DC Velocity - June 2011

inbound

After years of debate, the industry remains divided over which pallet is more eco-friendly—the lightweight plastic pallet or the biodegradable wood one. Now, an Australian company has entered the fray with a material it says will smoke the competition: hemp fiber.

The company, Biofiba Ltd., is looking to market export pallets made from a mixture of modified hemp fiber and natural starches. The material, which can be extruded into planks for fabrication into pallets, offers a number of advantages from an environmental standpoint, the company says. First, the material is 100 percent organic and breaks down after disposal into an organic mulch. The plant fibers come from renewable resources, and the material contains no harmful chemicals. Furthermore, Biofiba pallets are “naturally treated” to eliminate any potential diseases or pests, and therefore do not require fumigation or heat treatment.

Can the hemp-based pallets stand up to normal use? According to the company’s website, Biofiba pallets can last anywhere from 180 to 400 days depending on the formulation of the extruded material. One disadvantage over conventional pallets: They must be kept under cover and protected from direct exposure to the elements to prevent deterioration. The pallets are designed to carry a maximum dynamic load of 2,500 kg (approximately 5,500 pounds) and a static load of 5,000 kg ( 11,000 pounds).

The company is currently seeking licensees to manufacture and sell the pallets. For more information, visit www.biofiba.com. ;

In race to be greenest,
hemp pallets smoke the
competition

As any shipper who’s tried it can tell you, drawing up contracts with motor carriers is a complicated business. Not only do you have to make sure your own interests are protected, but you have to do it in a way that’s acceptable to the carrier.

Shippers in need of some guidance now have a place to turn. A new text, Motor Carrier Contracts Annotated, provides contract templates for transportation by motor carrier and for brokerage of motor carrier transportation. According to the publisher, this is the only text available today that includes actual contract clauses that shippers can use to protect themselves. In addition to the annotated contract templates, the book contains overviews of contract considerations, a checklist for completing both types of contracts, and a discussion of the most important statutes affecting motor carrier contracts.

The 80-plus page text (which comes in a three-ring binder for easy updating) is packaged with a CD-ROM with the contract templates in both Microsoft Word and PDF format. Another bonus: Purchasers are entitled to a complimentary 30-minute consultation with author Brent Wm. Primus, J.D., who has represented shippers in important court cases involving motor carrier contracts.

Motor Carrier Contracts Annotated sells for $995. For more information, go to www.transportlawtexts.com. ;

Motor carrier contracting made easy?

Knoxville, Tenn., was the place to be last month if you were looking for supply chain heavy hitters. Executives from 30 companies, all with titles of vice president of supply chain or above, gathered at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Global Supply Chain Institute for the inaugural meeting of the institute’s new advisory board.

UT Knoxville set up the advisory board with two objectives in mind: to solicit advice from supply chain leaders on its domestic and global supply chain programs, and to give these leaders a venue for discussing the latest supply chain trends and benchmark best practices. The board will meet quarterly through a Web conference.

“This is a unique opportunity for senior supply chain executives to compare notes on issues that keep them up at night,” said J. Paul Dittmann, the institute’s director, in a statement.

Attendees at the inaugural meeting represented such varied industries as office products, online services, technology, transportation, aerospace and defense, apparel, dining, and pharmaceuticals. Just a few of the famous names represented: Amazon, Boeing, Caterpillar, Kimberly-Clark, ConAgra, Johnson & Johnson, Honeywell, Lowe’s, and Office Max.