Greg Banks thinks that the logistics industry needs to get better at developing contingency plans.
Banks is the executive vice president and chief revenue officer at Burnsed Trucking, a Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based trucking company that specializes in the cold chain, primarily moving salmon and crab around the South and Northeastern U.S. He has spent nearly two decades working his way into leadership roles in the trucking industry, including at J.B. Hunt, USA Truck, and NFI.
Throughout much of the trucking industry, Banks said a “safety mindset” is missing, which puts businesses that ship via truck at serious risk of liability. He said many shipping businesses maintain relationships with trucking companies based on long-term friendships, not industry agility.
At a moment of widespread economic uncertainty in the U.S., Banks said one thing shippers have control over is who they hire to move their products.
Therefore, business leaders whose companies ship around the country need to be keenly aware of how their traffic managers are operating, Banks said, and though the upfront cost of higher-quality transport may be somewhat intimidating, being unprepared for accident liability could be catastrophic to a business’s future.
“[Companies are] one fatality or one bad accident away from being pulled into a major lawsuit. This is what I’ve been trying to educate our customer base [on],” Banks said. “The judge or jury … will say, ‘Wait a minute, ABC Fish, what was your vetting process of that trucking company?”
Massive corporations, Banks said, are more protected by their ability to pay settlements, but the seafood industry is populated by small businesses without huge cash reserves, making the need for a proper transportation vetting process more essential than other industries.
“[A catastrophic event] could really put the hurt on any of these small fish companies quickly,” he said.
Banks’s calls for proper vetting come at a downturn for the cold chain industry – one that he said predated U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“2023 was probably one of our biggest years for the market. Then, in 2024 [there was] a slide due to a handful of issues,” he said.
Though the issues predate the tariffs, they have not helped, Banks said, explaining that seafood suffers whenever customers lose confidence and that foods like crab and salmon – which make up the biggest volumes of what Burnsed moves – are still identified with luxury even when they’re affordable.
“On the movement of fish, usually Easter is a big time of the year. We’re not really seeing the volume [this year],” he said.
Banks said that all of this uncertainty provoked strategic expansion at Burnsed designed to cut down on the company’s biggest costs while actually making it more responsive to customer needs.
“We purchased box trucks – smaller trucks to move smaller shipments. This is our way of trying to counteract the headwinds of tariffs,” he said. “We saw the headwind of the potential for tariffs, and we tried to counter with [changing] our model up a bit to where we don’t have to go as far. We don’t require team drivers.”
Additionally, Banks said the company was exploring a shift toward a 'power only' model through its Burnsed Logistics division, which would enable it to continue offering asset-based refrigerated trailers while outsourcing the power (tractors and drivers) through the brokerage division.
"The key is ensuring that the power providers are thoroughly vetted. We maintain high standards and a stringent vetting process to guarantee that our customers can trust we have done our due diligence in providing a safe and reliable power option," Banks said.
He added that "this strategy will allow us to expand our network while still maintaining visibility and control through our monitored refrigerated trailers, ultimately making us more price competitive in the market for our customers."
Everything that the company is considering doing, Banks said, would mitigate risk while protecting “that Burnsed touch.” For Banks, this means the trust the company has built by knowing its clients personally and responding to their needs effectively over many years.
“For 35 years, Burnsed has always been a do what they say, say what they do [company]. If we do something wrong, we make it right, and a lot of our competition has been known for not doing that,” he said.
