Small-Road News: Watco, Pioneer Lines

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Transportation service and logistics company Watco is part of a joint venture adding a 400-car SIT yard to the Port 10 Logistics Center in Baytown, Tex.

Transportation service and logistics company Watco is part of a joint venture adding a 400-car SIT yard to the Port 10 Logistics Center in Baytown, Tex.

Port 10 Watco Rail Logistics will start work next month on a new 400-car storage-in-transit (SIT) yard in Texas. Also, Pioneer Lines’ Napoleon, Defiance & Western Railway will serve a multi-million-dollar fertilizer plant, to be launched in Ohio in 2024.

Port 10 Watco Rail Logistics—a joint venture of transportation service and logistics company Watco, Pontikes Development, and McNair Interests—is adding a new SIT yard to the Baytown, Tex.-based Port 10 Logistics Center (pictured below). It will connect directly to Union Pacific and the Class I railroad’s Coady Yard. In addition to 400 railcar spots, 3 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space will be available for forward-positioning customer products.

Port 10 Logistics Center in Baytown, Tex.

The new yard is slated for completion by the end of first-quarter 2023, and “will add convenience, flexibility and operational efficiencies to our customers in the Baytown area,” said Marc Massoglia, Senior Vice President of Sales for Terminal and Port Services at Watco.

“Watco is the ideal partner to round out our multimodal capabilities at Port 10 Logistics Center,” said George Pontikes of Pontikes Development. “Their expertise and national network will add a tremendous amount of value and services to Port 10 tenants and the Baytown and Port of Houston industrial market as a whole.”

Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc., which serves the agriculture, mining and industrial markets, is building a new fertilizer plant in Defiance, Ohio.

Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc. in first-quarter 2024 will open a new facility in Defiance, Ohio, focusing on liquid sulfur-based crop nutrition brands Thio-Sul®, KTS® and K-Row 23® as well as sulfite chemistries for industrial markets. It will be served by Napoleon, Defiance & Western Railway (NDW).

“Since taking ownership of the NDW, we have worked closely with local, state and federal partners to invest over $13 million to rehabilitate the line,” Pioneer Lines President and CEO Alex Yeros said. “We made these investments with growth in mind and knowing that the NDW is strategically located to serve and connect the region’s growing economy to domestic and global markets. We are delighted Tessenderlo Kerley recognized this as well. They have been terrific partners in bringing this project to fruition and we look forward to helping them grow and thrive in Ohio.”

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