This shipper regularly contacts virtually every carrier known to it at each of the port locations in order to move its traffic. As a result of its inability to obtain equipment in all instances this shipper had to employ commercial cold storage facilities at the dock at considerable expense to it. In this regard it points to a situation in August 1971 where it could not move all of its traffic from Norfolk because it had difficulty obtaining equipment from Colonial, and Bonney which was in receivership could not furnish the equipment required. However, it did choose Bonney to handle a load to Carolina because it needed a carrier who could take the product to a Norfolk cold storage facility if the receiver canceled its order as that customer had done on numerous occasions in the past. It is not familiar with any other carriers able to provide the service required, with the exception of Alterman whose service would be limited to Florida.

Approximately 6 percent of its shipments are LTL and 1.5 percent of its shipments are truckload with stopoffs in transit for partial unloading. Accordingly, it requires carriers who can handle these types of loads.

This shipper does not feel a grant of the instant application would have any significant effect upon carriers other than applicant here and that it would improve that carrier's ability to meet its needs.

Herman Alpert & Co., Inc., of New Haven, Conn., sells and ships fresh and frozen meat products to representative points in a number of the States involved here. More specifically it ships the following volumes (in pounds) to the destination area: Texas, 100,000; North Carolina, 10,000; South Carolina, 100,000; Georgia, 30,000; Alabama, 20,000; Florida, 60,000; Louisiana, 20,000; Tennessee, 50,000; Kentucky, 50,000; and Virginia, 100,000. In moving this traffic it has relied upon the services, inter alia, of applicant, Colonial, Trans-Cold, Watkins, Smith's Transfer, Alterman and Jersey Area Transport. In addition, it ships some 200,000 pounds to California in private carriage under a lease arrangement which could move under interline arrangements through the area sought by applicant here.

This shipper feels it is important to have carriers serving it who can provide areawide service to meet the needs of new and relocated customers. Most of its traffic in terms of the number of shipments moves in LTL quantities with an average weight of 1,000 pounds and it normally has five shipments moving into the destination area here. However, it does have truckload shipments moving to Texas, Kentucky Virginia, and California.

Many of this shipper's customers require quick replenishment of their limited inventories on a dependable basis and it feels that the lack of immediately available transportation hinders its customer relationship. It has utilized applicant's service in the past satisfactorily and feels it is of importance to it, particularly in the development and serving of small accounts in the south. At present it transports many of its shipments in private carriage to applicant's terminal in New Jersey or to New York City. While this is not normally onerous to it and is advantageous from a cost standpoint, it is not always able to make dropoffs at a particular carrier's terminal and it would prefer to have direct pickup service available at its facility, an option it does not presently enjoy. If the authority here sought by applicant were granted it would use that service for New Haven pickups as well as from the New York area and would utilize it to California in conjunction with interline service provided by destination carriers with equipment interchange agreements. This shipper would also like to have a carrier available for direct service to any southern area on truckload traffic which it is trying to develop, particularly with military bases.

This shipper feels that most, if not all, of the carriers who are parties here cannot or will not offer it pickup service at New Haven on LTL traffic, although Colonial offers service on truckload traffic. Its service to Virginia also presents some problems because it must make deliveries to a New York carrier who transfers the product to Preston for delivery and it considers this arrangement to be time consuming. In one instance Curtis, recommended that it contact applicant for service to Texas because Curtis' rates were not competitive. Its Virginia shipments by Smith's Transfer and Preston have evidently been satisfactory.

Red-L Foods, Inc., at Monroe, Conn., which is some 60 miles from New York City, manufacturers frozen prepared food, virtually all of which is shipped in LTL quantities from Monroe and Bridgeport. Its shipments to the South weigh approximately 1,200 pounds and, at present, it ships to Atlanta twice a month. Three Florida points receive 15,000 pounds per year and it makes one shipment per year to Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas. It presently uses applicant's service but must move its shipments in private carriage to that carrier's New Jersey terminal. It also ships two 10,000-pound shipments per month to California using Trans-Cold Express and must take these shipments to that carrier's New Jersey terminal. It has no customers in the Carolinas, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas, or Oklahoma but it hopes to attract business in these States if it can obtain what it considers to be adequate transportation. The same is true with respect to Virginia where it previously had a

customer.

This shipper supports the application primarily to obtain pickup service at its plant and a direct service to the points where its sales are made. It is not aware of any other carrier who will make pickups at its plant.

The Almar Packing Company is a processor and distributor of cooked meats which move under refrigeration. It ships from New Haven, Conn., to representative points in all of the destination States here and is constantly serving new and relocated customers. It feels it should have carriers available with sufficiently broad authority to meet its requirements.

Almar's shipments range in size from 160 to more than 6,000 pounds, with the average shipment weighing 1,800 pounds. It makes four shipments weekly into the involved destination territory which annually amounts to the following quantities (in pounds) moving to the States named: Virginia, 150,000; Florida, 250,000; Georgia, 10,000; Alabama, 10,000; Texas, 10,000, North Carolina, 50,000; South Carolina, 20,000; and Kentucky, a minimum amount. All of this traffic moves LTL and it presently must be taken to New York City or Kearny, N.J., in private carriage because LTL perishable service is not available at New Haven. It does not consider the service presently available from Alterman or Colonial in the New York area to be a satisfactory alternative to direct service because it must use its private carriage fleet to deliver shipments to these carriers.

In the absence of LTL perishable service direct from its New Haven plant, this shipper has established a warehouse in North Carolina for the distribution of its smaller shipments to Virginia and the Carolinas. This warehouse is presently served by Carolina Freight on truckload traffic but that carrier does not handle LTL. If the instant application is granted the shipper would discontinue this expensive warehousing operation with its concomitant loss of product control and utilize applicant's direct LTL service from New Haven.

This shipper considers the necessity for private carriage movements to the New York City area of its products to be inconvenient and expensive and feels that it

should have a direct service available. It would continue to bring some products to New York for movement to other areas.

This shipper has used applicant's service for a number of shipments made during 1972 to Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, and North Carolina. It has also used Alterman's service to Florida points and finds that service to be excellent.

Phillips Seafood, Inc., is located in Exeter, Pa., across the Susquehanna River from Wilkes-Barre but in its commercial zone. It packs frozen seafood items for sale to institutions through distributors. It presently ships to various points in North Carolina and Virginia and as a result of a recent appointment, it has a broker representing it in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina. All of its outbound shipments move in LTL quantities ranging from 2,800 to 6,000 pounds in weight. While the tonnages it may ship to specific areas may vary, during September 1972 it shipped 20,000 pounds in approximately four shipments to a North Carolina point, five shipments weighing 25,000 pounds to Virginia points, as well as six similar shipments to another Virginia point.

While its product is exempt from economic regulation when moving alone, as a practical matter it feels that LTL size shipments should move with other commodities by a regulated carrier because it considers scheduled service to be important to meet its customers' demands for timely shipment of small amounts. If this shipper does not obtain the proposed service its only alternative would be to move its product in private carriage to Philadelphia or New York for tender to a carrier there, a procedure which it does not consider to be satisfactory.

Bachman Foods, Inc., of Reading, Pa., produces a frozen pretzel product, which is sold to retail stores for baking and sale. It has a distributor which markets its product in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina and it is currently shipping to three Florida, one Georgia, and one North Carolina point. It is also in the process of obtaining another distributor with locations at a number of Florida points, two Tennessee points, and one Virginia point. This shipper also would like to establish other distributors in Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma if it could be assured of adequate LTL refrigerated service. It normally attempts to utilize truckload service with multiple dropoffs and feels that it will utimately require a peddle service. It also anticipates emergency shipments of LTL shipments in approximately 3,600 pound lots.

This shipper utilized Alterman for shipments to North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida until early 1972 when it discontinued tendering shipments to that carrier because it was not satisfied with the manner in which one of its shipments was handled which resulted in a damage claim. It then contacted applicant and has been utilizing its service under the Harper concurrence which it has found to be satisfactory. However, it would like to avoid any delays that might be entailed under the Harper concurrence and in utilization of a Georgia gateway.

This shipper is presently producing 32,000 pounds of product a week and feels that its sales would double if it obtains the new distributor discussed previously. It is not familiar with any other carrier which offers the type of service it requires. It does not think Mercury Motor Express has LTL refrigerated service and when it called on National Freight equipment was not available. It has not used Carolina Freight Carriers for a number of years. It would tender all of its traffic moving to the area involved to applicant if the authority were granted.

Arbogast & Bastian, Inc., operates a meatpacking facility at Allentown, Pa. It distributes processed refrigerated unfrozen meat products in the South in LTL quantities averaging 700 pounds through Swift & Co. and other food brokers. At

present applicant is the only carrier who will make pickups at the shipper's plant on LTL traffic of this type and it does so under its Harper concurrence. This shipper has customers at diverse representative points in the destination area involved here, and it is constantly seeking new ones. It has not requested service to Virginia because it does not consider applicant's present routing to be feasible although it has used the service to Kentucky because it is an important sales point despite the circuity involved. Accordingly, it supports the instant application primarily to obtain service directly to North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee with the understanding that applicant would continue to handle its traffic moving to Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana through that carrier's Doraville, Ga., facility. It understands its Texas traffic would move directly to a Dallas terminal and that applicant will initiate direct service from Pennsylvania to Florida. This shipper's annual volume (in pounds) to the named States is as follows: North Carolina, 100,000; South Carolina, 100,000; Georgia, 100,000; Alabama, 50,000; Louisiana, 25,000; Tennessee, 100,000; Kentucky, 25,000; Mississippi, 25,000; Florida, 25,000; Texas, 100,000; Arkansas, 50,000; and Virginia, 25,000. It is presently using applicant to all of these States except one Georgia point and Florida points which are served by Alterman at the request of several customers. However, it must deliver its product to this carrier's New Jersey terminal. It depends upon applicant's service under the Harper concurrence but fears the termination of that arrangement and would like the direct service proposed to the Virginia-Kentucky points. It previously utilized another carrier for Virginia service but had to deliver the product to Baltimore or Philadephia and that carrier's service area in Virginia was limited. As a result it has customers it cannot serve in that State at such points, as Bristol, Roanoke, and Charlottesville.

This shipper is unaware of any other carriers able to make pickups at this plant and offering it the refrigerated service required on LTL traffic. It presently delivers shipments moving to points not involved in this application to various carriers including Colonial at their New Jersey terminals.

Mrs. Smith's Pie Company at Pottstown, Pa., produces frozen pies and pastries and is constantly developing new frozen food products. In addition to its Pottstown plant it has a smaller plant at Portsmouth, Va. It markets its product to institutions and chain grocery stores and feels that in order to achieve maximum affect from advertising efforts and maintenance of freezer space in supermarkets, its products must arrive when scheduled. Since many of its customers maintain minimum inventories it requires an expedited and consistent service to assure that they will not run out of its products. It also prefers to combine small shipments into truckload quantities with multiple dropoffs.

This shipper has an active sales force operating throughout the Southern States and its products can move to any point. In the past it has shipped the quantity designated (in pounds) weekly to representative points in the following States: Kentucky, 75,000; Virginia, 90,000 to 125,000; North Carolina, 90,000 to 125,000; South Carolina, 90,000; Tennessee, 60,000; Georgia, 100,000; Florida, 275,000; Alabama, 75,000; Mississippi, 55,000; and Louisiana, 75,000.

Applicant is the only carrier it knows that can serve Kentucky with the exception of one other carrier that does not hold authority to serve its principai point of Louisville. In Virginia it must depend upon one regular-route carrier with limitations as to the number of stopoffs allowable and another carrier with limited equipment available. In North Carolina it uses applicant principally. In South Carolina, Tennessee, and

Florida, it uses applicant and other carriers. Mississippi and Louisiana are handled by applicant and one other carrier.

It has either used or contacted a number of other carriers for movements to the destination area involved here, but finds them unable to provide equipment when needed and it does not consider the regular-route carriers able to meet its multiple dropoff requirements. It also experiences service failures with all of the carriers serving it, generally due to lack of equipment on the part of the carrier called. However, it has also experienced as many as four failures on the part of applicant in 1 month to provide equipment. While applicant has had some service failures, particularly with regard to timely pickups, this shipper considers its service to be highly satisfactory in comparison with that it has received from other carriers generally. During the period October 2, 1972, to November 20, 1972, applicant handled 70 of its loads while Colonial, National, Mercury, Red Wing, and Akers handled from 1 to 9 each into the destination area here.

Ninty percent of its truckload shipments have stopoffs for partial unloading and the combinations which may cross State lines vary from shipment to shipment. Accordingly, it finds it difficult to utilize regular-route carriers and specialized carriers with limited geographical authority. This shipper also now requires split pickup at its Virginia and Pennsylvania plants, particularly during its peak seasons and when one plant is partially shutdown. Some carriers do not offer multiple dropoffs on shipments on which they have performed multiple pickups and not all carriers have authority to serve both of its plants.

Applicant has been handling this shipper's movements from Portsmouth, Va., moving to the Southwest, which in the past have accounted for 2 or 3 truckloads each week for a 10-week period. The shipper is happy with this service but feels it could receive a more direct service to such points as those in Texas if the carrier did not go through Georgia. Applicant has also generally provided a timely pickup service which is sometimes essential because of the lack of space to inventory pastry produced on the line. It feels that any delays applicant has experienced in reaching its pickup point may be due to the fact that it must use the "Harper leasing" arrangement.

This shipper utilizes its private carriage fleet to Kentucky but approximately 70 percent of the remainder of the area is served by common carriers and it does not want to increase its reliance on private carriage. However, it gives preference to its private carriage fleet of 85 tractors and 105 trailers which sometimes results in requests for same-day pickup by common carriers called. It finds that most of the protestants here either have not offered it service or do not meet its requirements, particularly with regard to supplying equipment when needed. Trans-Cold is not used because of a past service failure and a difficulty in processing the resulting claim. It does not have a high regard for Colonial. It stopped using National Freight for a period of months several years ago because of customer complaints but continues to use it for some 130 loads a year. It has not used all of the carriers available.

Specialty Lady Fingers, Inc., bakes sponge dough cake and various other packaged bakery products which are shipped frozen. It is presently using applicant's service for shipment of LTL quantities ranging from 500 to 5,000 pounds and averaging approximately 1,000 pounds each. These shipments are generally consolidated into 2,500- to 13,000-pound quantities for tender to applicant. During the last 6 months of 1972 it shipped the following amounts (in pounds) from its plant to the States named: Kentucky, 3,150; North Carolina, 3,011; South Carolina, 12,237; Tennessee, 2,209; Georgia, 12,709; Alabama, 4,523; Florida, 35,601; Arkansas, occasional; Louisiana, 18,497; Oklahoma, 1,150; and Texas, 19,285. This totaled 112 shipments. These have