Agriculture meets logistics
July 28, 2007
By Cindy Wojdyla Cain, Joliet Herald News
ELWOOD -- Remember when local officials worried that cargo containers streaming into the BNSF intermodal would litter the county's landscape once they were emptied?
There was no need to worry. Not only are the cargo containers not stacking up, they're speeding their way west loaded with Midwestern grain.
The county's business and agricultural leaders knew grain was filling empty cargo containers in recent years, but they were shocked Thursday to learn that 80 percent of the cargo containers returning to Los Angeles ports were filled with grain.
Even Mark Schneidewind, manager of the Will County Farm Bureau didn't know the percentage was so high.
"It took us by surprise," he said.
The statistic was revealed by BNSF hub manager Mark Herzberger on Thursday during a Total Modal bus tour of the intermodal, formally called Logistics Park Chicago. Herzberger said the intermodal-agriculture relationship has been good for everyone.
"Revenue-wise, there's a big difference," he said. "We're making more money, and farmers and steamships are, too."
Farmers get a premium of 20 to 30 cents per bushel for the smaller more manageable cargo container loads of grain, Schneidewind explained. Even the barge companies are getting into the act and are now loading cargo containers of grain onto barges bound for foreign ports.
Ethanol and farms The tour group also toured a smaller intermodal and an ethanol plant in Rochelle. The farm bureau and the Will County Center for Economic Development organized the tour for business, ag and government officials.
What the group learned is that there are other links the agricultural community can have with intermodals, Schneidewind said.
In Rochelle, byproducts from the ethanol process, where grain is made into fuel, are sent by train to cattle, pig and chicken farms.
In Texas, a cattle ranch and ethanol plant are located near each other because of the symbiotic nature of the businesses, Schneidewind said.
"It's a great opportunity to merge traditional business with the agri-business community," said John Greuling, chairman and chief executive officer of the CED. "We're working together to improve the overall economy of the region."
More trucks and trains Back at the BNSF intermodal, the tour group learned that the number of trucks and trains entering the CenterPoint Industrial Park site off Arsenal Road is exploding.
"This is one of the fastest growing facilities BNSF has ever had," Herzberger said of the intermodal, which opened almost five years ago on former Joliet Arsenal land.
As a result, the Fort Worth, Texas-based rail company is doing everything it can to speed up the process it uses to get trucks in and out of the facility, which also helps keep truck traffic from backing up onto Arsenal Road.
Last week, BNSF started using a new in-gate system, which scans the trucks electronically instead of manually. Trucks are now entering the intermodal in 1.15 minutes instead of 5 to 7 minutes.
The intermodal employs 1,000 people and has 1 million lifts a year, up from 240,000 lifts the first year. A lift is counted every time a cargo container is lifted moved from a train to a truck, or vice versa.
In the next several years, BNSF officials expect the number of employees and lifts to double to 2,000 and 2 million, respectively.
"We had no idea the intermodal was going to grow like it did," Schneidewind said. "We're very fortunate, agriculture made a step in that direction early on. It's better for everybody."
To view this article at the Joliet Herald News website, click here. |