By Ian Reid, Vice President, Bulk Brokerage
Bulk chemicals are unlike any other freight. Shipping them comes with specialized cargo needs, labyrinthine regulatory requirements, capacity constraints, and many more peculiarities that can be daunting for less experienced logistics professionals.
Underneath all this complexity, however, lies a simple set of needs. When shippers go looking for a new bulk chemical logistics partner, it’s because they’re looking to improve two critical variables: service and price.
While both might appear self-explanatory, the complexity of bulk chemicals makes each significantly more complicated than in simpler forms of freight. At Odyssey Logistics, our approach to each is rooted in two key qualities that no shipper should ever overlook in choosing a logistics partner: deeply rooted experience in chemicals, and the ability to offer a wider array of options.
High performance
In bulk chemicals, service failures delay shipments. They also compromise safety, quality, and in some cases, entire customer relationships.
Odyssey’s focus is on high on-time performance at both pickup and delivery. Our most important performance measure however is consistency. We earn our shippers’ business with every load. Shippers don’t usually hand over multiple lanes at once—nor should they.
Each first engagement is an opportunity for your logistics partner to prove itself. If it meets every requirement, shows up with the right equipment, and delivers on time, you can trust it with the next load. With bulk chemicals, this is how trust is built, and this is the principle we’ve built our business on.
At Odyssey, we know the details that matter: clean trailers, accurate pre-checks, verified wash codes, complete alignment with customer SOPs, etc. There is no room for error. If a driver is late, or arrives with the wrong trailer type, the load can be rejected outright—and so can the provider.
Deeper communication
Bulk chemical shipping succeeds or fails by communication. Shippers don’t want to hear from their logistics partners that a truck is late after they’ve already had to ask. If a receiver picks up the phone and calls the shipper wondering where their freight is, and the shipper has no answer, the broker has failed.
Odyssey prevents these communication failures by ensuring every shipment status is clear, every step of the way. We pride ourselves on keeping each party in the loop, proactively and clearly.
Because we operate in such a high-stakes space, many of our shippers rely on us for CPU pickups and customer-facing service. This demands a level of attentiveness that general freight just doesn’t require. From updating appointment times to managing revisions, our team makes sure no one is left guessing.
Understanding the requirements
Going wrong on any of these can be disastrous. If your carrier shows up for delivery with a center-unload trailer where a rear-unload is required, they might leave with a thousand gallons of unsellable product still in the tank. If the carrier uses a stainless steel barrel instead of a fiberglass-lined one for a corrosive load, that might ruin the trailer. Or, if the carrier loads a product in a tank previously used for cargo that’s not compatible with the current one, the entire load might be wasted.
That’s why our team works closely with customers to carefully vet every shipment. We estimate that for some of our most stringent customers, only about 10% of the market’s trailers are actually eligible to move their freight. It’s why we don’t rely on guesswork or half-measures: every load is verified.
Expertise rooted in experience
Today, we move thousands of bulk chemical loads every year. Many of our team members speak the same language as our customers because they were once on the other side of the table—at the plant, at the lab, or in the transportation department.
This deep institutional knowledge helps us manage the complex regulatory requirements overlaying chemical shipping, and also helps us anticipate the real-world consequences of every decision.
The multimodal advantage
Most shippers default to over-the-road when moving bulk chemicals—and for some shipments, that’s the right call. But when time, temperature, or access doesn’t dictate otherwise, Odyssey helps customers shift long-haul moves to our chemical bulk intermodal solution.
Our intermodal ISO tanks offer the same capacity as over-the-road tanks, but with reduced emissions and better cost control. Because they ride rail for the long haul and use local drivers only on the front and back ends, the intermodal ISO tanks eliminate the most volatile part of the equation: the long-haul driver.
This not only reduces cost, but also cuts carbon emissions by up to 45% and improves on-time delivery for long distances. It’s one of the fastest-growing services Odyssey offers, especially for shippers with repeat lanes and who focus on sustainability.
Odyssey makes bulk chemical shipping simple and predictable
The upshot: shippers should have options.
Shipping bulk chemicals may be one of the most demanding tasks in logistics—but it doesn’t have to be unpredictable. With the right partner, shippers can simplify the work of compliance, control costs, and earn the trust of their customers load after load.
Want to talk through your next move? Contact Odyssey to learn how we make complex freight simpler.
