Trains – October 2019

Pacific Rim markets, a full sailing day clos-
er than shipping from the ports on Puget
Sound or Columbia or Willamette rivers.
It is these reasons that traffic to the
port has increased 300 percent over the
past five years and is one of the West
Coast’s largest auto-export facilities.
Sorensen says the port’s strength is its
ability to draw from several railroads. “It
has open access to both BNSF and UP,
which may not be the case at other Pacific
ports,” he says. It is this open access that
keeps rates competitive, resulting in the
port becoming more marketable in the
future as there is room for development.
In 2003, the Port of Grays Harbor ex-
panded with partner Ag Processing Inc. to
build an on-wharf, bulk-loading, and stor-
age facility at Terminal 2 for soybean prod-
ucts that are shipped by rail. AGP, the port,
and PS&P have grown this business to

require the expansion of the site in 2010,

increasing its ability to handle more storage

and to transload more product. The expan-

sion included the addition of 37,000 feet of

rail set to Class 1 track standards and the

construction of nine ladder tracks capable of

holding unit trains. Two additional full-loop

tracks were added to serve the port.

“AGP continues to be a very strong

customer for us,” Sorensen says. “We have

planned for a full 38 percent of our car-

loadings for 2018 to be AGP based, but

that will be most likely surpassed.” This is

in part due to a poor soybean crop in

Argentina in 2018 that will require more

AGP export from the U.S. to its interna-

tional customers. PS&P receives from

BNSF more than 90 percent of AGP traffic.

PS&P’s largest customer is AGP and its

bulk transportation of soybeans.

Automobile export and imports began

at the Port of Grays Harbor in January

2010 with an agreement between Chrysler

and Pasha Automotive Services to export

vehicles out of the port for Chrysler. The

port also includes a location for Pasha to

perform post assembly line preparation of

the autos for delivery and distribution.

Nissan product imports also occur at the

port as it serves as an overflow location for

when Nissan encounters congestion at any

of its other Pacific ports. Auto traffic

counts for about 7% of carloads per year

with the majority of that traffic handed off

to Union Pacific at Centralia. In 2018, the

port processed about 110,000 automobiles.

Pasha Group Vice President of Business

Development and Administration Brian

Mason says that having a receptive carrier

like PS&P is crucial in the development of

its business model. “Both the port and [the

railroad] understood that export business

starts small with a handful of cars at a time.

It takes time to prove the service, and both

the port and [Puget Sound & Pacific] were

committed to build the business with us

and are very supportive of future growth,”

he says.

Off dock but still on port property is

Renewable Energy Group, Contanda, and

Paneltech. Renewable Energy receives tank

cars of oils and feedstock via vessel and rail

that is refined into biodiesel and then

shipped via rail and vessel. Contanda is a

transload location to offload methanol by

ship and onto rail and truck. Paneltech

manufactures resin materials for a multi-

tude of products.

Port of Grays Harbor Deputy Execu-

tive Director Leonard Barnes sees that

success of the port was only achieved

through the unique partnership with

PS&P. “The railroad has been a partner on

the growth at the port. They have provid-

ed excellent customer service to existing

customers and are providing solutions to

attract new businesses here. The utiliza-

tion of rail to the port is the key link to

our continued growth,” he says. “Custom-

ers choose the port due to proximity for

quick access to the ocean, and we focus on

key handling of dry and liquid bulk com-

modities roll on–roll off services (Ro/Ro)

and forest products. The port handled

over 115 vessels in 2018 and is continually

looking to attract new business in which

quality rail access that [PS&P] provides

would be crucial for long-term growth.”

30 OCTOBER 2019

With BNSF Railway run-through power on the point, a loaded grain train passes through Rochester, Wash., on its trip from Nebraska to the Port
of Grays Harbor, Sept. 12, 2010. Rochester siding hosts PLS Pole, which ships large wood poles for use in the utility industry.

19%

38%

12%

9%

7%

6%

LPG 1%

Other 4%

Chemicals 2%

Animal feed 2%

Biodiesel

Autos

Garbage

General freight

Timber

products

AGP

Source: Puget Sound

& Pacific Railroad

PS&P TRAFFIC COMPOSITION