Several key members of the Port of Seattle WA’s Commission and Executive Team visited the Port of Quincy WA Intermodal Terminal recently.
The purpose of the Port of Seattle officials’ visit was to meet with the Port of Quincy commissioners to learn more about recent economic and transportation developments at the Port of Quincy, including high-tech data center expansions by Microsoft and Yahoo and new major data center development projects by Dell and Sabey.
More importantly, Port of Seattle officials were provided a tour of the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal and of the Pacific Northwest-Chicagoland Express “Cold Train” Intermodal Service, which is celebrating a successful one-year anniversary.
Since the Cold Train refrigerated intermodal container rail and distribution service (between Quincy and Chicago IL) started about a year ago, it has rapidly grown in popularity with produce shippers in the Pacific Northwest as well as shippers in the Midwest. Five days a week, the Cold Train service departs the Port of Quincy in central Washington loaded with fresh or frozen produce destined for the Midwest. The produce, grown and packed by local growers/packers in Washington state, is loaded into the Cold Train’s 53-foot refrigerated containers and brought to the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal. At the terminal, the containers are double-stacked onto an expedited non-stop train to Chicago.
Given the success of the Cold Train from Quincy to Chicago, the Port of Seattle was interested in how it could work with the Port of Quincy as an inland port to facilitate intermodal shipments by rail from central Washington to the Port of Seattle. Additionally, there was discussion about how the Cold Train’s success of shipping both inbound and outbound cargo has effectively turned the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal into a key distribution hub for the central Washington area.
For more details about the Port of Seattle’s recent visit, contact Pat Connelly at [email protected] or 509-214-7696. Access www.portofquincy.org, www.portofquincyintermodal.com, or www.rrlx.com/www.icoldtrain.com/iColdTrain/Home.html for more information on other aspects of these operations.
