Winter will be here soon and MCP has you in mind. Water based emulsions will freeze at or below 32 °F, therefore MCP takes great care to ensure that shipments are not compromised due to winter weather conditions. Below are some of the ways we protect your product from our location to yours.
For bulk tank orders, our loading operators steam the inside of the tanker prior to loading if the outside temperature is less than 20 °F. The reason we do this is to raise the temperature of the steel to be closer to the temperature of the latex. If there is a large delta in temperature between the steel and latex, the water in the emulsion will flash off and cause coagulation of the polymer.
Most tankers have an outside viewing of the product temperature inside the tanker. While the tanker shells are insulated, there will be a temperature delta between the loading temperature and arrival at the customer temperature. Although there will be a drop in temperature from loading and arrival, the change is not significant enough to cause your product to freeze en route. Another observation is that there will be a temperature difference between product sampled off the top of the tanker and product sampled from the bottom valve. The material coming from the bottom valve is next to the outer shell and is expected to be cooler.
The appearance of the tanker upon arrival may be deceiving to the quality of the internal contents. The tanker may arrive with tanker covered in road salt or ice. The exterior tanker shell and unload line / valve may be covered in ice or snow as well. It is not uncommon for the external valve to be frozen upon arrival. If a frozen tanker valve / line occurs during the attempt to off load, then the following steps will be followed. Note that MCP sales and customer service will be working with you to understand your capabilities in this regard.
If available, the driver will take the tanker to the nearest terminal / wash rack to thaw the external line and valve.
Customers who have steam at their locations can thaw a valve without having to send the carrier to a terminal.
MCP keeps all packaged goods in temperature controlled environments during storage at our facilities. Packaged goods are not exposed to freezing temperatures at any time during manufacturing.
We will never allow our products to be shipped without requiring commitment from the carrier for Protect from Freeze. Orders will not be filled if carriers are not willing to commit to this requirement. To make sure your product arrives on time, we are here to help by arranging the freight for you using only Protect from Freeze or Heated Service to your location.
Please note that Protect from Freeze and Heated Service are not the same service.
Protect from Freeze means the carrier will take steps necessary to keep the product from freezing such as heat blankets, continuous movement of product, no setting of product on outside dock, placing of freight surrounded by other freight on the truck, etc.
Heated Service is provided with a portable heater on a regular trailer or with a temperature controlled trailer that maintains a specific temperature.
For full truckload (FTL) orders are not impacted by the season because we source heated service in the winter. FTL Heated service is readily available by many carriers and always used by MCP. Additionally, we don't have to worry about your product freezing, so we can ship Monday thru Friday. Those customers who are able are encouraged to move to FTL shipments during the winter. Contact your Sales Representative to discuss further.
Heated service for less-than truckload (LTL) is limited based on demographics. This can extend the transit time 1-2 days while the carrier fills the truck. LTL shipments not requesting heated service will be shipped only Monday thru Thursday (No Friday shipments). We get concerned about your product being exposed to freezing temperatures during the weekend.
If you would like to review any of these procedures further, please contact Customer Service.