Ace Doran moves a super-sized storage tank for Enerfab to a large brewery in the Cincinnati area.

Chris Joyce had to coordinate the transportation of two super-sized steel storage tanks and knew he needed a reliable transportation vendor he could trust to handle the complexities of the job. He selected Ace Doran because they offered the best price, and he knew from experience that Ace Doran always delivers.

“Any time you’re transporting something of this size, you must have a good relationship with the people responsible for that job,” says Joyce, director of plan operations for Enerfab, a Cincinnati-based provider of construction management, capital equipment, maintenance services and technology solutions.

Joyce manages a shop fabrication facility where tanks, pressure vehicles and steel fabrications are constructed. Part of his job includes coordinating the transportation of these products to customers or sometimes to field divisions that assemble larger fabrications. He takes great pride in being able to deliver the products safely, seamlessly and without incident to Enerfab’s clients.

Enerfab needed a vendor that could manage an extensive pre-planning process for the 40-mile trip.

“Our transportation vendors are, in effect, representing our company to our clients, and that’s why we need to have complete trust in their ability to manage every aspect of the job and provide a positive customer experience,” he says. “That kind of trust comes with strong relationships.”

Joyce speaks highly of his decade-long relationships with Ace Doran President Jim Collins and heavy haul manager Bob Thomas, who always come through, he says, no matter what the challenge. “A lot of people will tell you they’ll deliver, but there’s a big difference between telling you and actually delivering,” Joyce says.

In this case, Joyce had two super-size storage tanks that needed to be hauled about 40 miles to a large brewery in Trenton, Ohio. The first tank to be delivered was 9-foot-six-inches tall and 26-feet wide and the second tank was 14-feet high and 26-feet wide. Enerfab’s client had requested the steel tanks be delivered in two months, and Joyce needed a team with the capacity to manage an extensive pre-planning process in that time period.

Ace Doran was praised for being able to pull off the tricky haul without a hitch despite setbacks.

This process included surveying and selecting a route, submitting the route to the state of Ohio for permits and approvals and physically surveying the route to determine plans for the tricky turns and clearances along the way. Ace Doran’s Thomas took the extra step and drove the route with the two drivers ahead of time to review every turn and trouble spot.

“We felt the need to make that extra effort because this wasn’t the type of job where you load two containers on a flatbed and drive up the highway,” recalls Thomas. “This type of haul takes a lot of planning and staging ahead of time.”

Not only did Ace Doran successfully deliver the two storage tanks without any problems, but they overcame a major challenge, says Joyce. The client had to postpone the delivery date close to the delivery date, pushing the transportation job into January, when winter weather makes the roads more treacherous and difficult to navigate.

Still, Ace Doran pulled the job off without a hitch, Joyce says, adding that it’s never easy to reschedule deliveries at the last minute. I have freight carriers that call me every day trying to get my business,” says Joyce. “However, I continue to deal with a small group of carriers, Ace Doran being one of them, because of the relationship and trust I have with them.”

Ace Doran’s Bob Thomas, left, and Chad Liter pride themselves on customer service and safety.

Pioneer Cladding and Glazing Systems is proud that it can be a one-stop-shop for the unitized curtain wall and custom building facades that it designs and manufactures in partnership with architects, engineers and contractors. As part of its comprehensive service offerings, from scheduling, planning and managing resources to manufacturing, Pioneer also takes on the responsibility of installation and delivery.

As a result, the company needs to contract with reliable transportation vendors that can safely transport their exterior glass facades to construction sites that are often located in densely trafficked urban areas. Pioneer recently contracted to provide glass panes for a building project in the heart of Washington, D.C. – one of the most highly regulated and restricted areas of the country for transportation vendors – and selected Ace Doran to coordinate the logistics and transport the loads. The project is now in progress and is expected to be ongoing through spring of 2017.

Why Ace Doran?

When seeking a vendor, Cincinnati-based Pioneer needed a transportation company that could navigate the complexities of D.C.’s numerous requirements and permits. They also needed a vendor that could manage the over-the-road transport through four states of 50 to 70 loads of 11-foot-by-6-inch glass panes safely and without incident.

“I value Ace’s expertise,” says Paula Heinold, who manages transportation logistics for Pioneer. During the vendor selection process, Heinold says she remembered partnering with Ace Doran in the past when she worked in the service center of a steel company. “I always had a good experience with them,” she says. “I knew they had expertise with specialized, heavy hauling, rules and regulations and making sure the loads are secured properly. I was really happy to work with them again.”

Heinold also mentioned that she has enjoyed working with Ace Doran’s crew, who are not the same people she worked with in the past. She complimented Ace Doran’s president, Jim Collins. “My first phone call with Jim was very positive; I felt really comfortable with him,” she says.

Thumbs Up So Far

Heinold says she has been very happy with Ace Doran’s performance. “I’m happy with what they’re doing, the guys on site are happy, and everything has gone smoothly as far as I can tell,” she says. “I haven’t heard anything negative, and I’m taking that as a sign that it’s all good.”

Heinold is especially grateful for how well the team secures the loads.  “These glass panes are very large and heavy, and require quite a bit of engineering, as far as getting them securely loaded,” she says. “The panes are more expensive than most of our glass because they’re from Spain and shipped in. Our warehouse spent a lot of time getting these panes packaged correctly and that’s where the Ace team came in and were helpful, getting them on the truck and loaded safely.”

Heinold is referring to Chad Liter and Bob Thomas, who together manage the account, the paperwork, permits and coordination, as well as assist drivers with securement, and who say they pride themselves on customer service and safety.

Ace Doran’s Expertise Paying Off

Liter and Thomas are the ones to address the challenges associated with the job, such as being restricted to traveling with an over-sized load only during daylight hours through Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland, but then not being able to deliver the load until night-time. Due to D.C. traffic congestion during the day, the city only permits transportation vendors to pick up and deliver at night. They must start a half-hour after sunset and end a half-hour before sunrise.

To add to that challenge, a lack of storage capacity in the building limits Ace Doran to one delivery at a time, and the panes must be installed before the next load can be delivered. While there is a schedule for loads, sometimes issues with installation may delay the next shipment. This presents challenges with being able to call upon a consistent team of drivers at any given time. These drivers must be experienced enough and willing to take on the challenges of hauling to D.C.

That’s where the Ace Doran “magic” comes in, says Liter. “Pioneer might call us and say they need a truck to deliver the next day, and that’s the first obstacle,” he says. “The second obstacle is finding a driver that can do the job that is available that quickly, and we won’t just put any driver on this job. We make sure they have the right experience and a good safety record.”

Relationships with Drivers Key

Ace Doran’s own network and long-term relationships with drivers, as well as the ability to tap drivers from parent Bennett International Group enables the team to be able to locate an appropriate driver quickly in those instances where there may be delays between loads. Ace Doran’s breadth of capacities has enabled the company to deliver a seamless experience for customers who have challenging wide-load transportation projects.

If you would like to learn more about Ace Doran’s transportation services, please contact Kevin Gibson at 800-829-0929, ext. 329.

Ace Doran senior safety director Paul Molnar travels to marshalling yards to hold safety meetings.

It’s “wind season” right now in the transportation industry, which means drivers hauling wind turbine parts are out on the road and not as available for safety meetings. That’s why Ace Doran sends safety expert Paul Molnar out to meet the drivers in the marshalling yards where they haul and park the blades and towers before final delivery.

“In the wind industry, loads are sometimes scheduled in as little as two weeks out, so it can be a challenge to find where the drivers will be and meet with them,” says Paul, who is senior director of safety for Ace Doran. “With the help of our agent, we look for locations where we know there are going to be a bunch of Ace drivers. I make sure I am there at 7 a.m. when they start to trickle in and continue meeting with them throughout the day.”

Ace Doran makes sure its wind energy drivers have all the safety support they need.

Paul started his career as a driver, logging more than 1 million accident-free miles, and still holds his commercial driver’s license. “This permits me to better relate to the drivers and build positive working relationships with them,” he says.

On the trips to the marshalling yards, mostly in Texas, Iowa and Missouri , he holds a series of meetings that could be attended by anywhere from just a few drivers to more than 20 at a time. He may have as many as 4-5 meetings a day.

Sometimes, he will find a spot in the yard to conduct meetings, but he also offers to take drivers to lunch or dinner. Paul has just returned from a trip to a yard in Electra, Tex., where he was able to meet with 22 drivers. He ordered Barbecue dinner to be brought to the yard, enough for 30 people, and the drivers loved it, he says.

Paul’s meetings are well received by the drivers. “They don’t resist,” he says. “They know we are there to help them be successful. Drivers appreciate somebody being there. They want somebody to be out there on their behalf. I’ll even have drivers that want to come to a second meeting. They really appreciate getting the opportunity to talk to someone from management.”

When meeting with drivers, Ace Doran’s safety director focuses on prevention of incidents that result in claims and cargo damage.

Providing Support More Important than Presentation

Paul gives a presentation with a focus on prevention of incidents that result in claims and cargo damage, but his main purpose, he says, is to make sure the drivers know that he is there to provide support. “There are no conference rooms at these sites, so I’ll make hard copies of my PowerPoint, pass them around and get everybody in a circle,” he says. “But I do spend a lot of time addressing specific concerns and issues.”

What comes up in meetings is largely driven by the drivers. Paul’s role may be to:

• Answer questions about claims and incidents
• Provide advice about a specific safety concern
• Share recent incidents to raise awareness and how they could have been avoided
• Discuss a driver safety issue particular to wind, such as best practices for maneuvering a unit carrying a wind tower over an arch in the roadway without damaging the road

“I always start with the positives,” he says. “Some of these guys have some of the best CSA and driving records in the industry. The majority of them have perfectly clean records. My purpose is to make sure that they do not become complacent and take their good records for granted.  I acknowledge them for their successes, and then I open it to feedback.”

In safety support group meetings, drivers share their experiences managing difficult transportation maneuvers, such as hauling a wind turbine tower through a difficult turn.

Meetings Turn into Driver Safety Support Groups

Paul’s meetings often end up transforming into support groups, in which the drivers provide advice and guidance to one another, sharing close calls and challenges and how they have managed them successfully in the past.  “Maybe there’s a site where a driver had a hard time making a turn and another driver, who has hauled to that site frequently, gives advice about what the less experienced driver needs to do next time,” Paul says. “In wind energy, towers and blades are delivered in sets of three, so there is a lot of teamwork involved. They are all in it together, and what I see in the meetings is that they hold one another accountable, which is key.”

Learn more about Ace Doran’s wind energy services.

Ace Doran has invested in equipment specialized for towers and blades, including double schnabels, schnabel dollies and booster dollies.

Bennett Motor Express (BME)/Ace Doran is excited to share that it has expanded its wind energy transportation business, making BME/Ace Doran among the largest transporters of wind equipment.

Ace Doran, a division of BME, has added a fleet of more than 70 tower trucks and 36 blade trucks, which complements BME’s specialization in transporting wind turbine hubs, machine heads and smaller components.

Bennett’s crane and rigging division offers wind turbine maintenance and wind farm construction services.

With the expansion of trucks combined with Bennett Onsite Services (BOSS), a business unit that provides crane and rigging services for wind energy, Bennett can “do it all,” notes Rob Simon, vice president of heavy haul and specialized for BME. “We can now safely transport every component of a wind tower. We can load them, transport them, and build them.”

Unique Transportation Configurations

Ace Doran’s equipment types are versatile, offering “all kinds of configurations,” says Tony Parson, who dispatches the tower and blade loads for one of Ace Doran’s largest clients, a multinational high-tech industrial conglomerate. For example, Ace Doran has invested in equipment specialized for towers and blades, including double schnabels, schnabel dollies and booster dollies.

“Our specialized equipment gives us the capacity to haul any tower that is manufactured in the U.S.,” Tony says. “This equipment is a unique value-add because it lets us go places that other types of trailers cannot go without getting special permits to meet police requirements.”

Ace Doran specializes in hauling wind turbine blades and towers.

Most Experienced Drivers in the Industry

Ace Doran will not contract with owner/operators who do not have at least two years of experience hauling wind equipment. “Our drivers are some of the most experienced in the industry,” says Tony, who has been assigning loads for the same client since 2000. “Many of them have as much as 30 years of experience with heavy haul and more than a decade of wind hauling experience.

To be a wind contractor for Ace Doran, drivers must participate in a rigorous driver qualification process and have an impeccable safety record, says Tony. ”They must have knowledge of permits and escorts and be able to order their own permits.”

BME specializes in hauling wind turbine hubs and machine heads.

Safety #1 Priority

In addition to making safety a priority and complying with all safety regulations, Ace Doran sends out a safety expert to meet with the wind drivers on the road. Ace provides this benefit because wind drivers are often gone from home for six months at a time and are challenged with being able to satisfy Bennett’s requirement that they participate in one onsite safety meeting a year.

“Our team is very close-knit,” Tony says. “We are all owner/operator-based, but we are a family type of fleet. We work with each other to make sure things get done. For instance, if we have a truck that has a problem while on route, all we have to do is make a call to another driver in the area to help our guy out and deliver his load. Our trucks are always communicating with each other and helping each other out.”

To learn more about BME/Ace Doran wind energy services, please call 800-866-5500.