  A 3PL will also invest more heavily (as a whole) into technology and will allow their customers to use this at little to no cost.  Many 3PLs that concentrate on LTL or Less Than Truckload have invested into programs that are much like Expedia or Travelocity.  Technology like this allows the shipper to obtain many LTL quotes with minimal amounts of information within seconds.  Trace and Tracking visibility in ‘real time’ (EDI) is a must in today’s shipping market and again many of the larger 3PL companies provide this available to their customers as just another part of what is their ‘value add’ service.

If you are a company that ships hundreds or thousands of shipments a year then you will need help with rating all them by a RFQ (Rate for Quotation) or RFP (Rate for Proposal).  This can be a very tedious and take hours / days to accomplish.  Time is money and this may only take you away from your core business.  However, a 3PL can obtain rates from many carriers and provide the RFP / RFQ within a very short time period.  One of the biggest mistakes that a shipper makes is not having a good carrier vetting process in place.  Your best bet is to always ask how your transportation provider is vetting the carriers that they put on your loads.  Safe Stat scores and CSA 2010 rules are 2 of the best ways to make sure that the carrier you are allowing to run your shipment is current on insurance and safety ratings.  If you are not currently managing this then you are leaving you and your company at risk.

Questions to ask yourself about a 3PL:

1)      Is the 3PL financially stable?
2)      How diverse is the 3PL and exactly what transportation mode do they excel?
3)      Can the 3PL provide KPI (Key Performance Indicators) for your business model?
4)      Can the 3PL provide continuous improvements to your shipping needs?
5)      How does the 3PL stand out in the market place?
6)      Is it ok to use more than 1 3PL for your particular business model?

A 3PLs ultimate goal is to increase efficiency, cut freight spend, deliver with fewer issues / on time and overall become a partner with your business for years to come.

By leveraging all of our buying power, Access America Transport generally has greater discounts with carriers than individual shippers.  A company with one employee can pay the same freight rates as a fortune 500 company by utilizing our online freight quoting system, Access Manager.

Many companies are choosing 3PL’s in order to maximize their profits and to ensure they are running more efficiently.  By utilizing Access America, you will have access to a free online rating tool, pre-negotiated contracts, reporting, and our in-house customer service.  Armed with the knowledge of our staff, you have the opportunity to make an informed and cost effective decision.

Our client specific pricing program, Access Platinum, is another option in negotiating.  Companies who ship $30,000 or more a year in LTL shipments could benefit from an Access Platinum analysis.  This program utilizes all inbound, outbound, and third party LTL volumes in order to obtain the best possible tariff and accessorial discounts.  This program also allows you to decide how involved you want Access in your day to day operations.