The developers of the new Mossville Rail Port are benefitting from some rather fortuitous timing.
Both phases of their multimodal facility will soon be operational, at a time when industrial owners in south Louisiana are searching for ways to remedy delays in receiving and shipping products.
Under construction since April, the first phase of the rail yard was completed Oct. 5 and a second phase will be operational three months early in November. Savage is partnering with Kansas City Southern to construct the rail port, which will have transload and railcar storage capabilities.
Savage will own and operate the rail port on property leased from KCS. Mike Miller, vice president of business development at Savage in Midvale, Utah, says recent supply chain challenges have made rail ports an especially attractive shipping alternative.
“This site allows customers to ‘forward position’ their rail cars so that they’re a moment’s notice away from their site,” Miller says. “That makes them a lot more efficient, enables more production runs and ultimately helps them move a higher quantity of materials.”
The rail port is part of the Savage Transload Network of about 50 multicommodity, rail-connected terminals across North America and is the first developed in partnership with KCS. The facility comprises more than 70 transloading spots for moving chemicals, refinery products and other materials between trucks and rail cars.
“A rail car can hold four truckloads,” says Dan Price, vice president of business development and operations for Savage in Schererville, Indiana. “The trucking market is very tight, so rail is a good way for customers to place inventory close to a plant or close to market. There are also benefits in the carbon footprint that rail can bring versus truck.”
Read the full story about the port from the latest edition of 10/12 Industry Report.
