Taylor family opens Sunrise Transport

With diesel fuel around $4 a gallon, it’s a tough time in the trucking industry. But the Taylor family knows a little bit about facing a challenge after operating Fairview Nursery for 71 years.
Bobby Taylor sold Fairview Nursery in December and has found another line of work. He’s opened Sunrise Transport Brokers on Beersheba Highway with his son, Benji Taylor, and his sister, Kathy Pearsall.
‘If I stay in my right mind, I’ll never get in the nursery business again,’ said Bobby. ‘People around here should really respect the nurserymen because they need a lot of respect they don’t get. It’s a very challenging, very stressful business. And Mother Nature is a nurseryman’s worst enemy.’
Bobby has a great deal of experience trying to obtain trucks to haul his nursery stock. And Benji used to be a long-distance truck driver so the two have pretty good knowledge of what it takes to do the job.
‘We want people to put the headache on us,’ said Bobby. ‘We’re in this to accommodate all our friends and neighbors in the nursery business and we’re in this for the long haul. I always looked at the trucking industry as something I might be interested in.’
One primary problem is finding available trucks, especially during the hectic nursery shipping season. Because of fuel costs, there is only so far a truck will travel to come to Warren County to pick up a load.
Bobby said freight is currently averaging $2.75 a mile, and that he knows of one customer who paid $7,000 just for the trucking bill. Because of soaring expenses, he says he knows of several people who have simply parked their trucks because the cost of fuel, insurance, and licenses has absorbed all profitability.
That said, the trucking industry is by no means going to shut down, and for a new business Sunrise Transport Brokers is staying busy. While I was at the office Friday, Benji arranged for a load of nursery stock to be transported to Washington D.C. later that day, and another load to be carried to Long Island, N.Y., on Monday.
He said weather and traffic are two of the biggest issues for truckers on the road.
‘You might leave out of Warren County and it will be sunshine and 70 degrees,’ said Benji. ‘By the time you get to Detroit, there’s 2 inches of snow and it’s 25 degrees.’
Sunrise Transport Brokers can be reached at 668-7080.