Comment Log Display

	Shippers love to overload a containers.  The max gross load over
any western division states is 80,000 lbs max on the road surface. 
When trucks usually go pickup loads, the shippers sometimes
overload the truck.  I wouldn't say all, but there are some that
would love to squeeze more, sometimes to a gross load of 84,000lbs.
  The truck usually has to go several miles to get to the nearest
scale to scale and weigh, and in some cases having to go back to
the shipper to unload, because they have overloaded the trailer. 
The shipper should have knowledge on how much a container can take,
if they didn't know, a miniature scale would be handy to be able to
measure the weight of each pallet of goods. To my experience, I
find problems in the area of produce logistics since there is non
uniform products we are dealing with. Non-uniform products such as
heavy fruits (ie., fruits: melons, oranges, taro, potatoes and of
the like), that usually have to go long distances. My concern is
the number of trips a truck must make before he/she can really get
the product to the destination on the path of work.  Sometimes it
can take nearly half a day(Note: A driver can only be on-duty for
14 hours, 11 hour driving period)  because a shipper didn't load
the product properly because it was overweight.  If you can imagine
hundreds of trucks running to the scale and having to go back to
the shipper because they were overweight, and/or improperly loaded,
is a lot of pollution entering our atmosphere.  Now there are 53'
containers, particularly refrigerated containers, to my knowledge
that can take over 44,000lbs max in the container (utility trailer,
3000R).  I think every shipper should have a guarantee that they
won't overload, because overloading causes unnecessary pollution. 

I believe a system needs to be established in order to load the
trucks the right way, the first time, so pollution can be
minimized.  Sometimes the scales are far in distance and the
produce is not getting any closer to the customer.  I believe the
Air Resource board should also be looking at what's going on in the
shipment department as well.  I'm not going to get into the science
or statistics of how much more pollutants can be entered into our
air due to these problems, but it can be reduced by some mandation.
 If you have any feed back and/or comments, please contact me.