The Packer’s Tom Karst visited March 30 with Ken Lund, vice president of operations for the Allen Lund Company, La Canada Flintridge, Calif.
Lund reviewed the last couple of weeks in the hectic transportation market during the COVIDA-19 lockdown and looks ahead to April.
“In January and February, we were pretty flat on load volume, but in March it shot up and we’ve been up over 25%,” he said.
Allen Lund Co. is a non-asset based third-party logistics company and has about 500 employees; 200 are working from home now, Lund said.
Lund discusses treatment of truckers during the COVIDA-19 crisis, and how it has improved in recent days when more people have begun to appreciate how important truckers are to the nation’s food supply.
Lund predicts April will be active in the transportation market.
“I think April will be more of the same; it’ll still be busy, but I think it’ll drop off just a little bit as people have replenished,” he said.
In the past couple of weeks, Lund said consumers saw empty supermarket shelves throughout the U.S. for the first time.
“I think that changes your mindset when you’ve got a couple of kids at home,” he said. With families cooking and preparing food every day, he said those pantries will need to be refilled. “I certainly hope fresh produce stays as a staple and people continue to replenish their (pantries),” he said.
