CORTEZ News Article



BNSF Rail Delays Notice
		Published 20050113
		Jeff.Hamelink@CORTEZteam.com

There are significant delays on cargo departure from Seattle due to BNSF railcar shortage. The Columbia 014E cargo drayed from T-5 to BNSF ramp in Seattle last Friday and Saturday (1/7 and 1/8) still has a portion at BNSF in Seattle, and the majority of that cargo will not depart until later this week. BN/Seattle is experiencing a rail car imbalance (more EB than WB cargo). Some of the causes are listed below: 1) New, higher E/B intermodal volume due to permanent diversions from SoCal to Seattle. 2) More W/B cargo and empties moving out via LA/LB instead of Seattle. 3) Recent BNSF embargo on empties coming in to T-18 in Seattle. This embargo was lifted today, but was affected in response to T-18's severe congestion, which was backing up onto the BNSF rail system prior to the holidays. BNSF is aware of the problem and are working to mitigate the car shortage. Currently they are moving empty cars from across the Midwest to Seattle, and are even pulling cars out of "deep long term storage" to move to Seattle. In one instance it took several days to unbury the cars from the snow before they could be brought on-line..

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