Calwax has contracted with third-party logistics provider (3PL) Ventura Transfer Co. to handle the challenges of moving 40,000 gallons of liquid wax per month from the railhead to a regional distribution center. The wax is a critical ingredient in the making of health and beauty products used in spas, typically products designed for cosmetic hair removal. An estimated 3 billion pounds of wax are consumed every year in North America.
Transloading and transporting the wax presents a number of unusual logistical challenges, many arising from the fact that cosmetic waxes are categorized as a food product. During transit, cosmetic wax can become contaminated by exposure to water or dirt. Special attention must also be paid to maintaining a constant temperature of 160oF throughout the transit process. If the wax were to arrive at a temperature above that temperature, the waiting period for it to cool down might be as long as 24 hours. Likewise, wax arriving at temperatures below the specified temperature could take an equally long time to reheat.
Temperature control is only one critical aspect to the transport of cosmetic wax. Al Case, VP marketing and sales for Calwax, remembers when an earlier transfer company failed to clean their truck trailers between shipments and contaminated the wax, resulting in a saturating wax residue. "It caused cloudiness of our product," Case recalls, "and cost us a five-day delay getting the product up to our standards. Our customers were not satisfied with the turnaround time, and that is not good business."
Calwax chose Ventura Transfer Co. because of its more than 15 years' experience in applying the special procedure required for transferring wax.
Ventura Transfer Co. (VTC), headquartered in Long Beach, California manages the handling and distribution of products shipped in bulk. In addition to providing two full service ISO container depots in California, VTC also has a network of nine railcar transfer terminals in California and Arizona that deliver bulk commodities throughout the U.S. Additionally, the company has two warehouse locations in the Los Angeles area.
