Shippers that are looking for new transportation opportunities in North Carolina will be happy to hear that CSX is making Rocky Mount a new East Coast hub for cargo container shipping and receiving.
Currently under construction, the “Carolina Connector” is an intermodal terminal that will be used to draw and reroute containers from East Coast trains and trucks from North Carolina’s ports in Morehead City and Wilmington.
Situated minutes from Kanban Logistics headquarters, the new, $272 million hub will help boost the economy in Eastern North Carolina.
CSX’s North Carolina hub will also help shippers work smarter, better, and faster in today’s challenging transportation environment. Here are six advantages that you can expect from using this new CSX hub:
For shippers, the project will help connect east and west transportation routes across the state and nationwide.
The facility will be situated east of N.C. Wesleyan, not far from the Interstate 95 corridor, between College Road and Old Battleboro Road.
The new facility will help companies leverage lower fuels costs associated with rail.
On average, railroads are four times more fuel efficient than trucks, according to the American Association of Railroads (AAR), meaning that higher fuel prices put trucks at a relative disadvantage vis-à-vis railroads.
Shippers will also be better positioned to adapt during the current and growing truck driver shortage.
Finding enough people who are willing and able to be long-haul truck drivers is a constant challenge for trucking companies — annual driver turnover at trucking firms often approaches 100 percent, the AAR reports. When rail intermodal is used, truck driver shortages are much less of a problem.
Companies will gain efficiencies by cutting down on their volume of shipments.
If you’re operating a single DC in one state, and then shipping to customers that are situated elsewhere, you will likely run into efficiency issues when shipping full container-loads. Using the new CSX hub, you’ll be able to fulfill orders nationally by simply segregating and stocking predetermined inventory, and then transloading the balance and shipping it out to your customers via rail.
Using intermodal shipping helps companies reduce their transportation costs.
Transportation costs typically comprise about 66% of a firm’s total logistics costs, CSX reports. Intermodal shipping also provides access to capacity, improves product flows and ultimately, improves your bottom line. “Optimizing your freight network by substituting intermodal rail on moves over 500 miles can result in cost savings of at least 15%,” according to CSX.
Shippers will get more convenient access to NC transloading opportunities.
The process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another, transloading comes into play when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip (e.g., when products must be shipped internationally from one inland point to another).
The Carolinas Gateway Partnership was instrumental in working with CSX and the State of NC to get the project done. Kanban is excited about the logistics possibilities created by the CSX North Carolina hub. With a facility right next door to the “Carolina Connector” in Rocky Mount, Kanban can help you leverage these and other benefits while also saving you money, time, and hassle.
Please contact us to discuss how you can use our expertise, services, and location to your advantage as Eastern North Carolina takes its latest step in establishing the region as a vital logistics hub.
