As the temperature-controlled supply chain continues to call for greater transparency to ensure food quality and safety, Penske Logistics welcomed the opportunity to ensure its cold chain operations were the gold star in the industry.
Penske Logistics’ Jeff Jackson, senior vice president, operations – dedicated contract carriage, shared his insight on how his company earned the first-of-its-kind cold chain certification that focuses on excellence in refrigerated transportation with George Abernathy, president of FreightWaves, in a virtual talk at the FreightWaves Cold Chain Summit on Friday.
Penske Logistics is joining a growing number of U.S. companies that have earned the Cold Carrier Certification through the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA), a trade association for the cold chain industry.
“The lead operator at each cold chain location had to take a test and I was happy to hear from our food quality team that we really didn’t need to add anything,” Jackson said. “We were really doing all the right things, but just having a structured approach we think has a lot of benefit.”
The company received its certification from the GCCA in September.
“It gives our customers that extra level of confidence that we’re really taking care of sanitation and it gives our teams added confidence,” Jackson said. “We’re very passionate about people at Penske and were passionate about safety and food quality.”
In all, Penske Logistics has more than 5,500 drivers, with about 1,600 drivers in the dedicated contract carriage arena specializing in cold chain operations.
Besides its dedicated contract carriage operation, the logistics company also has a warehousing and distribution division that includes about 35 million square feet of warehousing space, Jackson said.
Its freight management services division oversees about $4.5 billion worth of freight on behalf of its shipper customers and it also operates a freight brokerage group.
Roger Penske is the founder and chairman of Penske Corporation, a privately held entity, headquartered in Detroit.