Ceremonial groundbreaking for Winter Haven terminal held
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Nov. 8 for Florida’s Winter Haven Intermodal Rail Terminal.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Nov. 8 for Florida’s Winter Haven Intermodal Rail Terminal.
The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners has approved construction contracts totaling more than $127 million for two major projects that advance modernization of the marine container terminal operated by longtime tenant, TraPac, Inc.
Arc Terminals LP and Canadian National are working together to build a rail tank car unloading terminal in Mobile, Ala., to handle Western Canadian heavy and Bakken light crude oils destined to Gulf Coast refineries.
The CN-served facility, which will have a maximum crude-oil handling capacity of 75,000 barrels or up to 120 tank cars per day, is scheduled to start operation by June 2013. Initial volume is expected to be 40 tank cars of crude oil daily, increasing according to demand.
John Blanchard, president of Arc Terminals, said, “The Mobile facility, the first rail tank car crude-oil unloading terminal in Alabama, will provide good access to Gulf Coast refineries and allow quick turnaround of tank cars, increasing product delivery and fleet velocity and reducing costs for car owners.
“The rail transload terminal will handle heavy crude oil from Western Canada and light crude oil from the Bakken basin via CN, which will provide Canadian producers single-haul service to our Mobile destination. A single-line haul is more efficient and less expensive than those involving two or more rail carriers and multiple terminal switching.”
The Mobile terminal will also load condensate into tank cars for backhaul by CN to Western Canadian oil producers.
In addition, it will be able to accommodate both general purpose and insulated and coiled cars, compared with other facilities capable of handling only general-purpose tank cars.
Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said, “We are pleased to be an important supply chain partner for Arc Terminals. CN is focused on making its crude-oil customers more competitive and giving them access to markets with good net-backs. Crude oil by rail is one of CN’s fastest growing businesses. We expect to move in excess of 30,000 carloads in 2012 and we believe we have the scope to double this business next year.”
The Blakeley terminal has a storage capacity of 700,000 barrels for crude, fuel oil and asphalt. Terminal capacity could be expanded to more than one million barrels to meet potential future demand.
The California Transportation Commission has allocated approximately $102.7 million to three rail projects that will provide better transit, increase intermodal opportunities and reduce highway congestion.
Canadian National and Tundra Energy Marketing Limited have signed a memorandum of understanding to construct a crude oil rail car loading terminal near Cromer, MB, Canada,
In 2012, the freight rail industry will invest $23 billion to build, maintain and upgrade the nation’s rail network, according to two new ads released by The Association of American Railroads.
The city of Burlington, Vt., and the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is planning a new railyard project that will link Pine and Battery streets through a new urban street grid, creating a multi-modal network of rail, truck, car, transit, bike and pedestrian connections to access Burlington’s southern waterfront and railyard.
Project 16 of the West Vancouver Freight Access (WVFA) Project, a new rail entrance at the Port of Vancouver USA in Washington state, will begin work by the end of August and is scheduled to be completed by February 28, 2013.
CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc., and EMH&T have won the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Ohio “2012 Engineering Excellence Outstanding Achievement Award” for the design of CSX Intermodal Terminal’s Northwest Ohio intermodal terminal.
U.S. Representative Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) joined local officials and representatives from the offices of Senators Chambliss and Isakson, the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association, STX Railroad Construction, CSXT and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia to discuss the
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and California Governor Edmund Brown Jr., visited the Port of Oakland Army Base redevelopment site in California on Monday, July 9, 2012, to see where the port will be constructing the first phase of its rail project that received $15 million in federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant funding.
The Outer Harbor Intermodal Terminal (OHIT) Rail Access project of the Port of Oakland is expected to improve rail access to and from the port and expand the port’s rail capacity, leading to faster and cleaner goods movement in Northern California, while also providing rail access for the proposed Oakland Army Base redevelopment. These federal funds, along with additional local and state funding, will support the transportation project.
“This $15 million grant from the federal government boosts state and local efforts to create thousands of jobs by investing nearly $1.5 billion in Bay Area transportation projects. We’re not just rebuilding our infrastructure, we are also rebuilding our middle class,” stated Governor Brown.
The Port of Oakland handles 99 percent of all containerized goods in Northern California and is the only major U.S. West Coast container port that handles more exports than imports.
“I am very pleased this federal funding we fought for is coming to the Port of Oakland, where it will create jobs and make important infrastructure improvements. The Port of Oakland’s ship-to-rail exchange project is an excellent investment of federal funds in local and national economies because it both creates jobs and it improves critical public infrastructure in the Bay Area,” said Rep Barbara Lee (D-CA.). “This $15 million TIGER grant for the Port of Oakland is a clear example of the success of the TIGER grant program and why we must preserve and protect TIGER grants from efforts to end the funding.”
The federal funding will be matched more than one-to-one to launch the first phase of the OHIT Rail Access project, which is part of the joint City-Port OAB redevelopment plan.
This OHIT rail project is expected to deliver greater efficiencies in the Port of Oakland’s rail operations, create additional capacity for cargo movement at the seaport, reduce congestion on local roads and highways, create jobs and promote sustainable economic growth in the region.
The project includes building a new arrival track and high-speed turnout from Union Pacific’s mainline, two track leads into the port’s new Joint Intermodal Terminal and a new manifest yard (Knight Yard) to replace the former Oakland Army Base Yard. Knight Yard will be able to handle 100-150 rail cars per day.
The combined City of Oakland redevelopment and the Port’s first phase rail access project on the former Oakland Army Base property is approximately a $500 million investment.
The South Carolina Ports Authority is pursuing the development of an inland port in Greer, S. C., to improve the efficiency of international container movements between the Port of Charleston, the South Carolina Upstate and neighboring states.
U.S Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), a member of the Financial Services Committee and strong rail advocate, joined Marquette Rail for a tour of its rail yard in Ludington, Mich., to show his support of the rail industry and the shortline railroad rehabilitation tax credit.
Southern California’s Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, the governing authority for the Port of Long Beach, voted to accept $17 million in funds from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery a federal transportation (TIGER) program to help fund the “Green Port Gateway,” which will improve rail flow and the environment at the Port of Long Beach.
PS Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Union Pacific, has acquired the Yard Control Systems division of Ansaldo STS USA, which is based in Norristown, Pa. The acquisition boosts PST’s capabilities by adding rail yard process control and automation solutions.
Forty-seven transportation projects in 34 states and the District of Columbia will receive a total of almost $500 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2012 program.
No official word from the U.S. Department of Transportation has been released regarding awards of the fourth round of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, but news from various congressional offices is revealing what projects will benefit from the latest round of grants. The initial tally indicates rail related projects did not fare as well as they had in past TIGER funding cycles, but several key projects will see federal money.
Skanska has been awarded a $66 million contract from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to design and construct a test track, commissioning facility, parking garage and other facilities near the existing Greenbelt Maintenance Yard in Prince George’s County, Md. The contract will be included in the order bookings for Skanska USA Civil for the second quarter 2012.
The Federal Railroad Administration proposed an addition of seven new Categorical Exclusions (CE) to its environmental procedures that will help expedite project delivery across the country. The proposed CEs, which were developed in coordination with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, are part of the Obama Administration’s on-going efforts to streamline government and allow job creators to break ground on shovel-ready projects months or even years faster without doing damage to the environment.
To all my faithful readers, this will be the last monthly installment of “Chicago Perspective.” I thank you for giving me a platform for 13 years where my thoughts, opinions, theories and assessments of the industry have been allowed to flourish.