Posts Tagged “Cold Train Express”
Nearly three months ago Haulproduce.com reported that refrigerated rail service McKay TransCold LLC of Eden, MN had closed its doors. Now it has been learned TransCold Logistics LLC, parent company McKay TransCold LLC has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation with debts of about $7 million.
The refrigerated rail service was launched in May 2014.
McKay TransCold worked with BNSF Railway to operate the TransCold Logistics hub-to-hub, dedicated refrigerated boxcar train between Selma, CA and Wilmington, IL. The operation began with two trains pulling 50 refrigerated boxcars in each direction, making the trip in four days.
It offered cold storage in California and as of September 2014 was still planning to add cold storage services in Illinois.
The company posted $2.47 million in gross revenue for 2012, according to court documents. In 2013 gross revenue dropped to about $533,000. In 2014 they climbed back to $5.23 million.
The company has a total of secured claims of $865,533, all owed to Marquette Transportation Finance, Minneapolis. Its total unsecured debt is about $5.9 million.
The top five unsecured debts are:
**** BNSF Railway Co., Chicago, $3.37 million;
**** KLLM Transport Services LLC, Birmingham, Ala., $735,486;
**** National Carriers Inc., Kansas City, Mo., $519,918;
**** Werner Enterprises Inc., Chicago, $384,830;
****NLCS-Wilmington, Ill., $235,945.
The first produce train service to fold in 2014 was Cold Train Express Intermodal service that suspended service last summer. Cold Train saw its on time service on BNSF’s Northern Corridor plummet from 90 percent in November 2013 to only 5% percent last April. Cold Train said the reason relates to soaring oil and coal shipments by rail.
Cold Train Express Intermodal Service suspended service this summer due to rail congestion, while two new refrigerated rail services were just getting started.
McKay TransCold based in Minneapolis began last June offering a refrigerated, dedicated boxcar unit train known as Transcold Express, which runs each week between Selma, CA and Wilmington, IL. Meanwhile, Tiger Cool Express LLC, Overland Park, KS launched intermodal services from multiple locations in southern California to destinations in the Midwest and East Coast in February. In a press release Cold Train reported that on-time deliveries for shipments on BNSF’s Northern Corridor fell from more than 90% in November to less than 5% in April due to surging more oil and coal shipments.
Meanwhile, the problems on BNSF’s northern lines reportedly has had little effect on the southern BNSF and Union Pacific rail routes.
Tiger Cool Express, reported rail shipments of oil from North Dakota on BNSF’s Northern Corridor have increased from 20,000 tank cars three years ago to more than 400,000 this year. And unlike major southern rail routes in the U.S., that northern route doesn’t have two different tracks.
Produce is viewed by some in the rail industry as the last long-haul, $100 billion market that intermodal has yet to penetrate. Still, over 95 percent of fresh produce is delivered by truck in the U.S.. Rail officials are counting on trucks supplies tightening, with the driver shortage continue to worsen.
Cold Train Express Intermodal Service on August 7th announced it would be suspending service at its location at the Port of Quincy, WA. Cold Train, operated by Rail Logistics of Overland Park, KS, developed a transportation program model which allowed fresh producers in the Pacific Northwest to take advantage of refrigerated rail service that moved commodities to Chicago, IL, and points beyond in a timely and efficient manner.
The Northwest is expecting large crops of pears and apples. Shippers are concerned about availability of trucks and need all the transportation options available.
It is up in the air for the time being seeing what service Cold Train may be able to take to restore in the future. One other rail option continues to be Railex service to move fruit.
The Cold Train announcement follows a number of scheduling issues on BNSF Railway’s Northern Corridor line that have been occurring with BNSF beginning late last fall because of increased rail congestion. This has been caused by a surge of oil and coal shipments on the Northern Corridor line,” Cold Train said in a statement. “In fact, from November of 2013 to April of 2014, BNSF’s On-Time Percentage dramatically dropped from an average of over 90 percent to less than 5 percent.”
This past April, BSNF Railway announced an initial reduction in intermodal service out of Washington to one train a day with transit times being two to three days slower than prior timetables.
“As a result of the scheduling change in April, the rail transit time nearly doubled,” Cold Train stated. “Unfortunately, this caused Cold Train’s costs of equipment, fuel and other costs to double, and caused many customers — especially fresh produce shippers — to look for other transportation service options.
In fact, because of BNSF’s scheduling issues from November of 2013 until present, Cold Train lost most of its fresh produce business, including apples, onions, pears, potatoes, carrots and cherries, which was more than 70 percent of the company’s business. In addition to adversely impacting many Washington State fresh produce growers and shippers, BNSF’s scheduling changes have affected many retailers and wholesalers in the Midwest and East Coast that purchase Washington State fresh produce and frozen foods.”
According to data made available by Cold Train, use of intermodal transportation was growing from the Pacific Northwest. During 2010, Cold Train moved approximately 100 containers of perishables per month from Washington to the Midwest. By 2013, that number had risen to approximately 700 containers per month shipped from Washington and Portland, OR.
By the end of 2013, Cold Train anticipated it would be shipping 1,000 containers each month from the region.