IT Infrastructure Allows Freight Brokerage to Maintain 24 Hour Service Commitment
Cincinnati, OH – Total Quality Logistics (TQL), the nation’s tenth largest freight brokerage firm, proudly announced today that was able to maintain its around-the-clock freight brokerage service to over 5,000 nationwide transportation clients, despite the historical state-wide electricity outage that began on Sunday September 14 and lasted for some until Sunday September 21.
Seventy-five mile-per-hour force winds resulting from Hurricane Ike caused more than one million residents and businesses in Ohio, and nearly 700,000 in the Southwest Ohio region alone, to lose electricity on Sunday September 14th, which resulted in nearly complete shut down of the Greater Cincinnati area. While most in the region were plagued by Duke Energy’s largest electricity blackout in history, including other large truck brokerage firms, TQL was powered by back-up generators and dual internet and phone service providers, allowing the truck brokerage to operate normally and deliver premium transportation service to its clients.
"We have built this company on the sole promise of providing the best customer service in the industry," said Ken Oaks, TQL’s President and CEO. "That service is based largely on the fact that our employees are available 24 hours a day, 7 days week, 365 days a year, but also on the large investments we have made in our technology resources. Those investments proved worthwhile 100 times during the blackout weekend."
During the past couple of weeks, many transportation firms nationwide have experienced service disruptions caused by capacity issues and impassable road conditions resulting from Hurricane Ike. These disruptions were amplified for other Cincinnati based truck brokerage firms during the week of September 14 with the region’s electricity outage.
While TQL’s 850 logistics employees showed up to work on Monday morning ready for a fast-paced and hectic day in transportation brokerage, these other truck brokerages closed early and routed calls to other branches. Throughout the weekend’s outage, TQL helped deliver more than 2,400 truckloads, including more than 200 loads of disaster reliever materials on their way to the Texas coastline for Hurricane Ike survivors.
"I am extremely proud that our systems remained up and running throughout the storm," added Oaks. "We were able to come through for clients who may have had electricity troubles themselves or were running into major problems because their other transportation providers could not come through for them."
As a non-asset based truck brokerage firm, TQL relies on independent carrier companies and owner/operators to haul their clients’ freight loads. While many asset-based carriers have been forced to park their fleets due to floods and other damage in the Gulf Coast region, TQL is able to call on carriers based throughout the country. The company’s large network of carrier resources, coupled with the size of its sales force, allows it accept a larger volume of loads, especially when they have short lead times or are traveling to difficult to reach areas.
To learn more about Total Quality Logistics or for help on your next shipment, call 800-580-3101.
ABOUT TOTAL QUALITY LOGISTICS (www.TQL.com)
Total Quality Logistics is the nation’s 10th largest freight brokerage firm. For the past 11 years, TQL has arranged the full truckload transportation for thousands of clients nationwide and has built a reputation for its integrity, reliability and unmatched customer service standards. TQL strives to be the most trusted and reliable freight brokerage in the logistics industry and has been consistently recognized for this commitment. Total Quality Logistics has been twice named a finalist in the Greater Cincinnati "Best Places to Work" competition and has earned many accolades both nationally and locally for its outstanding business practices and performance. To learn more about TQL and its superior freight brokerage service, visit www.TQL.com.