Brock USA had a solid year on the environmental front, but we will continue to try to reduce our environmental footprint. Key measurements are the efficiency of our factory and our freight. There are three overall steps in our manufacturing – Extrusion, Molding, and the ShockPad/SERIES Product line. Overall the factory ran at 99.8% efficiency, setting a new record!
On the freight side, we prefer to ship by rail whenever the project permits. Which resulted in a savings of 320 Tons of Co2. This is equivalent to one year of powering 35 homes, or 61 acres of pine trees sequestering carbon for a year. Although rail shipment timing is not as easy as over the road, we are trying to increase the percentage of shipments we send by rail, especially in light of the problems the US trucking industry is facing.
The US Freight industry is facing a record shortage of drivers. According to the ATA (American Trucking Industry), a deficit of about 75,000 drivers is expected as we move into 2017. This represents a 56% increase from last year’s tally of 48,000 and 2017’s end-of-year projection nears 100,000. The long story short is that in 2017 the shipping industry is expected to experience historical limitations in capacity for freight. Brock will, of course, do everything in our power to meet your needs. We hope this information is helpful as we all get ready for a very busy construction season!
