Burke
Anderson, vice president of Railcar Service
at Cornerstone, was hired one year ago to implement
a boxcar program and agrees with Rodell's observation
of the market shift.
"The
whole JIT movement emerged following the culture
of the Japanese automotive industry. It has
evolved over time, however, into a sort of 'just
in case' instead of 'just in time,'" Anderson
says. "As companies have re-evaluated supply-chain
costs and seek opportunities to cut costs, considering
the use of rail services makes sense."
According
to Rodell, the use of the boxcar was a more
popular option years ago when manufacturers
used railways for bulky commodities that were
not necessarily weighty, such as steel, aluminum
and automotive parts. Today, because of capacity
issues, companies are searching for ways to
save money.
"When
people began analyzing the cost of having goods
in transit instead of on their shelves and the
JIT trend became popular, it squeezed the boxcar
industry. Today, people are once again thinking
they have a little more time to ship goods than
what is fashionable," Rodell says.
Anderson
believes mindsets are changing on both sides
of the fence.
"There
is a paradigm shift in how third parties are
treated by railroads themselves. I think maybe
a lack of understanding or trust existed because
of the high level of knowledge and expertise
needed. With all our experience, however, we
speak the same language and understand the rail
business. We understand that handling rail cargo
can be more complicated than traditional intermodal,"
Anderson says.
Having
more than 20 years experience in the transportation
business, Rodell has witnessed industry trends
and understands the current capacity challenges.
"We
were one of the first to develop relationships
with the railroads and we're looking to grow
those relationships."
With
imports rapidly streaming into the country via
the West Coast and no limits on the type of
commodities that can ship via boxcar, the challenge
is to maximize cargo capacity at all points.
"The
railroad has to take some of the demand off
intermodal. When you can get 3.2 truckloads
in one railway car, you've just freed up three
trucks," Rodell says.
"Because we have the use of insulated cars,
flat cars and refrigerated cars, any commodity
can be shipped. Our focus is to identify reload
opportunities to reduce empty miles on railroad
boxcar fleets," Anderson says.
One
commodity that has returned to rail shipping
is alcohol. "We're shipping large amounts
from the West Coast to the East. Because we
have a full range of logistics services, we
can combine shipments from several wineries
and ship east to several distributors, offloading
to trucks which deliver right to warehouses.
This results in a savings to both the distributor
and winery," Rodell says.
Rodell
says that Cornerstone's rail division is continually
expanding to include other commodities such
as rice, which traditionally moved via truck
and rail.
"Knowing
that cargo is not handled the same as intermodal,
we work closely with damage control experts
and the railroads to determine the best configurations
for products," Rodell says.
In a short time, Cornerstone has experienced
significant growth with its railcar services,
and Burke expects future growth to be inevitable.
"Our
volumes have exceeded expectations as we've
experienced triple digit growth," Burke
says. "I expect intermodal capacity will
tighten up and we're working to help develop
new car technologies that can carry more weight.
I feel with Cornerstone's strong leadership,
we're at the forefront of offering customized
solutions for our customers."
Cornerstone
Systems, headquartered in Memphis, currently
has more than 20 offices nationwide, including
both sales and operations teams.
CONTACT
freelance writer Karen Mayer at ksomayer@msn.com
© 2005 American City Business
Journals Inc.
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