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 Ask
the Expert question: How
is Trailer Fleet Services handling the impact of Katrina in the
Gulf area?
Andrew
Liebert, Trailer Fleet Services Division VP, answers: Our
business has initiated multiple efforts over the past weeks to
respond to the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina. This included
creating a central support center to coordinate relief related
trailer needs, as well as respond to the needs of the many employees
we have in the region. Thankfully, all of our employees have survived
the disaster, and we are supporting them in any way we can during
the long period of recovery ahead.
 Our
Trailer Fleet Services branches in Jackson, MS, Tupelo, MS, and
Memphis, TN all sustained some damage and power loss but we were
able to reopen them last week. The branch site in New Orleans,
meanwhile, remains closed until further notice. Incoming calls
are being re-routed to the Field Service Center in Wayne, Pa.,
and trailers are being deployed from other Trailer Fleet Services
branches throughout the region.
Trailer Fleet
Services has established a temporary branch 90 miles northwest
of New Orleans in Baton Rouge. Trailer Fleet Services branches
in Dallas, Austin and San Antonio have been designated as "staging
areas" to funnel wider-world logistical support into the Gulf
Coast region.
Seeing the
devastation firsthand has inspired our employees in the region
to work nearly around the clock and through the weekends to help
get units to relief agencies and customers serving the needs of
the rebuilding effort. We have also been helping our customers
aid their employees, bring material to the affected region, and
keep their businesses up and running.
At the same
time we have been moving swiftly to anticipate the operational
and service challenges ahead. That's meant formulating and implementing
plans for meeting the increased logistics and transportation needs
of region.
As our central
command center is planning for the long haul of the weeks and
months ahead, our field managers are already responding to the
demands of the moment. Branch and sales teams worked through Labor
Day weekend staffing phones, inspecting and green-lighting assets
for lease, and making deliveries to the full extent roads and
regulations allowed.
Some initial relief related efforts have included:
- The delivery of trailers to the US Post Office in for use in
holding back and storing New Orleans bound mail at USPS facilities
in Dallas and Houston.
- The delivery of trailers to a major home
improvement chain for use in shipping generators and building
materials from the company's regional distribution centers to
affected areas.
- Delivery of employee relief packages and a donation
of a 53' trailer load of water to the American Red Cross.
- GE Corporate has donated $8 million dollars to the American Red Cross
and $10 million of equipment to the relief effort.
For more information
on GE's relief efforts with Hurricane Katrina click
here.
To
submit a question to be answered by a GE expert in a future On
the Move issue, click
here.
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