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All mountain passes in Washington were closed for several days in early January shutting down interstate traffic and leaving LTI, Inc.'s Moses Lake and Sunnyside drivers stuck on the west side of the state. "We found a way to make the best of it and kept our drivers busy hauling milk from Lynden to the Seattle market," says Jordan Jansen, LTI, Inc. Northwest Operations Manager. "Whatcom and Skagit County milk was being diverted to the Seattle market which required extra drivers and equipment, so the help was appreciated."

The wild weather also created even more demand for road salt. "We do our best to fill everyone's salt order and meet our commitments to WSDOT and other counties and cities. We monitor our salt inventory very closely and purchase more if needed," Jordan says. "Our operations and dispatch teams in Seattle did an excellent job routing trucks and getting the salt delivered to customers as quickly as possible."

Rhubarb juice and oat milk have joined canola oil and whiskey in LTI, Inc.'s growing list of special commodity hauls. Since March, LTI, Inc. Sunnyside drivers have picked up oat milk from Ogden, UT and delivered it to Delta, B.C. for Oatly. "The Oatly brand is international, available at retail stores and is used at Starbucks locations across the U.S.," explains Marcos Bustamante, Sunnyside Operations Manager.

Around 35 miles away, in Abbotsford, B.C., LTI, Inc. drivers are on the job picking up rhubarb juice for delivery to a winery in Hill City, South Dakota. "International projects like this require collaboration between Sunnyside and LTI, Inc.'s Mount Vernon group to deliver the products across the border," says Greg Masset, Sunnyside Dispatch. Drivers Chad Haarsma and Jonathon Harshfield haul the juice from the plant in Canada to Sunnyside, where Jerome-based team drivers pick it up and deliver to the winery in South Dakota.

Drivers sometimes deal with unplanned same-day load add-ons, but "luckily, we have great drivers that always come through for us and understand how important it is to take care of our customers," Marcos says. "Our success wouldn't be possible without the help of all the other Service Centers and our great drivers. I especially want to thank the Sunnyside dispatch team and special commodities team for the great job they have been doing."

Marcos says LTI, Inc. is always looking for other food-grade products to carry. "Our canola oil business has grown with the addition of a new customer called Viterra that has led to Sunnyside investing in special trailers dedicated to hauling oil," he says.

Drivers supporting the oat milk project include: Guadalupe Bustamante, Brandon Call, Pablo Valdes-Medina, Jose Rivera, Mark Nickerson, Jose Gonzalez Vargas and Scott Scherzinger.

For the past 15 years, LTI, Inc. drivers would head out to local dairies in Bonanza, OR to pick up milk for their customer. But the arrangement changed last year which allowed drivers to take on other projects and serve new customers. LTI, Inc. Vice President of Operations Chae Matta and Regional Manager Greg Tolle immediately started looking for options for the 24-man crew to continue working in the area.

"Unfortunately, our office and yard in Bonanza were more than 50 miles out of route for Lynden's California work, so we found a new 3.5-acre location just south of downtown Klamath Falls," explains Operations Manager John Bailey. "The new location on Highway 97 puts us right in line with the current routes, so it offers new opportunities for the Klamath Falls team."

By late fall, the mobile office, a shed, carport and other equipment were moved from Bonanza to the new space. "It was an all-day process to get everything set in place so we could resume business as usual," says John, "I really appreciate Chae and Greg creating this new opportunity for our team. I see nothing but growth in the future." Employees that came in on a day off to help included Brent Hadwick, Clint Shultz, Hank Walling, Joe Hicks, Sutherlin Driver Supervisor Patrick Murphy and McMinnville Mechanic Terry McCord.

Add award-winning whiskey to the long list of LTI, Inc.'s food-grade hauls. Woodinville Whiskey Co. recently called upon Lynden to haul its premium 140-proof whiskey from Woodinville, WA to its aging and bottling facility in Quincy, WA. LTI, Inc. drivers are also picking up the mash byproduct from the whiskey distilling process and delivering to a farm near Monroe, WA.

Because the whiskey is flammable, it qualifies as a hazmat, food-grade load which is one of LTI, Inc.'s specialties. "The project really is a good fit for our strengths as a carrier," says Business Development Manager Al Hartgraves. Al says the new project came about through company teamwork. While LTI, Inc. Driver Cesar Cortez was delivering a load to one of the wineries next door to Woodinville Whiskey, he was approached by one of the owners. He asked Cesar if LTI, Inc. could provide the same pickup and delivery service for his company to Eastern Washington. Cesar passed along the request to dispatcher Eric Bordynoski who got in touch with Al and soon a contract was under way.

"LTI, Inc. has never hauled whiskey before so specific equipment needed to be sourced and drivers trained for this type of hazmat transport," Al says. The maintenance team of Dave Seaman and Jerry Crisp jumped into action to secure the highly specialized food-grade hazmat trailers, DOT 407s, needed for the project. Although the whiskey is picked up in Woodinville and delivered to Quincy, the run begins and ends at LTI, Inc.'s Sunnyside facility due to the wash facilities located there.

Sunnyside Driver Brandon Weaver, pictured right, was the first driver to haul the whiskey this fall, and he says it is a nice change from his usual route. "It's a lot of responsibility, too, though. Hazmat loads require an endorsement and intense focus, so safety is always on my mind." Driver Ed Flores is also hauling whiskey for the project.

The second part of the project is hauling the spent mash, which is grain left over from the distillation process. A full load is picked up each day from the distillery and delivered to a farm facility near Monroe where it is used to produce electricity for Qualco Energy. "The whole process is full circle and something we have not been involved in before," Al says. "It's an exciting new project for us to fully support the efforts of Woodinville Whiskey, and we will be bringing on more qualified drivers with this type of hazmat endorsement early in the year."

The grain for the whiskey is grown in Quincy which is where the whiskey is returned to age five to seven years before bottling. Woodinville Whiskey's expansion has positioned them to produce over 250,000 cases per year.

LTI, Inc.'s Sunnyside Wash Bay Crew received a prestigious certification from the Juice Products Association (JPA) for the cleanliness of the tankers Lynden uses for carrying food-grade products. The LTI, Inc. Sunnyside location is now one of only five wash facilities in Washington state to be certified by the JPA and one of only 39 in the U.S. The JPA is a national trade association with manufacturers representing more than 80 percent of U.S. juice producers. The Lynden team put in many hours of hard work to earn the designation.

"We face intense regulatory scrutiny in the way we clean and sterilize our special commodities tanks," says Jeff Harris, Sunnyside Operations Supervisor. "The JPA certification is the gold star of tanker cleanliness. Many companies will only allow their product to be hauled in tankers that have been washed at a JPA-certified facility. We can now proudly say that we are one of those facilities."

From January through November last year, the LTI, Inc. wash bay crew cleaned and sanitized 8,317 tanks in its wash bay plus 1,210 milk tankers. LTI, Inc. is required to carry paperwork for the last three loads each tanker has hauled which dictates the type of wash it receives: a rinse, a detergent rinse or a kosher wash that calls for temperatures up to 203 degrees for sterilization.

Each product a tanker hauls requires a specific type of wash. There is a lot to know, Jeff explains, and with trucks on the road around the clock, washing takes place at all hours. Harvest time is especially hectic for the team when almost all of the company's tankers are in use.

Jeff, along with HSSE Director Anthony Knapp and the wash bay crew, spent four months working on the certification process and producing an 18-chapter manual. The Sunnyside wash bay also had to be prepared for the audit which took many weeks of coordination and physical labor.

Jeff and Anthony consider the wash bay crew unsung heroes for the hard work they do every day. "I couldn't be prouder of Jeff and this team," Anthony says. "They are a multi-talented group of individuals with an outstanding work ethic and keep our equipment spotlessly clean to protect our customers and the public."

Milky Way Driver Mike Jalomo calls it the winter that never ends. Another driver said, "I’ve thrown on more jewelry (truck chains) in the last month than most people put on in a lifetime."

Winter is never an easy season for the transportation industry, but some years are more challenging than others. "It feels like Mother Nature hasn’t backed down this year," says Kevin Greiner, Central Milk Dispatcher in Lynden, WA. From freezing rain and mountain pass closures to high winds and towering snow drifts, it’s been a tough few months for Lynden employees.

"We have seen close to 24 inches of snow at one time in Whatcom county this year but when the Northeast wind out of Canada blows 50-60 mph for a week straight, 2 inches of snow can drift up to 8 feet really quickly. At that point the county essentially shuts down," Kevin explains. "The only way we are able to get around is to put our own snowplow to work to open roads up."

To prepare for winter each year, LTI, Inc. incorporates winter driving awareness into monthly safety meetings starting in September. Everyone takes chain-up refresher classes – from brand new drivers with no mountain pass experience to 40-year veteran drivers. Coming to work prepared is heavily promoted in anticipation of the first snowfall.

"Mother Nature never sends us an email saying that a storm is headed our way," Kevin says. “We try to watch forecasts as much as possible but sometimes you go to bed and everything is normal only to wake up to the wind howling and the snow blowing sideways. Our LTI, Inc. team is made of professionals who understand that rain or shine, commodities still need to get there."

Driver safety is always a concern. If conditions warrant, two drivers will be sent out in one truck so the primary driver has a spotter and an extra set of hands. According to Kevin, "Our line of work is more than just getting in the truck and driving down the road. Local farm pickup drivers could be in and out of the truck 20 times during a shift so we really stress the importance of slowing down. Making smart decisions instead of knee jerk reactions when things get tough is what sets us apart from our competition."

Lynden is known for having some of the best drivers in the industry. "They are seasoned, know the local areas, and know exactly what to watch for when they are out in the field. We always tell new hires that this is a 24/7 company and the cows don’t care that it’s Christmas. As a company, we do a really good job of focusing on our critical customers and areas."

Mike Jalomo was stranded on the west side of Washington when both mountain passes closed. He laid over in Mount Vernon and went to work helping out Whatcom County drivers on their routes until he could make it back over to home base in Moses Lake. "I don’t think the average person realizes how much it takes to get the milk over the pass," he says. "We don’t have the luxury of sitting out a storm."

"Mike and so many others are all stars who have gone above and beyond this winter," Kevin says. "The LTI, Inc. office in Lynden, WA lost power in January for about six hours and several administrative employees were still here working. At the beginning of January, there was a record snowfall in Caldwell, ID and Jason Jansen and Bob Griggs both suited up in insulated coveralls and rode around with Milky Way’s Caldwell drivers helping chain up and navigate roads until 2 a.m."

"Our drivers and the team supporting them did the extraordinary, working safely through tough conditions and long hours to serve our customers," says Lynden CEO Jon Burdick. "I’m proud of their dedication and what they accomplished."