CONTENT PARTNERS
SOLVED Supply Chain Challenge? When Minutes Mattered:
An After-Hours Save That Averted A Critical Line-Down Overnight Keeping production moving for a manufacturer, ProTrans quickly coordinated a late-night charter flight and delivered a critical shipment under extreme time pressure and demanding circumstances. THE CHALLENGE
One evening around 6:00 p.m., ProTrans got an urgent call from a manufacturer whose production line was about to go down. Notably, this was not an established ProTrans customer, and the freight at risk was not even under ProTrans’ management. Of eight steel coils on a flatbed truck, two were critical to keeping the customer’s operation running. The two coils needed to reach the U.S.–Mexico border as quickly as possible—within hours, not days. The situation was complicated. The flatbed truck was already on the road in rural Tennessee, and there was no plan in place to intercept it. The customer needed ProTrans to find what they called a “magic” solution: Determine the truck’s exact location, identify and remove the two required coils from the load, and develop a solution to meet an overnight delivery window. Adding to the urgency, there were many unknowns. The exact dimensions of the coils were uncertain, handlers needed specialized equipment to offload them, and everything was happening after regular business hours. Any delay or mistake could have caused an expensive production shutdown. With the clock ticking and no margin for error, ProTrans was asked to step in immediately and deliver a solution under extreme time pressure.
showing the strength of their relationship with ProTrans. The flatbed was sent to a local warehouse, where staff unloaded the two coils. A local truck then took the coils back to the airport. By 11:30 p.m., the coils were planeside and loaded immediately. The charter departed as planned, our team delivered the freight on time, and the customer avoided a complete production shutdown. The outcome reflected exceptional collaboration, trust, and after-hours effort, proving ProTrans’ ability to deliver under the most demanding circumstances.
THE SOLUTION ProTrans got started right away. First, the team found the flatbed in rural Tennessee and worked with the customer to identify which two coils to remove from the load. Then, ProTrans secured a late- night charter flight that could deliver the coils by about 3:00 a.m.—a tight but achievable window to avoid a line-down. Coordination intensified quickly. ProTrans negotiated with an airport ground handler to offload the coils upon the flatbed’s arrival. But around 10:00 p.m., a new problem arose: The coils were bigger than expected, and the airport lacked the equipment needed to unload them safely. With the charter timeline at risk, the team had to find a quick, creative solution. A ProTrans team member reached out to a trusted customer in the same city for emergency help. Even though there were risks, the partner agreed to assist,
To learn more: marketing@protrans.com 317-240-4100 www.protrans.com
60 Inbound Logistics • January 2026
Powered by FlippingBook