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Re: Bad News for Lewiston, Idaho, As Well
Author: Matt Farnsworth
Date: 04-09-2015 - 20:41
It will be interesting to see the effect on rail in the inland northwest from the Lewiston/Portland container port shutdown. Certainly the effect will be minimal at first. Several articles from the Lewiston tribune in the past few days have mentioned that the port of Lewiston is looking at other container options, including via rail by way of the Great Northwestern.
It is my understanding biased off the recent local news articles that a majority of container traffic out of Lewiston was bagged peas and lentils. Such traffic could be handled in boxcars, or could be handled in containers. What fun it would be to see double stacks heading down the Snake River! The logistics of getting containers on trains in Lewiston could be challenging. I know that the port recently slapped a surcharge on every railcar that enters the port, something like $8-$10 per car to pay for recent (and measly) upgrades to a few rail spurs in the port. The port is better suited to load containers, however the GNWR does have a few spots that I can think of that could be suited for container loading if the railroad/WATCO was willing to invest a small amount to get a container forklift, thus allowing customers to forgo the port surcharge. Boxcars would be easier to load in Lewiston but would have to be trans loaded at the ocean port or go to domestic customers, both of which would deter potential shippers. (Ooh ooh, I know, replace the fertilizer distributor in Moscow with a container loading facility and rebuild the Colfax line to give access to UP… I know I know, dream on.) Of course getting UP or BNSF to accept a few cars of containers from a shortline can be challenging too. If a customer chose to ship via boxcar they could use other rail lines in the region not just GNWR, but container traffic would almost have to be limited to GNWR, if for no other reason that the ability to load containers and interchange with UP and BNSF.
So for the immediate future I don’t foresee any change to rail traffic in the region. If the Lewiston container port remains closed long term, then things could change for the better as far as rail is concerned. Will just have to wait and see.
Matt Farnsworth
Moscow ID
It is my understanding biased off the recent local news articles that a majority of container traffic out of Lewiston was bagged peas and lentils. Such traffic could be handled in boxcars, or could be handled in containers. What fun it would be to see double stacks heading down the Snake River! The logistics of getting containers on trains in Lewiston could be challenging. I know that the port recently slapped a surcharge on every railcar that enters the port, something like $8-$10 per car to pay for recent (and measly) upgrades to a few rail spurs in the port. The port is better suited to load containers, however the GNWR does have a few spots that I can think of that could be suited for container loading if the railroad/WATCO was willing to invest a small amount to get a container forklift, thus allowing customers to forgo the port surcharge. Boxcars would be easier to load in Lewiston but would have to be trans loaded at the ocean port or go to domestic customers, both of which would deter potential shippers. (Ooh ooh, I know, replace the fertilizer distributor in Moscow with a container loading facility and rebuild the Colfax line to give access to UP… I know I know, dream on.) Of course getting UP or BNSF to accept a few cars of containers from a shortline can be challenging too. If a customer chose to ship via boxcar they could use other rail lines in the region not just GNWR, but container traffic would almost have to be limited to GNWR, if for no other reason that the ability to load containers and interchange with UP and BNSF.
So for the immediate future I don’t foresee any change to rail traffic in the region. If the Lewiston container port remains closed long term, then things could change for the better as far as rail is concerned. Will just have to wait and see.
Matt Farnsworth
Moscow ID
