DC Velocity - December 2013

TRUCKLOAD AND LOGISTICS GIANT SCHNEIDER NATIONAL Inc. said it has revamped its U.S.-Mexico intermodal service to shave a day from transit times on the high-potential but still-underutilized corridor.

The restructured offering, which began in early November, replaces Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) with Canadian National Inc. (CN) on the critical node linking the U.S. southern tier with Chicago and points beyond, according to Jim Filter, Schneider’s senior vice president, intermodal sales and marketing.

On a northbound move under the old service, Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) would transport Schneider containers from Mexico to Rosenberg, Texas, outside of Houston. From there, the equipment would be placed on a truck and drayed to BNSF’s intermodal ramp in Pearland, Texas, about 40

miles away. Then, BNSF would haul the goods to Chicago for distribution.

Under the new service, KCS links with CN at the Canadian railroad’s node in Jackson, Miss. From there, CN carries the freight to Chicago for distribution, according to Filter.

The rail-to-rail link eliminates the time required for offloading the cargo to a truck for the trip between the KCS and BNSF terminals, Filter told DC VELOCITY at last month’s joint annual conference of the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), the Intermodal Association of North America, and the Transportation Intermediaries Association in Houston. The link also reduces the scheduling variability that often comes with depending on a dray to deliver goods between rail points, he said.

The service is being used for intermodal loads moving in both directions, Filter said.

THE GROWING INTERMODAL ADVANTAGE

Schneider, based in Green Bay, Wis., has served the U.S.-Mexico inter-modal market for years. The newly revamped service is an effort to tap into intermodal’s value in one of the world’s fastest-growing trade lanes. Intermodal containers travel in-bond and clear customs at the destination rail ramp. As a result, intermodal users bypass the mas-

newsworthy

Schneider revamps intermodal service on U.S.-Mexico corridor

p. 20

In the past, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was not really interested in exports “unless they were guns or technology,” according to Acting Commissioner of Customs Tom Winkowski. But that’s no longer the case, Winkowski said at a mid-November presentation at the 12th Annual Northeast Cargo Symposium held by the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT).

CBP is “paying a great deal of attention” to exports and sees them as a “new area of opportunity, a new frontier,” he said.

CBP is working closely with international traders to identify ways to improve and modernize the export process, according to Winkowski. The Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC), a group of industry experts that advises CBP on technical matters, has mapped the current export process and will suggest improvements, Winkowski said. The agency also plans to get input from U.S. exporters and will for the first time invite trade groups to participate in CBP’s discussions with foreign customs organizations on trade processes, he said.

A key aim of those discussions is to reduce paperwork and streamline policies for all parties in trade transactions, Winkowski said.

Winkowski said the new focus on exports is largely driven by three issues: the federal government’s desire to reduce costs for U.S. businesses to help them be more competitive, the growing need for international cooperation on cargo security, and the move toward harmonization of customs practices worldwide. The challenge, he said, is how to reassess our own export processes while also satisfying import rules overseas, and at the same time make sure both sides of the transaction “dovetail” with cargo security requirements. ;