Photo courtesy of Moser Roofing Solutions LLC, Lancaster, Pa.
Photo courtesy of Moser Roofing Solutions LLC, Lancaster, Pa.
Photo courtesy of Moser Roofing Solutions LLC, Lancaster, Pa. 
After beginning his career as a young office runner and working for steamship lines for many years, Richard Amato fulfilled his wish to become his own boss 24 years ago when he founded O.S.T. Trucking Co. Inc., Baltimore.
Along with three other partners, Amato grew O.S.T. Trucking from a drayage agent into a full-service trucking company. Originally leasing 13 trucks, Amato gradually expanded the trucking company in the Port of Baltimore. Now owning a majority of the company's large fleet of 200 container chassis, 170 tractors and numerous vans and trailers, O.S.T. Trucking currently is one of the port's most prominent trucking firms, offering warehouse and storage areas in addition to trucking services.
O.S.T. Trucking specializes in oversea container logistics and warehouse storage, primarily serving customers in the East and Midwest but has authority to operate in 48 states. In addition to its Baltimore headquarters, the company has regional offices in Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.
Located 2 miles from Dundalk Marine Terminal, O.S.T. Trucking's headquarters facility provides a sizable warehouse of 300,000 square feet of general space plus 40,000 square feet of food grade space. A 13-acre container yard provides external storage, and a bonded 20,000-square-foot container freight station secures shipments requiring U.S. customs clearance.
In 2016, new metal panels were retrofitted on the warehouse's 68,000-square-foot roof by Moser Roofing Solutions LLC, Lancaster, Pa.
Finding a solution
In June 2016, Moser Roofing Solutions began preparing for the massive roofing project. With workers and trucks needing access to the building at all times during the day and night, completely closing the warehouse was not an option.
"The building owners asked me to provide a new roof or equivalent roofing solution based on their operations and budgetary needs," explains Josh Moser, president of Moser Roofing Solutions. "We worked to provide the best roofing solution so we would not disturb, as much as possible, their trucking and warehouse operations."
Moser and his crew worked with Duro-Last® Inc., Saginaw, Mich., to find the best solution for the project. The team chose to retrofit EXCEPTIONAL® Metals EM Retro-R® Panels on the existing mechanically fastened PBR metal roof panels.
"This solution allowed O.S.T. Trucking's operations to continue running smoothly during construction and avoided the costs of a tear-off," Moser says.
New metal
Before the Moser Roofing Solutions crew began work on the new roof system, workers removed large unused roof vents, existing skylight panels and the EPDM membrane from internal box gutters. The PBR rib and field screws also were removed from the existing PBR metal roof panels.
A combination of safety flags, a roof monitor and Guardian Fall Protection HitchClip™ Roof Anchors used in conjunction with Guardian self-retracting lifelines and FallTech® full-body harnesses kept workers safe while working on the warehouse.
After the screws were removed from the existing PBR metal roof panels, workers used self-drilling roofing screws to mechanically fasten into the steel purlins the new EXCEPTIONAL Metals EM Retro-R Panels in white. Workers then mechanically fastened 50-mil-thick PVC Duro-Last Single Ply Roofing Membrane in white in the internal box gutters.
Keep on truckin'
After working through the summer heat, in August, Moser Roofing Solutions completed its work on O.S.T. Trucking's warehouse, successfully implementing a roofing solution that was completed within budget, on time, and without disruption to warehouse and shipping operations.
"From beginning to end, this was a huge project," Moser says. "It was rewarding to see the symbiotic relationships between the contractor, customer and manufacturer function in unity for job completion."
For its exceptional work on O.S.T. Trucking's warehouse, Moser Roofing Solutions received a 2016 Duro-Last Project Award.
Chrystine Elle Hanus is Professional Roofing's associate editor and NRCA's director of communications.
Project name: O.S.T. Trucking Co. Inc. warehouse
Project location: Baltimore
Project duration: June 2016-August 2016
Roof system type: EXCEPTIONAL® Metals EM Retro-R® Panel
Roofing contractor: Moser Roofing Solutions LLC, Lancaster, Pa.
Roofing manufacturer: EXCEPTIONAL Metals, a division of Duro-Last® Inc., Saginaw, Mich.
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