When it comes to weathering storms, both literally and metaphorically, the rail shipping industry encounters unique challenges. 2023’s hurricane season, as vendors and logistics professionals know, is a critical period. With potential damage to infrastructure, the disruption of conventional supply channels, and the financial setbacks that come with it all, preparedness is an absolute necessity. …
Category: Industry News
The Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern Merger: Unveiling a New Era for Rail Shippers
The recent merger between Canadian Pacific Railway (CPRS) and the Kansas City Southern (KCS) has been making headlines, marking a transformative moment in the North American rail industry. This union promises to enhance efficiency, expand service offerings, and generate significant benefits for rail shippers. In this blog post, we will delve into the details of …
2022 State of Railcar Repair Shops
Whether you own or lease railcars, eventually your railcars will need to be sent to a shop for cleaning, repairs, or qualification. Taking one railcar out of service can be painful, especially if the railcar is unusable for months at a time. Unfortunately, most shippers do not have a fleet large enough to fill the …
Surface Transportation Board and the Union Pacific’s Use of Embargoes
The Surface and Transportation Board (STB) has scheduled a meeting for December 13th and 14th, 2022, to review the Union Pacific’s (UP) “substantial” use of embargoes to reduce rail congestion. At the hearing, Union Pacific will be represented by key management including their CEO, Lance Fritz. Recent Updates on the STB Embargo Meeting As a …
7 Rail Shipping Insights to Pay Attention to
As with any industry, data and the knowledge that comes from data is important. Whether the insights you can find are helpful to you directly, as someone involved in rail shipping, or indirectly, as someone looking for information on the transportation industry, that knowledge can come in handy. But with so much information out there, …
How to Prepare Your Rail Supply Chain for Hurricanes
In August of 2021, Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans, a major rail shipping hub. The destructive weather and resulting flood waters forced a Class I railroad, the Kansas City Southern, to close a main line. This triggered a cascade of additional railroads seeing service disruptions as well, even if they were not near the hurricane. …
What is an Embargo and How Can You Prepare for Them?
Have you ever been to the grocery store and noticed the check-out lines just keep growing longer and longer? Sometimes the cause is a customer ahead of you with a lot of items, sometimes there are only a few employees staffing check out stations, and sometimes it is just because there are so many people …
Rail Shipping Service and the Presidential Emergency Board
Ongoing Updates September 12th, 2022 More of the labor unions have agreed to tentative agreements with the railroads. However, the last two union holdouts also represent the most members. The deadline for the cooling off period, which restricts striking, is Friday, September 16th. If an agreement cannot be reached by Friday, the remaining unions without …
Celebrating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Rail Industry
A common phrase that is growing in importance amongst organizations is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. But what does that mean? Diversity is the presence of differences that may include race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, language, (dis)ability, age, religious commitment, or political perspective. Equity is promoting justice, impartiality and fairness within the …
Railroad Service Issues in 2022
As a third-party logistics provider that specializes in bulk rail transportation in North America, we manage rail shipments across all industries in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Amongst our customers, one current common difficulty is that the railroads are struggling to deliver railcars. Across the networks of all railroads, railroad service issues continue to …