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Re: Idled freight cars reflect derailed U.S. economy
Author: Dave Smith
Date: 04-04-2008 - 18:04
Most of what you'll see parked are centerbeams, and TOFC/domestic container intermodal cars.
The centerbeams are self explanatory given the current lull in housing starts, but it should also be noted that the fall of the US dollar relative to the Canadian dollar has now made Canadian lumber more expensive than US lumber, thus many of those centerbeams are from Canadian roads/lessors.
The TOFC spine cars have been heading to obsolution well before the current ecomomic slowdown, as the railroads have deliberately attempted to get domestic box shippers to switch from trailer to domestic container so as to enhance the railroads' productivity vis a vis double stack. In fact, if it wasn't for UPS's resistence to containerization, spine cars might have disappeared from the rails years ago.
The counter to all this is that most trucking outfits inherently resist a move from dry vans to containers, JB Hunt and some of the other largest outfits notwithstanding. Remember, truckers are allowed 68' of combo trailer length, and 68' of combo trailer has more cubic feet than a 53' container. Added to this is the fact that 53' containers are usually limited to 67,000 lbs give or take, while many States allow trailer weights of up to 96,000 lbs. Thus, the 53' domestic container comes up short both in cubic feet and gross weight when compared to trailer combos and heavy haul trailers.
So, what we have is the railroads betting their fortunes on the 53' well car to haul 53' containers at 67k gross, while the truckers are running 68' trailer combos and/or 96k gross trailers and wondering why the railroads won't give the same favorable rates for combo trailers and heavy haul trailers as they do 53' containers. When push comes to shove, the truckers are going to run what works best for them, not what works best for the railroads. Thus, we have all those 53' well cars being stored.
The centerbeams are self explanatory given the current lull in housing starts, but it should also be noted that the fall of the US dollar relative to the Canadian dollar has now made Canadian lumber more expensive than US lumber, thus many of those centerbeams are from Canadian roads/lessors.
The TOFC spine cars have been heading to obsolution well before the current ecomomic slowdown, as the railroads have deliberately attempted to get domestic box shippers to switch from trailer to domestic container so as to enhance the railroads' productivity vis a vis double stack. In fact, if it wasn't for UPS's resistence to containerization, spine cars might have disappeared from the rails years ago.
The counter to all this is that most trucking outfits inherently resist a move from dry vans to containers, JB Hunt and some of the other largest outfits notwithstanding. Remember, truckers are allowed 68' of combo trailer length, and 68' of combo trailer has more cubic feet than a 53' container. Added to this is the fact that 53' containers are usually limited to 67,000 lbs give or take, while many States allow trailer weights of up to 96,000 lbs. Thus, the 53' domestic container comes up short both in cubic feet and gross weight when compared to trailer combos and heavy haul trailers.
So, what we have is the railroads betting their fortunes on the 53' well car to haul 53' containers at 67k gross, while the truckers are running 68' trailer combos and/or 96k gross trailers and wondering why the railroads won't give the same favorable rates for combo trailers and heavy haul trailers as they do 53' containers. When push comes to shove, the truckers are going to run what works best for them, not what works best for the railroads. Thus, we have all those 53' well cars being stored.
