MidlandMikeCanada is a net exporter of beef to the US. Canada is also the world's 3rd largest exporter of pork. They are also a big exporter of grain. Would Canada need to import much from Iowa?
I would be more inclined to note that least-cost all-Canadian transport that eliminates any customs concerns or delays could probably be arranged with the same equipment and the same methodology and techniques for the 'Iowa meat train' service. Canada has experience, perhaps not all lost, both with Iron Highway and the CP Expressway service.
https://www.trains.com/ctr/railroad-stories/railroader/rock-island-perishable-traffic-in-the-1970s/
http://ncr-div9.com/clinics/meatTrains.pdf
https://www.trains.com/ctr/photos-videos/photo-of-the-day/ic-geeps-on-a-meat-train/
In the year 2021 the US exported 486 million pounds of pork to Canada. At 46,000 pounds of pork per truck this equates to 10,565 truckloads, or ~30 truckloads per day.
https://porkcheckoff.org/pork-branding/international-market-development/canada/
greyhounds MidlandMike Canada is a net exporter of beef to the US. Canada is also the world's 3rd largest exporter of pork. They are also a big exporter of grain. Would Canada need to import much from Iowa? In the year 2021 the US exported 486 million pounds of pork to Canada. At 46,000 pounds of pork per truck this equates to 10,565 truckloads, or ~30 truckloads per day. https://porkcheckoff.org/pork-branding/international-market-development/canada/
MidlandMike Canada is a net exporter of beef to the US. Canada is also the world's 3rd largest exporter of pork. They are also a big exporter of grain. Would Canada need to import much from Iowa?
30 trucks a day wouldn't fill the loading docks at a single Walmart distribution center.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD30 trucks a day wouldn't fill the loading docks at a single Walmart distribution center.
Can a service to Canada make a profit on those 30 average trailer loads a day, over the portion of the route that would be railborne? That is the first criterion.
Is there enough 'laning' that a continued cost-effective service with 30 reefers a day could be sustained without Qos failures or excuses? That is the second criterion.
Establishing these -- what is the minimum traffic per period that makes the effort sustainable, and worthwhile as an 'opportunity' vs. others vying for the same scarce capital?
Overmod BaltACD 30 trucks a day wouldn't fill the loading docks at a single Walmart distribution center. No... but why is that important? Can a service to Canada make a profit on those 30 average trailer loads a day, over the portion of the route that would be railborne? That is the first criterion. Is there enough 'laning' that a continued cost-effective service with 30 reefers a day could be sustained without Qos failures or excuses? That is the second criterion. Establishing these -- what is the minimum traffic per period that makes the effort sustainable, and worthwhile as an 'opportunity' vs. others vying for the same scarce capital?
BaltACD 30 trucks a day wouldn't fill the loading docks at a single Walmart distribution center.
No... but why is that important?
OWTX:That link to the meat trains pdf was very interesting and brought back some good memories.
Our family business was a small grocery store in a very small town (population 125) in Southern Illinois. Dad processed meat and would purchase a "quarter" which would hang in a "walk in" cooler and he would cut steaks, roasts, etc. as required. Would also daily grind beef. I recall the meat salesman calling on dad each week for his order. We received Rath bacon (packaged, of course) and as the years progressed, more and more beef would arrive "boxed".
Still recall him carrying the quarter to the meat saw to cut fresh roasts for customers. I helped with less skilled tasks including grinding pork shoulders for breakfast sausage, grinding beef, and slicing lunch meats.
Switching gears (or tracks)...I worked in LTL trucking from 1980 thru 1990 and a company out of Iowa - Crouse Cartage had great overnight service from Chicago to all points in Iowa plus Omaha, Twin Cities and Kansas City. They ran meat in refers from Iowa to Chicago and then used the refers to return to terminals with LTL general (non refer) freight. Heck of a business model.
I was told by a trucking company owner that at one time they would send a piggyback load to Chicago and also send a driver with a loaded trailer. The driver would deliver the trailer to the local Chicago terminal, then pickup the piggyback load and deliver to the terminal. He would then layover and return to Iowa with a load of LTL general freight.
It would be interesting to know the truckloads moving from Central Iowa (Waterloo) to Toronto and Montreal on a daily basis. Might be a foundation to start refer container movements.
Ed
MP173I was told by a trucking company owner that at one time they would send a piggyback load to Chicago and also send a driver with a loaded trailer. The driver would deliver the trailer to the local Chicago terminal, then pickup the piggyback load and deliver to the terminal. He would then layover and return to Iowa with a load of LTL general freight.
Before hiring out on the railroad, I worked for IBP (pork plant) at Perry Iowa. It was their smallest plant. At the time, it ran two shifts per day. Day production was all export for Japan. Night production was IBP product. I was there about 3 1/2 years, starting out on the kill floor, but within about 6 months moved over into the loadout division. I was the plant inventory clerk and also cross trained to bill out the truckloads for the remainder of my time there.
Other than the export business, I recall very little meat destined for western markets. I do remember truck loads for Canada, but couldn't say the volume. Probably equalled out to about one load per day average. The plant USDA veterinarian had to sign certificates for Canadian export, something they didn't do for the Japanese exports.
We also had a lot of both muti stop pick ups and multi stop deliveries. That is a truck load might involve picking up product at two or three IBP plants. Multi destinations are like the railroad equivalent of "Stop this Car at" waybill provisions. The vast majority were entire truckloads from our plant to a single receiver.
I work, or worked with, a few co-workers from there on the railroad. And Perry once being a Milwaukee Road division point, worked with a few exrailroaders there. A couple times after hiring out, I went back and switched out the plant. They shipped a few reefers of frozen meat and tallow out.
The plant still is there under Tyson. IBP signed a deal about the time I left to convert the plant to entirely Japanese export. Whether it still is that way under Tyson ownership I don't know. Everything is trucked out, the branch line to Perry was abandoned almost 20 years ago. Although there are a few tank cars till in the plant now used for storage.
Jeff
MP173 there you go. The great intermodal experiment of meat from Iowa can begin. Set up Nahant Yard in Davenport as an intermodal terminal. Dray the loads in from Waterloo and surrounding regions and load for Mexico. If that works, then expand into lower Texas. Explore moves from Iowa into Toronto and Montreal. Reach into NYC and Boston with a block swap in Buffalo or Cleveland with CSX on the daily Chicago to Canada intermodal...or perhaps swap out at North Baltimore. This merger is all about disrupting the current market and moving trailers from the road to the rails. This is an ideal situation to break two artificial borders...US/Mexico and Chicago to the east and north. Could also set up a terminal in Kansas City for that Kansas beef. Ed
Good concepts!
I'll add that there is no need to set up a terminal in KC. KCS already has an intermodal terminal there.
US pork production is centered in, and around, Iowa. The “and around” part includes two significant pork facilities in northern Missouri. Just 55 miles north of Kansas City Triumph Foods has a major pork plant In St. Joseph that can process 21,000 head per day. Smithfield has a plant about half that size in Milan, MO., 126 miles from Kansas City.
That should make for an easy start up with pork to Mexico. Just dray it into KC and send it south.
CPKC has proclaimed a plan to operate an intermodal train including meat loads from Chicago to Mexico City. That’s at least half the battle already won. No one will have to fight to get a train running or accept meat loads.
Greyhound:The fruit is literally and figuratively on the vine...will it be picked or left to rot?Ed
BackshopCanada isn't one place. You're talking about 3500+ miles from Halifax to Vancouver. Where are each of those 30 truckloads going? It's nice knowing a concentrated area puts out X truckloads a day, but it is meaningless if we don't know the geographical spread of the destinations. An example--think of those 30 truckloads. It sounds like a nice block to build around. But if 5 go to Boston, 5 to Seattle, 5 to LA, 5 to Dallas, 5 to Miami and 5 to Charlotte, it's not worth the bother.
Beats all you ever saw.
I probably should just let this go. But it's near and dear to my heart.
I don't know why he's using the export volume to Canada to claim "it's not worth bother."
In 2021 Iowa produced 8,797.5 million ponds of red meat. (USDA data) I make this to be 191,250 truckloads of meat for 2021. This is 524 trucks per day. Not 30.
And Iowa produces other things such as breakfast cereal. Quaker alone, at Cedar Rapids, ships around 100 trucks per work day.
And it is possible to reach out with intermodal to get some of Nebraska's 475 TL/day along with the large Smithfield plant at Sioux Falls, SD with about 80 TL/day. Maybe, just maybe, some of those 30 export loads per day to Canada will take a train ride.
Anyway, I think it's a very safe bet that a whole lot of the IA/NE/SD food is moving to eastern and southeastern population centers. There is westbound and southbound (Mexico) business. But that's a UP opportunity.
I don't know the volumes and rates to each destination. I have explained that acquiring such information would cost me money and I'm not willing to spend it. But the information could be gathered by a railroad's marketing department without great effort.
Greyhounds, why aren't you a consultant for somebody? Why don't you bring this up on a marketing forum?
I suspect we are up against a conundrum.
You have to spend money to make money.
Wall Street (or at least the activist part of it) loves to make money.
It's the spending part that gets their undies in a twist.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I dont think it is the spending of money, it is the unwise spending of money. Good investments are welcomed.
Another issue is reliable service. Those meat companies are not just going to change their supply chain just because a railroad opens a terminal in central Iowa. It will be a long process to build up a good book of business. The truckers provide reliable service to a product which can spoil if not handled properly. Big risk...should result in fairly high returns. Is the railroad intermodal model built on high returns?It will be interesting to see if CPKCS can capture the Mexico moves. That is the move in which the articifical boundaries are erased.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.