Railex guarantees five-day delivery from coast to coast
Cecilia Parsons -- Capital Press -- April 23, 2009
DELANO - Train transportation of West Coast fruits and vegetables to the East Coast is experiencing a revival thanks to multimillion-dollar investments into modern facilities.
Railex LLC is the first and only nonstop rail unit for perishables that guarantees a maximum five-day cross-country delivery. Since Railex opened for business six months ago in Delano, shipping volume has increased to the point where a second East Coast-bound train will be added the first week in May.
"They're the real deal, very professional," said Sunkist transportation manager Robert Quinn.
The exclusive rail service Railex delivers is a far cry from the railcar shipments of the '50s and '60s. East Coast buyers demand a fresher product, Quinn said, and Railex's guaranteed five-day arrival makes it happen. "It's not like the days when it would take 10 days to make the trip," he said.
Since October the Railex facility in Delano has sent a 55-car train across the country every Thursday night. The train arrives five days later at the firm's terminal in Rotterdam, N.Y. Railex's other West Coast facility in Wallula, Wash., also sends a produce-filled train east once a week. The second Delano train will leave on Wednesday mornings.
Just about every type of fresh fruit or vegetable grown on the West Coast has been shipped from the Delano or Wallula terminal, Gary Pena, general manager at Delano, said.
"We shipped 90,000 cases of citrus just last week," said Pena. "Most fruit has a seven-day fresh period, so it's critical we get it there in five."
The 225,000-square-foot Railex facility in Delano offers complete shipping service including quality inspections. When trucks deliver produce, it is unloaded into temperature-controlled rooms specific to the product. The plant has 12 separate computer-controlled bays. Trucks unload at the 40 receiving docks on the east side of the plant.
"It gets pretty busy around here on Thursdays; that's our rush hour," Pena said, explaining that companies time harvests to coincide with the train departure, and a lot of produce comes in during the final hours.
Keeping the cold chain intact throughout the process also ensures quality. Pena said their system monitors temperatures from unloading at Delano to arrival in Rotterdam.
Readings are taken before produce is unloaded from delivery trucks. Storage temperatures are monitored and quality inspections are done on a percentage of the pallets from each load.
Depending on the type of produce, Pena's loading crew packs it for protection during the ride. Each railcar contains about $5,000 worth of airbags, foam padding and other devices to secure the load.
Nineteen railcars can be loaded at one time on the quarter-mile-long dock on the west side of the facility. Pena said Railex contracts with a locomotive company to move the 64-foot-long refrigerated railcars from the main Union Pacific tracks to the dock and back to the main rail when loaded.
One of the major investments by Railex was construction of 51⁄2 miles of track from the main line to the plant. Pena pointed out the concrete railroad ties used in front of the dock.
"We can't have down time to make repairs. Those won't have to be replaced," said Pena.
The Railex operation was the brainchild of former produce buyer Andy Pollak who is the company CEO. He began negotiations with railroad companies two years ago to secure dedicated routes necessary for speedy deliveries. Location was a prime consideration, and Delano is in the middle of both citrus and table grape production and close enough to coastal vegetable growing areas to be feasible.
Railex had a cost advantage over truck shipment last summer when fuel prices were high. That has eased so far this year, but Pena said rail is still competitive, especially in volume year-round rates. The service is an opportunity not only for large grower-shippers, but for smaller operations that want to expand their customer base.
"This absolutely has the potential for saving on shipping," said Barry Bedwell of California Grape and Tree Fruit League. "Last summer at the height of the energy crisis it cost close to $10,000 a load, even with lower price fuel it has to be competitive."
Cecilia Parsons is a staff writer based in Ducor. E-mail: cparsons@capitalpress.com.
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