Port Bienville’s Shortline Railroad crews keep things rolling for industrial customers

February 1, 2015

Hancock County is home to an array of transportation infrastructure designed to support business and industry. Port Bienville's Shortline Railroad, which has long served Hancock County's industrial park tenants, is arguably one of the county's most important. 

"Our railroad has been a major catalyst in the continuing growth of Port Bienville," said Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission Executive Director Ashley Edwards. "Our ability to provide locally-managed, efficient rail service to our tenant industries sets us apart from many of the other industrial parks in Mississippi." The shortline railroad is owned and operated by the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission and began operation in 1971. The rail line's interchange with CSX is four miles outside the port. "As it comes into the port, the line spurs off to the different companies that use the service," said Keith Bowman, Port Operations Manager. The shortline rail is seeing a significant increase in usage as a result of the growth of Port Bienville's industrial facilities and their related increased production. There has been a 50 percent increase in interchange traffic from Oct. 14, 2014 to Jan. 15, 2015. CSX delivers cars filled with raw materials and drops off empty cars for the plants that need them for their outbound products. Rail customers include many of Hancock County's largest industries, such as SABIC Innovative Plastics, DAK Americas, SNF Polychemie, Jindal Tubular U.S.A, A&R, CPR, Calgon Carbon, The Andersons Inc. and Manufab. "On occasion, we move cars for outside parties, as well," Bowman said. "We lease three locomotives to keep the cars moving," said Bowman. Three train crews with two or three people on each crew work six days a week, depending on the demand. "We may move 20 or 30 cars and it could take a half day to get the cars in storage ready to ship and go to the plant," he said. "The good thing about being a shortline, the plants get good service. If a train comes in at midnight, or we get any special request, we usually can meet it." The storage yard which is located just outside the park can hold about 500 rail cars. The rail car repair facility has been operated for the port by The Andersons Inc., of Maumee, Ohio, since 2005. The company has 18 employees at Port Bienville certified to do major repairs, blasting and painting of cars. "We send crews to plants to inspect and clean cars at the plants as well," said Ashley Willis, the Anderson's shop manager at the rail car repair facility. The Andersons Rail Group has a fleet of more than 22,000 various railcars and locomotives that it leases, manages and sells. Some of those cars are sent to Port Bienville for cleaning and repair. The Andersons' Port Bienville site will expand this year to add a second track that runs through the repair facility, she said. Every morning, the short line railroad crew gets a switch list from the plants with the number of cars and where they are needed. Some of the cars are moved to The Andersons for cleaning or repairs. With a large customer like DAK requiring 50 or 60 cars at a time, Bowman said, "it keeps us busy." Port Bienville plants rely on rail services more than trucks, Bowman said. There are advantages to using rail transportation. "A rail car will hold what four trucks can and it's a lot more economical." When the outbound cars get to the CSX yard, they are assembled on various departing trains. "Twenty cars might go to 15 different places in the country and other railroads may pick up cars," Bowman said. The rail line is self-sustaining and the services keep customers operating efficiently. One feature of the shortline is weighing the cars. "We have an in motion rail scale that weighs cars as they are rolling." Bowman said. "We send the plants the weight information of their cars so if they are overloaded they have to remove some material. It's a very good service to have."