Chicago: Rail Logistics and Iowa Pacific Holdings have a new partnership in which Rail Logistics (www.rrlx.com) will manage, operate and market Iowa Pacific's (www.iowapacific.com) refrigerated railcar fleet beginning May 1, 2012.
The refrigerated railcar fleet will initially be equipped with 150 cars. Iowa Pacific has ordered an additional one-hundred 64-ft. refrigerated boxcars, which will be added to the fleet in 2013. All cars in the Iowa Pacific fleet are electronically tracked and internal temperatures are monitored to ensure product quality on delivery.
Iowa Pacific Holdings selected Rail Logistics because of its successful track record of managing, operating and marketing both refrigerated railcar and intermodal container fleets. Since 2006, Rail Logistics managed and operated the highly successful Produce Shippers Rail Car Pool Program for the State of Washington. The state pool offered railcars to shippers of perishable products who no longer had access to railroad supplied railcars.
Additionally, in early 2010, Rail Logistics launched the "Cold Train" Pacific Northwest-Chicagoland Express Refrigerated Intermodal Service in partnership with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) and the Port of Quincy (www.portofquincy.org) in Washington State. To date, Cold Train has shipped over 5,000 loads of Washington produce.
"Rail Logistics is excited about our new partnership with Iowa Pacific. Our team will add expertise and experience to help maximize the utilization of Iowa Pacific's refrigerated railcar fleet. We look forward to many years of continued growth," said Steve Lawson, president of Rail Logistics.
"The partnership with Rail Logistics will enable us to deploy our expanded car fleet beyond our traditional Colorado potato business," said Steve Gregory, executive vice president marketing for Iowa Pacific. "With tight truck capacity and high fuel prices, we think there is a solid market for refrigerated rail transportation."
For more information, please contact Nanci Norman of Rail Logistics-Cold Train at [email protected] or 913-491-0050 and/or Steve Gregory of Iowa Pacific Holdings at 806-438-0891 or [email protected].
