Patriot Freight Group

5 Reasons You Need a Top Notch Company for Your Hazmat Transport

According to the Department of Transportation, nearly three billion tons of hazardous materials are transported on U.S. roads every year.

Hazmat transport is of vital importance for many essential businesses including companies in the healthcare, energy, manufacturing, and food industries.

Where there is big business there is a lot of competition. With so many trucking companies bidding for the job of handling your hazmat transportation needs, how do you know you are dealing with experts? Read on to be sure you choose the right hazmat transport partner to get the job done and done right.

How to Identify Hazmat Transport Experts

If non-hazardous cargo transport were checkers than hazmat transportation would be chess. It is a completely different game with a lot more rules.

Not just any trucking company can transport hazardous materials. Here are five reasons you need the best trucking broker for the job.

1. The Right Trucks

There is no such thing as one-truck-fits-all when it comes to transporting hazardous materials. In fact, there are strict regulations enforced by government agencies such as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) concerning the manner of the truck that must be used for different classes of cargo.

A trucking company that carelessly skirts or ignores laws and requirements not only puts lives in danger but if there is a violation the authorities have the right and power to confiscate the truck and all its cargo. Losing cargo or late shipments are never good for business.

A hazmat transport expert has every type of truck imaginable at their disposal. From vans and pickup trucks for hotshot deliveries to 18-Wheel semi-trucks and tankers for industrial-sized loads the trucks have to pull-up or your cargo isn’t going anywhere.

2. Qualified Drivers

At the art of every successful delivery is the driver. The Department of Transportation’s Office of Hazardous Material Safety logged over 150,000 incidents and 98 fatalities involving hazmat transport on our nation’s highways between 2010 and 2019. A large percentage of them could have been prevented.

Drivers that get behind the wheel to transport dangerous cargo have a huge responsibility to the public concerning safety. Hazmat drivers are held to the highest standard when it comes to road safety and are required to hold various state and federal licenses.

According to the following Patriot Act, all hazmat drivers are even required to pass a security threat assessment conducted by the Transportation Security Administration.

We work with a vast network of carriers to ensure we can pick the cream of the crop for our client’s specific needs. All the hazmat drivers that we hire or work with our highly trained and are in complete compliance with government regulations. 

3. Clear and Timely Communication

The speed of business these days is in one word, fast. In order to stay ahead of their competition, every business needs their deliveries on time.

A professional trucking logistics company knows the importance of staying in touch and keeping their client well informed of any delays. If there are ever any issues with your cargo it is good to know your freight forwarding company is easy to reach and always willing to help.

Patriot Freight Group™ provides real-time GPS tracking so you can know at any given moment where your shipment is on its journey. If you have any questions or concerns our friendly dispatch is standing by 24 hours a day, every day to assist you.

4. Handled Well From All Sides

If moving cargo from one place to another was as easy and simple as it sounds it wouldn’t need a fancy label like ‘logistics’. Add on top the extra safety considerations of hazmat and you had better be sure you can trust your transportation company is covering all the angles. A few of which are:

  • Specialized solutions for every class of hazmat
  • Connections with commercial insurance for hazmat trucks and cargo
  • On-call safety specialists with the expertise to prevent accidents
  • Contingency plans in place if there is ever complications

Businesses can’t be expected to think of every possible setback that can come up between point A and point B and you shouldn’t have to. That is the job of your transportation and supply chain specialists.

The hazmat transport pros must be able to do all the thinking for you and handle any potential problems with your cargo on the fly.

5. The Hazardous Materials

The term hazmat is a generic term used to describe any hazardous material. A material is considered hazardous if it poses a threat to the health and safety of people and the environment. If the material has any of these characteristics it is considered a hazmat material:

  • Explosive
  • Radioactive
  • Flammable
  • Corrosive
  • Oxidizing
  • Bio-hazardous
  • Asphyxiating
  • Toxic
  • Pathogenic
  • Allergenic
  • Poisonous

That is a seriously scary list of words describing chemicals and materials you want to keep safely away from. There are special precautions that need to be taken and special training is given to drivers in how to handle these various types of hazmat materials.

Our experts take safety and emergency training deathly serious.

Only the Best Will Do

It is a tough and dangerous job, but somebody has to do it and do it right. Only the best companies in hazmat transport can hold their heads high because anything less isn’t going to cut it. Do some research before contracting a trucking company to take on your valuable loads and make sure they are up to the challenge.

You can rely on Patriot Freight Group for the best point to point transportation in the industry of any cargo class and for any size job. Request a quote today and discover the Patriot Freight Group difference.