Watco: Dow Industrial Rail Services Transition Complete in U.S.

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
(Photograph Courtesy of Watco)

(Photograph Courtesy of Watco)

Watco is now providing industrial rail services inside four of Dow Inc.’s U.S. chemical plants, reports the Pittsburg, Kans.-based owner and operator of short lines, terminals, ports and mechanical shops.

Watco in July 2020 announced its $310 million-plus acquisition of Dow’s rail infrastructure assets and equipment at six North American locations, where polyethylene pellets are produced and loaded into railcars and transported across North America, or exported globally.

The goal of the acquisition, Watco reported at that time, was to provide select rail services at Freeport and Seadrift, Tex.; St. Charles and Plaquemine, La.; and Fort Saskatchewan and Prentiss, Alberta, Canada. Services include railcar switching, railcar storage, hopper car cleaning and track maintenance.

Watco in July 2021 began a staggered transition of services from existing providers, according to the January 2023 edition of Watco’s company magazine, The Dispatch.

Watco Sales Director Caleb Dellasega

“Over a period of 15 months, the Watco team accomplished an impressive feat of successfully transitioning the switching and hopper car wash services at the U.S. sites from existing service providers to being performed by Watco’s own team members,” The Dispatch reported. “This transition saw more than 300 team members join Watco. The changeover was complete at the four U.S. locations … as of January 1. At that time, Watco added another 60 new team members to provide track maintenance services at the sites.”

“We are excited to complete the transition at all U.S. sites,” Watco Sales Director Caleb Dellasega said in the magazine report. “The work that the operations team has done … has set the foundation for our long-term partnership with Dow and our other customers at these sites.”

In related developments, Watco in August 2022 was selected as the new rail operator of the Great Plains Industrial Park in Parsons, Kans., and in November 2022 completed a $6.7 million expansion and improvement project at its Refugio, Tex.-based rail, storage and transloading facility.

Tags: , , ,