DC Velocity - June 2015

4 DC VELOCITY JUNE 2015 www.dcvelocity.com inbound

Here’s our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and donations by companies in the material handling and logistics space.

; Logistics firms reacted quickly to the April 25 and May 12 earthquakes in Nepal, with Deutsche Post DHL Group, UPS Inc., FedEx Corp., Cardinal Health, and the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) all rushing planes, distribution experts, and relief supplies such as food, water, tents, and medical supplies to the affected region. (See “Logistics companies rise to the challenge of aiding Nepal earthquake victims” at www.dcvelocity.com.)

; DHL also partnered with DynCorp International to prepare hundreds of Afghan women and children for the winter months by delivering some 150 boxes of donated winter clothing and supplies to Kabul, Afghanistan. The items had been collected by a local charity called the Afghan-American Women’s Association, which needed logistical expertise to distribute the supplies.

; Cross-border logistics specialist Purolator International of Jericho, N.Y., will donate two 14-foot trucks—stocked with 1,968 pounds of food—to Long Island Cares, a food bank serving New York’s Nassau and Suffolk counties. Each truck can deliver about 2,500 free meals, and the group hopes to convert one of the vehicles into a food truck with a workable kitchen.

; Employees of reusable container and pallet maker **bold{Orbis Corp.} of Oconomowoc, Wis.,

raised more than $6,000 to support cancer prevention and research programs at the Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital. In all, 89 registered walkers represented Orbis at the annual LakeWalk for Cancer event. The funds raised included

$2,000 in matching funds from the company.

; Yusen Logistics Inc. has provided free transport of high-nutrition food into poverty-stricken areas of Cambodia, supporting the nonprofit group People’s Hope Japan in its “Maternal and Child Health Improvement” project. Yusen arranged for the food to be forwarded by air from Tokyo’s Narita Airport to Cambodia, then handled the import customs clearance and arranged the delivery of 4,800 nutritional bars.

Logistics gives back

Truck drivers work hard to stay on schedule as they rush to pick up and deliver shipments within tight time windows. That often doesn’t leave them much time to take care of their own health, however.

One enterprising company might have a solution to the problem. Truck Stop Health Care (TSHC), based in New Port Richey, Fla., has opened a series of health clinics located in highway truck stops. The clinics are staffed with medical examiners who can provide quick physical exams to satisfy the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requirement that commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders obtain a medical certificate every two years.

The clinics will offer an efficient way for healthy drivers to renew their certificates by providing a 20-minute exam for a $100 fee. Patients with more complex medical conditions will be referred to primary care physicians in their home regions, said company CEO Tejinder Dhaliwal, M.D.

TSHC plans to open 500 locations in the next six months and 1,500 within two years. For more information, visit www.truckstopdot.com.

Shippers of high-value goods are
always eager to find new tools
for tracking and monitoring their
cargo during transit. One compa-
ny is using just such a tool to track
items that are literally irreplace-
able—fine art and antiques.
Racine Berkow Associates Inc.
(RBA) of Long Island City, N.Y.,
is a global freight forwarder spe-
cializing in museum-quality fine
art handling services. Serving cli-
ents such as museums, galleries,
and collectors, the company has
transported monumental bronze
sculptures by the English artist
Henry Moore and priceless world
treasures, including The Dead Sea
Scrolls.
Whether these items are trav-
eling by road, rail, ocean, or air,
they risk damage from exposure
to humidity, sunlight, shock, or
vibration. So RBA has chosen
AT&T Inc.’s “CargoView with
FlightSafe” application to monitor
the delicate items during transit.

Users deploy CargoView by packing the device—a small plastic box the size of a deck of cards—inside the box or container with their freight. During shipment, wireless sensors inside the box transmit data on location and environmental conditions via AT&T’s global wireless network. The data are collected in the cloud, and subscribers can monitor the readings via any Web browser.

Regardless of the transit mode used, shippers that are concerned about specific conditions can set customizable alerts and geofenc-es, so they can receive notifications if, say, the cargo goes out of compliance or when the courier nears its destination.