Cedar Rapids, Iowa

[greyhounds]

caldreamer

IBP (Iowa Beef Packers) has a huge plant in Dennison Iowa.  It is served by rail as seen on the Google photograph.

OK, I'm not all knowing about this.  So I am open to corrections.

But Tyson bought out IBP long ago.  As far as I know Tyson has closed the Dennison facility.  Farmland (owned by Smithfield) has a large pork facility in Dennison.

[greyhounds]

MP173

1.  Is the meat processed into final products in Iowa?  In other words is the meat from Iowa packaged?  I seriously doubt if it is on the hook, as the meat arrived at my father's store back in 1970 (which he then cut into final products).  Or does the semi processed meat move from Iowa to locations where it is further processed into final products?

Some of the meat is made case ready in Iowa.  i.e., you may buy a pound of bacon just as it was sliced and packaged in Iowa. Some of it goes out for further preparation at locations closer to the the retail sale point.  Either way, it's freight out of Iowa.   I don't know of any meat that still shipped on the hook.  

 

MP173

2.  For this to work, there must be a very active backhaul market developed.  Are you suggesting that the rails handle this retail aspect of backhauls, or will this be up to the 3PL groups?

Got to use 3PL.  Otherwise we'll spend a decade or more developing backhauls.

[caldreamer]

IBP (Iowa Beef Packers) has a huge plant in Dennison Iowa.  It is served by rail as seen on the Google photograph.

   Caldreamer

[MP173]

I too am anticipating this discussion.  

This is going to be interesting as to how the rails can capture 45 loads of meat daily to the Northeast, 34 loads to the California/Nv/Az market and 23 loads to Florida from Iowa.

A couple of questions:

1.  Is the meat processed into final products in Iowa?  In other words is the meat from Iowa packaged?  I seriously doubt if it is on the hook, as the meat arrived at my father's store back in 1970 (which he then cut into final products).  Or does the semi processed meat move from Iowa to locations where it is further processed into final products?

2.  For this to work, there must be a very active backhaul market developed.  Are you suggesting that the rails handle this retail aspect of backhauls, or will this be up to the 3PL groups?

Looking forward to this.

 

Ed

[Overmod]

I'm watching carefully.

[greyhounds]

Ok, enough.  I’m tired of arguing with people who have never had anything to do with moving one pound of freight one mile in their life.  You know, the people who think they know how to redesign the Chicago Hub although they’ve never been involved with moving a pound of cheese from here to there.    

 

I’d like to start off by talking about a realistic concept.  That means I’d like to start off by talking about developing the Cedar Rapids, Iowa market for rail freight transportation.  I know I’ve written about Cedar Rapids before.  But if we look at developing that market, people with functional brains will realize the concepts for developing that market will be applicable to other markets. 

 

So here we go.  Please know and accept that this is just a mental exercise involving something that interests me.  If you care to chime in, please feel free to do so.  It’s all about having something interesting to do while I’m on lockdown and waiting to be vaccinated.  Nothing more.  I’d love to go out for a good steak and baked potato, but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.  So……

 

Let’s start by realizing that Cedar Rapids is in Iowa.  Iowa is basically all about producing food (and ethanol).  So, we’ll go from there.  When you’ve got a rail line through an area you must haul, at a profit, what is produced and consumed in that area.  You can’t easily redeploy your assets.  Your rail line is where it is.  Make the best of it.

 

I just ran through some numbers from the USDA.  (Yes, I am bored out of my mind.)  In 2019 Iowa went past Nebraska and became the #1 state for red meat production.  (“Red Meat” = pork, beef, veal, and lamb.  Veal and lamb are not significant in volume.)  There were new Iowa slaughter facilities brought online and the reopening of an older facility.  If we figure a truckload at 44,500 pounds of meat, the Iowa production equates to 193,798 truckloads (very little moves by rail).  That is 15.7% of US red meat production.  But Iowa only has 1% of the US population.  So that meat is going somewhere else, mainly to coastal population centers that don’t have their own meat production.   It is largely long-haul freight.  Rail transport should have an efficiency advantage.

 

Examples?  If we compare production/population and use the per capita consumption of red meat (111.2 pounds/year) we can estimate that New England, New York, and New Jersey bring in 289 truckloads of red meat per day 365 days per year.  California, Arizona, and Nevada bring in 214 meat loads per day 365 days per year.  Florida itself needs to bring in 145 loads per day, 365 days per year to meet its meat demand.   Extraordinarily little of this meat is produced anywhere close to these consuming states.  The red meat comes from the Midwest.  The rails should dominate this transportation.  They don’t.  But they could.

 

I’ll need to continue this.