Rail On / Rail Off: Coos Bay, Jaxport

 

A new rail spur is handling inbound freight in the Port of Coos Bay because of the collaborative efforts of a tribal entity, a public agency and a private business.

 

The Coquille Economic Development Corporation (CEDCO) and the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay announced the completion of a rail spur to the K2 Exports yard on CEDCO’s Ko-Kwel Wharf property. The spur allows K2 Exports to bring logs by rail directly to its export terminal on the wharf.

 

CEDCO estimates that it took 1,250 truckloads of logs to fill the Ken Hope, the most recent ship to depart from Ko-Kwel Terminal. It would take only 350 rail cars to handle that same volume of logs. This efficiency makes it more cost effective for logging operations in the Willamette Valley to export logs through K2 Exports and the Port of Coos Bay while also avoiding the need to add considerable truck traffic on roads leading to the coast. 

 

K2 Exports reports seven carloads of logs arrived on the day the rail spur opened, and another seven cars arrived two days later. These were all shipped from Eugene by a company that has been looking to enter the export market.

 

According to Patrick Kerr, director of rail operations for the Port, establishing a rail spur to bring inbound forest products from the Willamette Valley is an important step toward opening more export opportunities for inland businesses.

 

"The Coos Bay rail line traditionally has served to export forest products from Southwestern Oregon to inland markets across the United States through its connection to the National Rail Network in Eugene," said Kerr. "The new spur at K2 will create a new opportunity to bring forest products from the Willamette Valley into the Port for export to foreign markets."

 

With the rail spur in full operation, K2 Exports expects to increase its number of vessel calls in the Coos Bay Harbor.

 

Highly trained master riggers moved two locomotives each weighing more than 363,000 pounds through the heavy lift and specialty cargo berth at JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal, home of one of the nation’s highest-capacity weight bearing docks.

 

The 68-foot long locomotives arrived at JAXPORT by CSX rail from Illinois. Portus stevedores loaded the locomotives onto the charter vessel Eemslift Dafne using the ship’s onboard cranes. The move was arranged by Houston-based freight forwarder Logistics International, Inc. and the cargo is en route to Guinea, West Africa.

 

JAXPORT terminals are served by three U.S. interstates (I-10, I-95 and I-75) and 36 daily trains via three railroads (CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Florida East Coast Railway). JAXPORT also has the highest and widest cargo clearance available for port access by rail on CSX’s national system.