Southern Refrigerated truckers carry heavy loads during holiday

Kaycii Davenport moves one of the Southern Refrigerated Transport trucks to be photographed on Saturday at the Southern Refrigerated Transport in Texarkana, Ark. Davenport had always wanted to drive trucks when he was a child and now has been pursuing his dream for the last four years. Davenport started with SRT a year ago.
Kaycii Davenport moves one of the Southern Refrigerated Transport trucks to be photographed on Saturday at the Southern Refrigerated Transport in Texarkana, Ark. Davenport had always wanted to drive trucks when he was a child and now has been pursuing his dream for the last four years. Davenport started with SRT a year ago.

Once again, the truckers of Southern Refrigerated Transport take to the highways during the holidays, seeking to make their rounds on time as they carry the heavier loads of the season and sharing the highways with other travelers heading to their seasonal destinations.

SRT has reportedly been having a good time of it, business wise, and announced it is sharing the bounty with its drivers as well as the rest of the employees.

"Our drivers will all be getting a 3 cent-per-hour pay increase, " said Billy Cartwright, Chief Operations Officer. "We will also be giving adjustments to the insurance premiums of all our employees, not just our drivers."

The benefits are set to kick in Jan. 1, 2019.

As the Texarkana, Ark.-based company has improved financially, the company's managers have been looking for ways to give back to the employees.

"Our employees are the reason for our success," he said. "I'm just glad we can do these things for them."

As SRT looks to the new year, the company continues to invest in its operations, hire more drivers and invest in the team. With the coming holiday season, where the truckers play and important part, the management team arranges things to make sure the drivers can be home for the holidays.

"One of our policies is guaranteeing the drivers who want to be home for the holidays can do so," Cartwright said. "Our drivers move a lot of packages during the season. Some of them volunteer to work through the holidays. Some of them wish to be home with the families. But either way, they make it possible for our business to get the job done."

The greatest challenge is to make sure all these moving pieces happen, that all cargo reaches its destination and that the drivers get to where they need to be when they need to be there.

"It is always a balance all year, but the holiday season challenges those in our business the most of all," he said.

But the trucks move on and SRT looks forward to 2019.

"We look forward to being in Texarkana for a long time to come," he said.

Upcoming Events