Small Business

Tribe Transportation

March 2012 Featured Small Business Member

Only seven years after its founding, Tribe Transportation has moved forward progressively to become an industry leader in both service and innovation in the temperature-controlled and deep frozen segments of the transportation services industry. Based out of Cleveland, Georgia, the Native American, Woman Owned business is one of the fastest-growing, asset-based minority transportation companies in the nation providing service to the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Since 2005, Carla Joy Cain, a Native American and northeast Georgia resident, has developed her family business into one of the most well-respected transportation companies in the Southeast, with an impressive list of customers including Land O’ Lakes, Unilever, Schwan’s, PepsiCo and Macy’s. Tribe has built a strong reputation as a niche provider in the “deep frozen” industry shipping products domestically and internationally at temperatures of -20°F.

In developing a successful, thriving small business during a tough economic climate, Tribe can easily be categorized as defying the odds. Tribe Executive Vice President Matt Handte believes their successes can be attributed to their, “commitment to our brand, our strong customer relations, our cutting edge technology, our commitment to succeed in servicing our customers and the belief in securing our future through strategies that will move our company far ahead of the competition.” Mr. Handte also emphasized Tribe’s dedication to first-class customer relations: “Our ability to develop, maintain and grow relationships has been one of the keys to success in acquiring a dedicated customer base and reputation for doing what we say within the industry.”

Recently Tribe partnered with Unilever on an innovative study to identify more sustainable ways to ship deep frozen products. The companies focused their research on how to increase temperatures for long-distance transports while maintaining quality through varying altitudes. As the first study of its kind, Tribe Transportation will be at the forefront of developing effective solutions to generate fuel savings while reducing carbon emissions and the industry’s overall carbon footprint. Tribe was selected to carry-out the Unilever study because of its reputation and state of the art equipment and technology. Tribe was one of the first in the industry to fully integrate technologies like Thermo King’s TracKing which has the capabilities to remotely monitor and report temperatures, real-time GPS tracking, geo-fencing as well as two-way communication, into one complete transportation management system. Because of Tribe’s heritage and beliefs, they have a strong commitment to improving the quality of life through economic, social, and environmental sustainability programs.

Northeast Georgia will also benefit from Tribe’s rapid regional and national growth with the creation of permanent jobs. They recently announced plans to hire up to 120 new employees for positions at their Cleveland headquarters over the next two years.

Tribe Transportation is certified as an EPA Smartway Transport Partner as well as a member of the Women in Trucking Association (WIT), the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council (GMSDC), the Florida Minority Development Council (FMSDC), Georgia Motor Trucking Association (GMTA), and Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA).

To learn more about Tribe Transportation, please visit http://www.tribetrans.com or call their headquarters at (877) 628-6285.