By Jeff Berman, Group News Editor February 17, 2014 Source Article

Averitt Express

Averitt officials said that an LTL pallet shipper is flexible as they can be combined with dry cargo and other refrigerated or frozen shippers. “The genesis of this service dates back to a survey we conducted a few years ago with our customers about refrigerated shipping,” said Phil Pierce, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Averitt, in an interview. “At that time, we were primarily focused on the truckload business, however we were surprised by the number of customers who were also interested in climate controlled LTL services. It was clear to us at that point that premium-level, refrigerated LTL service was under served in the marketplace.” In recent months, Pierce said Averitt established a relationship with its equipment partner, Climate Controlled Containers, and together they engineered the LTL pallet shipper, tracking technology and processes to make premium climate controlled service succeed in an LTL environment. The most significant benefits of these refrigerated shippers, according to Pierce, are that they will provide premium level service––as fast as next-day delivery––on climate controlled freight with the flexibility and efficiencies of an LTL distribution model. And the tracking features available through Averitt Climate Controlled Solutions Climate are made possible by secure satellite tracking via internal GPS. Proactive tracking updates, including proximity details or out-of-compliance alerts, can be sent remotely via text message, email or phone. “Customers will be able to use as many or as few of the LTL pallet shipper they need, and this is a very environmentally responsible way to transport sensitive and even high value cargo,” said Pierce. “We think this service could be a game changer in this segment of the market.” Pierce provided the following scenario of the new climate-controlled LTL pallet shipper in action to describe how they function: When a shipment is ready for pickup, Averitt dispatches one or more self contained, self-powered LTL shipper, depending on the size of the shipment, to the customer’s location. The freight is loaded into the specially-designed container, and the customer is able to set and/or verify the pre-set temperature of the shipment based on adjustable set points anywhere between -10 degrees F to 140 degrees F. Once returned to the Averitt distribution location, the container is carefully commingled with other LTL freight and distributed through our network until ultimate delivery. Because of the value and time-sensitivity of the freight, a refrigerated or frozen transport is going to receive a little more ‘TLC’ than a standard LTL shipment. Plus, the pallet shipper itself has been heavily armored to easily withstand the rigors of LTL distribution and road travel.” Pierce said that Averitt is currently testing its containers with a variety of customers in different industries, noting that the industries with the greatest need for this premium climate controlled service will be chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biochemical, healthcare, biotech, medical/surgical supplies, medical devices/equipment, as well as art, computers and disaster relief.

The post Averitt Express Launches a Climate-Controlled LTL Pallet Shipper appeared first on Refrigerated Trucking Transport & Frozen Shipping Custom Critical Cold Box Pallet Shipper.

February 12, 2014 – CBX Holding, LLC, an Arab, Alabama, company is pleased to announce that it has acquired the assets of Climate Controlled Containers, Inc. (CCC), of Port Arthur, Texas. The closing concludes a four-month diligence and acquaintance period. CCC is a manufacturer of self-powered or battery operated temperature controlled pallet shippers specializing in the safe transport of frozen and refrigerated freight. The company will be held in CBX Manufacturing, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBX Holding. The manufacturing of the company’s primary product, the refrigerated shipper, the Cold Box, will expand to a second manufacturing facility in Arab, Alabama. CCC senior management team members David Schnitta and Reid Sweet will continue with the company in sales & marketing and operational roles. And Kenneth Broussard will continue as President and his primary role in product development. “We knew we had developed a truly unique and much-needed product, “ said Broussard. “Partnering with the McDonalds and CBX will bring needed financial and management resources to effectively bring our product to market.” CBX is founded by Sid McDonald and his son, Foster, and will be based in Arab, Alabama.

Foster will serve also soon introduce Cold Box Express, LLC, which will offer a network of Cold Box pallet shippers via regional service centers, ensuring the availability of Cold Box pallet shippers and allowing for quick and economical container drop-off and return services. The Cold Box Express product will offer flexible leasing options for both one-trip pallet shipper leases and longer-term lease options to end user customers, distributors, logistic service providers including LTL Trucking companies for occasional one-way transport, seasonal spikes, and disaster relief. For more information, please contact Foster McDonald at 256-586-4751 ([email protected]) or David Schnitta, VP Sales and Marketing, at 760-610-4314 ([email protected]). For more about The Cold Box, please visit www.thecoldbox.com.

The post CBX Holding, LLC Acquires Climate Controlled Containers and Pallet Shipper Manufacturing appeared first on Refrigerated Trucking Transport & Frozen Shipping Custom Critical Cold Box Pallet Shipper.

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Feb 13, 2014 9:44AM EST

Averitt Express is extending the “cold chain” for customers and expanding its refrigerated transport business. The trucking company will use specially designed active pallet shippers to move temperature-controlled loads in dry van trailers.

The Cold Box should speed LTL refrigerated transport shipments that Averitt otherwise would keep in cold storage until they could be consolidated into a fully loaded refrigerated transport trailer. Consolidating refrigerated pallet loads can add days to LTL transit times, said Phil Pierce, executive vice president of sales and marketing.

“Shippers want next-day, second-day and third-day service,” said Pierce. “They haven’t been able to get that” with refrigerated transport “unless they put two skids on a full truckload trailer and pay truckload prices.”

Averitt will use the Cold Box developed by Ken Broussard of Climate Controlled Containers to move pallet-sized refrigerated shippers 500 miles next day, Pierce said. The Cookeville, Tenn., company said it is the first LTL carrier to use the Cold Box.

Equipped with satellite-based GPS technology, the battery-powered container lets Averitt track the actual cargo, not the trailer, as it moves through Averitt’s LTL terminal network, said Chuck Odom, vice president of global development for the carrier.

“If the door is opened, we’re alerted by e-mail and by phone,” he said. “We know the temperature and variation, the battery level and where it is at all times.” The box also eliminates the need to use dry ice to cool smaller loads.

“We’re replacing a lot of dry ice frozen shippers who have to use 350 pounds of dry ice for a three-day journey,” said Pierce. “And you don’t have to burn anything.”

Handling temperature-controlled LTL freight is a down-to-earth use for technology developed for a very different freight market. “The original box was designed to fly,” said Pierce. Broussard founded his company in 1999 with an eye to offering his own refrigerated transport services, but then shifted to selling the containers.

Approval for use of the pallet shippers in air cargo operations is still pending, but Odom said there is plenty of room to deploy them over-the-road. “The primary verticals are life sciences, health care, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical surgical supplies and vaccines,” he said, pointing out that using Cold Box shipper, Averitt could ship different products with different temperature requirements in the same trailer.

The Cold Box uses a forced-air heating and cooling system powered by a rechargeable battery system. The container holds temperatures ranging from 10 degrees below zero to 140 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 150 hours and can be recharged from a standard power outlet, according to Averitt. The units are designed for dual 40- by 48-inch pallets, and stand about 82 inches high.

“The boxes will stack side by side in a 53-foot trailer, and definitely help with cube,” said Pierce. “The payload will justify the space they take up in the trailer.”

If the Federal Aviation Administration approves the use of the battery-powered Cold Box in cargo planes, Odom sees an opportunity to integrate domestic refrigerated LTL service with Averitt’s international business.

“We’d love to see it, because we have global customers and it is a large market,” he said. Averitt could also transload freight at a port terminal from temperature-controlled ocean containers into the smaller refrigerated transport shippers for LTL delivery inland, he said. “There are some new verticals for us here.”

Contact William B. Cassidy at [email protected] and follow him at www.twitter.com/wbcassidy_joc.

The post Averitt Express Expands Refrigerated Transport Business appeared first on Refrigerated Trucking Transport & Frozen Shipping Custom Critical Cold Box Pallet Shipper.

12 News KBMT and K-JAC. News, Weather and Sports for SE Texas

PORT ARTHUR –
Ken Broussard owns the rights to 22 U.S. patents.

“It’s a gift from God. I’ve been given the ability to see a need and then develop something to satisfy that need through the use of equipment,” Broussard told 12 News Tuesday afternoon.

He’s the CEO of Climate Controlled Containers, Inc., based in his hometown of Port Arthur.
His newest invention, which he calls “The Cold Box”, a refrigerated shipper, is his biggest project yet.

“From what we’re hearing from the Fed Ex’s of the world… this is going to change the paradigm of shipping temperature-sensitive products,” he said.

The Cold Box is a portable refrigerated shipper container. It can transport anything that needs to be stored at a temperature ranging from 140 degrees to -10 degrees Fahrenheit. And it runs completely on batteries.

There’s a control panel located on the side of the box; all you have to do is punch in the temperature and it will maintain that temperature to within one degree for several hundred hours.

Broussard expects the pallet shipper to be the first refrigerated transport container of its kind to be allowed to transport materials by air. All these factors got the Department of Homeland Security interested in using the box to ship anthrax vaccines.

“They could not guarantee the safety of their vaccines because of lack of control. They called me and they said… ‘we’d like you to come up to Washington (D.C.) and do a presentation,” said Broussard.

Broussard thinks his company could make as much as half a billion dollars worldwide off The Cold Box. Not bad for a man who never went to college.

Broussard plans to hire 100 new employees in the coming months, and says 75 will be people from Port Arthur. You can’t apply for a job right now, but Broussard says he will begin accepting applications through Workforce Solutions in about a month.

The post Dept. of Homeland Security Interested in P.A. Man’s Refrigerated Shipper appeared first on Refrigerated Trucking Transport & Frozen Shipping Custom Critical Cold Box Pallet Shipper.

Ken Broussard holds the rights to 22 U.S. patents. And the federal government has taken an interest in his latest invention. The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services both secured contracts with Broussard’s company, Climate Controlled Containers Inc., to purchase his one-of-a-kind invention: a self-sustained, refrigerated transport container that can travel by truck, rail, sea and air. What will the government store in what Broussard has dubbed “The Cold Box”? Anthrax vaccines, he said. Broussard has been working on this shipping container that operates on “high tech batteries” and can maintain its temperature within one degree for more than 12 years now. And his hard work has finally come to fruition in his hometown. With the help of the Port Arthur Economic Development Corporation, Climate Controlled Containers will train and employ Port Arthur residents to perform the high-skilled, technical jobs that the company requires. There are about 20 different positions for which training would be offered, Broussard said. Overall, Climate Controlled Containers planned to hire 100 new employees, each of whom would be screened carefully by Workforce Solutions Southeast Texas, Broussard said. Out of that 100 workers, 75 would be from Port Arthur as part of the EDC’s agreement with the company. Per the agreement, approved by the City of Port Arthur and the EDC, the EDC would reimburse the company 50 percent of the cost to train new employees up to $250,000, said Floyd Batiste, CEO of the EDC. The contract is for a five-year period. The annual average salary of the new employees would be $32,500, according to documents obtained by an open records request. Some of the skills required would be robotics operation, assembly, robotics welding and inside sales, Broussard said. It would take about nine weeks to train each employee for this semiclassified job. Employees would sign nondisclosure agreements due to the sensitive nature of the company’s shipping business with clients like the federal government. The agreement also states that the EDC would provide the company with $400,000 to purchase manufacturing equipment in addition to the employee training reimbursement, according to documents obtained via open records request. But that is not all of the assistance Climate Controlled Containers received. The U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded the city with a $1 million grant in March to help rehabilitate the former Texas National Guard Armory on 57th Street, where the containers will be made. The project was expected to create 100 jobs and generate $10 million in private investments for Southeast Texas. John Hall, consultant for the city, secured the grant from the EDA. “It’s a win-win for the City of Port Arthur,” Batiste said. In an economy dominated by the oil and gas industry, the manufacturing of “The Cold Box” would present Port Arthur with an opportunity to diversify the area economy, Batiste said. The skills employees would learn are valuable, transferable skills, and the product has the potential to be used in every corner of the world. “It was amazing why it took so long to make this happen,” Batiste said about “The Cold Box.”

The shipping container truly is the first one of its kind, Broussard said. The self-contained, refrigerated transport container eliminates the need for refrigerated transport trucks, which leads to greener transportation. Broussard has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration for about five years to ensure that the container can travel safely by air. And the container itself is reusable and recyclable.

But for Broussard, who never went to college, “The Cold Box” was just the latest development in a long line of developments. “It’s just what I do,” he said. email: [email protected] twitter: @broocrum

The post Manufacturing of Refrigerated Transport Containers to Employ Port Arthur Residents appeared first on Refrigerated Trucking Transport & Frozen Shipping Custom Critical Cold Box Pallet Shipper.

[source website]

Port Arthur armory gets $1 million revamp; to create 100 jobs

The U.S. Department on Commerce on Wednesday announced it was awarding a $1 million Economic Development Administration grant to the city of Port Arthur and its Economic Development Corporation to help renovate the former Texas National Guard Armory.

The grant will support the construction of a new manufacturing center in the 26,000-square-foot building at 3451 57th St., according to a news release from the Commerce Department.

Climate Controlled Containers, Inc. will take over the space, the news release said, and has pledged to hire 75 percent of its workforce from the Port Arthur area to manufacture their alternative refrigerated shipping and frozen transport solution.

The project is expected to create 100 jobs and generate $10 million in private investments for Southeast Texas, according to grantee estimates.

Former City Manager Steve Fitzgibbons said in January that the city applied for a $2.4 million economic development grant to help pay for a building remodel. The grant required a $1 million match, he said.

[email protected]

Read More: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Port-Arthur-armory-gets-1-million-revamp-to-3442136.php#ixzz2920a2Rlc

The post Climate Controlled Containers to take over Port Arthur Armory for Refrigerated Shipping and Frozen Transport Shippers appeared first on Refrigerated Trucking Transport & Frozen Shipping Custom Critical Cold Box Pallet Shipper.

[source website]

WASHINGTON – U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson today announced a $1 million Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant to the city of Port Arthur and the Port Arthur Economic Development Corporation of Port Arthur, Texas, to help rehabilitate a former Texas National Guard Armory for use as a state-of-the-art manufacturing center. The project is expected to create 100 jobs and generate $10 million in private investments for southeast Texas, according to grantee estimates.

“This $1 million EDA investment in Texas is an example of the Obama Administration’s commitment to supporting American manufacturers and increasing their ability to make their goods here and sell them everywhere,” Bryson said. “The grant announced today will support the establishment of a new manufacturing facility in Port Arthur that will create new jobs and support an economy built to last.” 

The EDA investment will support the construction of the new facility through local public-private collaboration with the project beneficiary, Climate Controlled Containers, Inc., which has pledged to hire 75 percent of its workforce from the Port Arthur area. 

Under Secretary Bryson’s leadership, the Commerce Department is focused on three areas to help create more American jobs: supporting advanced manufacturing, helping U.S. companies increase exports, and encouraging more companies to invest in or expand operations in the U.S. Bryson co-chairs the White House Office of Manufacturing Policy , which is coordinating government-wide efforts to support and strengthen America’s manufacturing sector, especially advanced manufacturing. 

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov) The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the Federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation’s regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term, sustainable economic growth.

The post Commerce Department Invests $1 Million to Support Manufacturing Center in Southeast Texas appeared first on Refrigerated Trucking Transport & Frozen Shipping Custom Critical Cold Box Pallet Shipper.

[source website]

City receives $1 million grant to retrofit Armory building

Sherry Koonce The Port Arthur News

The post PA New Home for Climate Controlled Containers, a Refrigerated Shipping Solution appeared first on Refrigerated Trucking Transport & Frozen Shipping Custom Critical Cold Box Pallet Shipper.