Port Productivity : Rail Connections
Special Report
GPA ’ s Blue Ridge Connector will have 18,000 feet of working track and an annual lift capacity of up to 200,000 containers . GPA going to be a good option for West Coast ,” Williams said during TPM24 . “ We ’ ve talked to customers who wanted that service to north Texas and to Denver out of Barbours Cut . Density will drive the sustainability of the service over time , but we are bullish on the potential .”
Western expansion
Starting Dec . 1 , UP added four inland terminals — its Global 4 terminal in Chicago , and terminals in Kansas City , Memphis and Laredo in south Texas — to its daily on-dock rail service from Houston ’ s Barbours Cut marine terminal . “ The last time we tried this , we were only running trains once a week to Dallas and it was not on-dock rail , but now we ’ re going to Dallas three days per week and its on-dock rail ,” UP President Beth Whited said March 4 at the Journal of Commerce ’ s TPM24 conference in Long Beach , Calif . “[ The difference is ] there are way more vessels now calling Port Houston , so there ’ s more volume . I think it ’ s going to be a winner .”
The new service is in addition to the five intermodal terminals along the West Coast and in the Rockies region that UP currently serves from Houston . UP ’ s current intermodal schedule from Houston shows the Kansas City and Chicago service will take approximately four days , while the Memphis service will take five days .
BNSF dabbled in Houston nearly 10 years ago , but it was never on-dock rail . In June 2023 , BNSF started intermodal service to Dallas and Denver . The Port of Mobile offers a three-day intermodal service to Chicago , along with service to Memphis , via Canadian National Railway .
Tom Williams , BNSF ’ s group vice president of consumer products , said the railroad would not have relaunched service if it wasn ’ t confident of success this time .
“ When we look at European trade , Latin American trade moving north , it ’ s going to Houston because it ’ s not
In mid-February , a short-haul rail project that will help grow containerized exports of commodities through the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma by reducing the cost of inland transportation moved its first loads . Theodore Prince , CEO and founder of Tri-Cities Intermodal , told the Journal of Commerce that replacing trucks with short-haul rail to move containers from eastern Washington state to Tacoma will save exporter Ag West International , the rail line ’ s first customer , about $ 200 per container move . Tri-Cities worked with Ag West , UP , Evergreen Marine Corporation and the inland Port of Walla Walla to launch the project , which is being developed in phases in the coming months , Prince said .
Walla Walla is about 285 miles east of Tacoma . The first shipments of hay were loaded into Evergreen containers at the inland hub and hauled by UP to the Pierce County Terminal in Tacoma for shipment on an Evergreen vessel to Qingdao , China .
“ Expanding multi-modal transportation linkages is part of our mission to enhance the economic vitality of Walla Walla County ,” Patrick Reay , executive director of the inland port , said in a statement .
The short-haul service fits into UP ’ s intermodal network serving the Pacific Northwest .
“ This is a region that continues to grow in logistical importance ,” Kari Kirchhoefer , senior vice president of premium , marketing and sales for UP , said in the statement . The service will remove “ thousands of trucks ” from the highway each year , she said .
Connecting the dots to southern California , UP on Feb . 1 opened a new international intermodal terminal in Phoenix that will handle ocean containers from ports in Southern California . The new terminal is part of UP ’ s existing downtown rail yard in Phoenix , the railroad said .
“ We are excited to offer regional shippers and receivers in Arizona a fast , sustainable rail option to move product into and out of Southern California that is cost competitive and removes trucks from our nation ’ s congested highways ,” Kenny Rocker , UP ’ s vice president of marketing , said in a statement .
BNSF is also looking to expand its current footprint in Arizona , although its proposed project is many years away . The railroad last year purchased 3,500 acres in Surprise , Arizona , about 40 minutes outside of Phoenix and is going through the process of getting the land rezoned for industrial use .
Once approved , BNSF intends to build a logistics park similar to those it now operates in Chicago , Dallas-Fort Worth and Kansas City .
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38 Journal of Commerce | March 25 , 2024 www . joc . com