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Truckers, fleets react to catastrophe
By Aaron Huff
As one of his drivers was preparing to leave New York City Sept. 11, Leon Balentine, president of USA Motor Express Inc., a 158-truck carrier in Florence, Ala., said his company began receiving information about terrorist attacks from the driver’s Qualcomm unit.
"The driver saw the people jumping out of windows,” he said. “The only way he could communicate was with Qualcomm. We could tell from his message that he was highly disturbed. We sent him out of Brooklyn last night into New Jersey to get a load to Alabama.”
The trucker was one of hundreds of thousands of Americans in New York City when two airliners crashed into the World Trade Center as part of terrorist attacks there and in Washington D.C. Balentine said his truckers were upset by the catastrophe.
“Our drivers were shook up all over country,” he said. “We didn’t fuel the fire, though. We worked them through all of this."
In Washington D.C., terrorists crashed another jet into the Pentagon, destroying a section and setting the five-sided building on fire. Last year, Rock Solid Stone Belt Inc. delivered two different construction jobs to the Pentagon. Ted Benckart, president of the Shoals, Ind.-based company, says the events hit close to home.
“You may ask what does a guy in Indiana got to do with it?” he says. “We delivered all the stone for the renovation of the Pentagon. That stone is called Indiana limestone. That’s one of the things we haul.”
The part of the Pentagon under renovation was the part hit Sept. 11. Rest-assured, Benckart will be part of rebuilding the Pentagon and doing whatever else is needed. On Sept. 12, the company was planning to have a celebration for its 50-year anniversary.
“We were going to bring some people from the truck stops, our vendors and suppliers here, and all our employees,” he says. Benckart decided to cancel the party after Tuesday’s disaster. “A lot of work went into putting on this party, but I’m gonna take the money we would have spent and give it to the Red Cross. They need it more than I do.” Benckart also added, “They say don’t kick the sleeping giant, but that’s what they’ve done because everybody is pulling together.”
Benckart’s sentiments are being shared by truckers everywhere. Dan Kelly ,a driver for Timblin Incorporated, West Bend, Wis., was cooling his heels at a truck stop in Texas. Kelly, who was hauling a load of frozen vegetables to Atlanta Sept. 12, said the terrorism problem has been brewing for some time.
"We should done the right 10 years ago, and we wouldn't have this problem today,” Kelly said. “Trying to be Mr. Nice Guy towards (Iraq leader) Saddam (Hussein) and his band of terrorists is coming back to haunt us. This bombing in New York and Washington is going to affect every American in one way or another before it is all over."
Truckers calling in to Big John Trimble’s radio show in Richmond, Va., on WXGI AM 950 were expressing sentiments of outrage, the radio host said. “Drivers are more outspoken than other people – like they’ve always been,” he said. “Most are saying terrorism has gone on way too long. One trucker said we should give Afghanistan until 2 p.m. Monday to give up (Osama bin Laden) or we’re coming over to get him.”
Tremble, who’s show usually runs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EDT, said he came in early to do some commercial work, but the phone lines were lighting up with drivers who wanted to talk about the attacks. Tremble went on at 11 a.m. instead.
“Our phone lines have gone crazy,” he said. “Drivers are a little more opinionated than most, but they’re still reacting responsibly. They don’t want to go over there and kill innocent people. But they don’t want to let this sit either.”
At truck stops across the country, truckers said their businesses were being affected by the terrorist attacks.
Jose Gonzales, Jr., who drives for his father's trucking company Jose Gonzales and Sons based in Chicago, Ill., said he hauls mostly air freight from Chicago to Dallas.
“All the airports are closed, so we are just sitting waiting for them to reopen,” he said. “There is no freight for us anywhere right now. There are a lot of other things we could be doing of course like hauling mail loads but that may take a few days to organize.” The U.S. postal service usually flies mail that is sent to destinations more than 600 miles from its point of origin. With air service shut down, some mail is not being delivered.
Gonzales says fuel prices were also changing. “Fuel jumped about 35 cents yesterday and that will hurt we do get back on the road. In the meantime we just have to wait."
Andy Oostenvarb, a driver for Travelers Transportation Services, Toronto was sidelined in South Texas due to the New York tragedy.
"I was supposed to haul a load back to Toronto yesterday but part of the deal involved having a passenger fly back to San Antonio at the end,” he said. “With no flights running they canceled the load for now. A lot of Canadians are having trouble finding backhauls, and those that do are facing 4-hour or longer delays at the border. From what dispatch tells me they are checking over inbound load very carefully and item by item."
eTrucker correspondent Gary Bricken and senior editor Sean Kelley contributed to this report.
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