Chapter 158:The good news of not needing refrigerated trucks.

Most people relocate their entire families due to unemployment, for survival. Only a small minority, it should be said, relocate their families solely for the pursuit of a better life.

For Carter, or for the Pearson City government, as long as there isn't a mass exodus, they'll let the few who want to leave do so!

And Montgomery's words also woke Carter up. As long as there's money flowing back and Pearson City can seize the opportunity, using that money to develop Pearson, even if some people leave, it can also attract new population to Pearson!

As long as the inflow matches the outflow, Pearson City won't have much of an issue. If, by chance, things turn out well and the influx of population exceeds the outflow, then Pearson City will be delighted, there won't be any tension in the relationship, it's basically nonexistent...

As for Pearson City receiving the money and not developing the area... that would be a lost cause! As a businessman, Carter felt he had already thought about it enough and had considered the Pearson City government enough.

After understanding all this, Carter didn't dwell too much on this issue and continued to look at the detailed cost accounting of the two plans. But as he glanced over, Carter was immediately stunned...

"This first plan doesn't need refrigerated trucks?!"

"More accurately, it doesn't need refrigerated trucks, but insulated trucks are still needed!"

Back to his area of expertise. Montgomery immediately adopted his professional and capable demeanor, calculating costs while speaking:

"First, there's the transportation of live cattle and live chickens, which can be done with ordinary trucks without any modification. For this part, I plan to operate it myself, along with the second and third parties, using three sources of vehicles to constitute our transportation capacity."

"Our self-operated fleet will naturally be your Dongfeng Express fleet, the second-party logistics will be composed of regional agricultural and animal logistics company fleets, with which we can sign long-term contracts to ensure stable supply. Finally, the third-party logistics, I categorize them as miscellaneous logistics and special allocation logistics needs, where I plan to allow truck drivers to freely accept orders and settle freight on a per-order basis. This part is more flexible and can be slightly expanded or contracted in our transportation capacity as needed, with advantages in flexibility and cost-effectiveness."

"Then there's the output from the processing plant. Memphis has a mature large airport. We only need to establish a medium to large-scale cold storage facility near the airport in Memphis to centrally store meat products. By then, they will be delivered to various distribution centers by Federal Express's Boeing 727."

"As for the distribution centers, there will be three primary distribution sites. The Southwest station will be located near the McAllen-Las Vegas Airport in California, where a medium to large cold storage facility will be built. Then, using insulated trucks, the supplies can be transported to Los Angeles about 360 kilometers away and to Phoenix, Arizona about 400 kilometers away, and they can be delivered within half a day. Insulated trucks are more than enough!"

"The second Texas distribution station can be built near the state capital, Austin. Again, using insulated trucks will be enough to supply the four cities in Texas: Dallas, Houston, El Paso, and Austin. Similarly, this is also a convenient place for air transportation..."

Montgomery's words were like a devil's temptation swirling around Carter's ears. In the cold chain transportation process, the two most expensive items are undoubtedly two: one is the cold storage, and the other is the refrigerated trucks!

A refrigerated truck capable of maintaining temperatures between -10 and -18 degrees for long-distance transportation would still be exorbitantly priced in the future, let alone now. If the budget for refrigerated trucks is removed, it could save him at least three million in investment.

Then there's the cold storage. For meat products, medium-sized cold storage should maintain temperatures between -3 and 0 degrees, with humidity between 40% and 60%. Beef can be stored for 28 to 35 days; chicken and pork will be much shorter, around 7 to 14 days.

The investment in this part cannot be reduced, but by only constructing three large cold storage facilities, it's much more economical compared to building small cold storage facilities everywhere.

If this plan is executed, Carter realizes he won't need to invest the $16 million in startup capital. Generally, a brand-new American truck would cost between $120,000 to $140,000 in the future. And nowadays, $30,000 would suffice!

Even if he were to purchase a hundred brand-new trucks, it would only cost him $3 million. Even lower, as buying a hundred trucks at once, the truck company wouldn't dare not give him a discount!

In other words, the money originally allocated for buying about twenty refrigerated trucks could now buy him a hundred trucks, effectively establishing the core framework for land transportation. Then, taking out a batch of trucks for insulation modification, adding some consumable-type refrigeration units, this expense wouldn't exceed $300,000.

Adding three large-scale warehouses, factoring in land prices, construction labor costs, equipment costs, material costs, and electrical control equipment costs, etc., all added together and using high-quality materials and equipment to build high-spec cold storage, one cold storage facility wouldn't cost more than $2 million.

By reducing the initial investment, he could save nearly half of the budget for himself. Thinking about the problems on the Pearson City side...

"This plan, I've thought about it, let's just play it safe! Let's get the Southwest and Northeast regions done first, then expand horizontally!"

"Uh... okay! I'll contact the relevant personnel according to this plan."

Suddenly interrupted while introducing the plan, Montgomery felt a bit regretful, but he didn't say much.

"Alright, I'll have the funds transferred to HT's account later. Rest assured, there will be bread. In the current environment, people need cheap food! In such an environment, we won't lack expansion opportunities!"

Noticing Montgomery's somewhat regretful expression, Carter approached and took the other's hands, drawing a big pie with some affection and smashing it in his face.

"You saw through it, haha..."

After Carter's words exposed Montgomery's little thoughts, Montgomery smiled awkwardly and quickly adjusted his attitude:

"Don't worry, Mr. Brock. I understand this, and our starting scale is already very strong! Neither the Walmart I used to work for nor the current fast-food giant McDonald's had a start as strong as ours!"

"Oh, by the way! Before you leave, let's hold a recruitment fair in Douglas and Pearson. If there are capable people, bring a few over from here."