The Kenan Advantage Group Inc and its dedicated Drivers contributed in many ways to helping those affected by the hurricanes these past couple months. KAG brought in nearly 100 drivers from cities as far as Sacramento CA, Detroit MI, Baltimore MD, etc. to the disaster areas’ struggling fuels markets.
Challenges to fuel distribution included longer-than-average length of haul from 25 miles to 90 miles with loading wait times up to five to seven hours. KAG worked around the clock on these emergency assistance efforts, coordinating the placement of each driver into a deprived market to ensure that just-in-time deliveries were accurate and timely.
“This could not have happened without the tremendous effort and dedication from everyone who helped keep our customers’ tanks wet,” said Kevin Spencer, executive vice-president at KAG Logistics. “Our Emergency Services Team and KAG Field Operations worked together continuously for weeks on end to help deliver product into the affected areas, knowing our own employees and customers were busy coping with their own personal losses from these terrible hurricanes.”
KAG’s hurricane efforts exceeded expectations by committing to exceptional customer service and delivering additional aid from within and outside of the company’s market. To fill the demand, KAG took the time to find those much needed out-of-market drivers, most of whom stayed through the end of the assignment, which lasted for well over a months’ time. KAG Logistics also coordinated drivers who could pull product from distant terminals to keep fuel stocked.
Jesse Wilcox--a KAG driver out of Kenan Knoxville TN, assigned to the Florida Turnpike-Orlando--shared his efforts in Florida: “I was honored by that experience, and while tragic, helping others was my biggest reward.”
Wilcox, with Eric Buss and Mike Barnes, handled loads to turnpike plazas, which were part of the vital evacuation routes in and out of Florida before and after the storm.
“The importance of our industry’s work was highlighted by the media as numerous news outlets aired video of police escorts of our trucks delivering fuel along the Florida turnpike,” Spencer said. “I truly commend the drivers, dispatchers, technicians, and all the others who stepped in to get the job done during these challenging situations where Mother Nature showed no mercy.”
KAG provided drivers accommodations, acquired out-of-market work authorizations for them and was in constant communication on the location of available fuels supply. This type of service drives tremendous customer loyalty. Amid disaster, KAG emphasized the importance of their exceptional customer service, their technology solutions and their far-reaching network of connections necessary to become an essential asset in these trying times.