Experienced Drivers Wanted

Driver responsibilities include being able to restart the chiller, making sure the air conditioning is connected, knowing how to restart the cold head or compressor if necessary, and knowing how to plug and unplug the unit into a Russelstoll 480-volt power source in exactly the right sequence, or else potentially catastrophic problems could arise.


That's why transportation companies are so stringent when hiring new drivers.

"We have our drivers spend two weeks of training prior to ever getting out on the mobile road, learning how to set up and tear down the trailers," says Zahn. "We only use experienced drivers who are responsible for getting everything ready, from top to bottom, on delivery."

Hess concurs that his company will not let anyone on a medical trailer who has not gone through extensive training.

"We bring them to our facility and they learn all about what a medical trailer is and the logistics of everything," he says. "They learn what an MRI looks like, what to do with a cold head, what needs to be done when they pick a trailer up and when they drop one off. When they are ready, they are equipped with all the knowledge they need."

Money Issues

Gas fees aren't the only wavering issue that transportation companies are faced with. Insurance is a must (umbrella policies of $1 million or more) and special permits for oversized or overweight trailers need to be obtained.

"It depends on how new they are, but we've picked trailers up that have been as much as $2.4 million over the years," says Bernier. "You need to carry a lot of insurance, so we cover even more than that. That's one of the reasons why hauling is expensive, because you need to have that insurance in case something ever did go wrong."

Bernier also stresses the importance of understanding it's a "portal to portal business," and that to maximize profits, you should do whatever you can to keep a tractor from returning empty, resulting in what is known as bobtail miles.

Storage Solutions

Mobiles aren't usually rented out every day of the year. During the days when they are not in demand, they need to be properly stored. Once a trailer comes in, it is plugged into power (although a CT trailer doesn't need to be on power, in most cases it still is) and then closely monitored.

"We have to rig it in, connect it to power, run the gas compressor and cold head, check the chilled water connection and monitor daily. We look at helium levels and check compressors," says Clark Wilkins, President of JDI Solutions. "We'll look to see if any maintenance needs to be done and usually we do some special work on the trailers."

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