Class I Briefs: BNSF, UP

“Thanks to Governor Greg Gianforte and Montana Department of Agriculture for joining Ardent Mills, Calumet Montana Refining, Bridge Agri Partners and about 30 community members for the groundbreaking of another rail expansion project,” the BNSF-served Port of Northern Montana reported via Facebook. (Port of Northern Montana Photograph)

BNSF releases an operations update for customers, and the BNSF-served Port of Northern Montana multimodal hub center launches an expansion project. Also, Union Pacific (UP) joins Clean Fuels Alliance America.

BNSF

“BNSF operating teams are focused on maintaining positive performance momentum across the network,” the Class I reported in an online operational-performance update for the week ending June 4. “Average car velocity, currently at its highest weekly level this year, increased week-over-week and is over 4% higher than the average for May. Terminal dwell improved by almost 4% compared to the prior week, over 4% from the previous month, and is at the lowest level we have reported this year. Our local service compliance measure, which reflects our timeliness in handling carload freight, exceeds 91%.” The Class I railroad noted that “[w]ith the Memorial Day holiday included for this reporting period, the total volume moved by the railroad was down versus the previous week.”

Meanwhile, the BNSF-served Port of Northern Montana on June 5 held a groundbreaking ceremony for its $3.6 million Operating and Storage Track Project in Shelby, Mont., KRTV reported June 6.

The project includes a dedicated track to the Ardent Mills grain elevator, which Ardent Mills Senior Director Kyle Robson said will ultimately allow the company to “bring more wheat in that we can then send out to our mills across North America.”

“We are the largest flour miller in North America, using the wheat that is grown right here in Montana and across America,” Robson said during the event. “We produce a thousand truckloads of flour every single day, and this facility right here in Shelby gives a local grower easy access to the market.”

In Shelby, the facility is said to purchase up to 9 million pounds of oats, wheat and pulses per year from Montana producers and to transload the product to mills across the country and to Canada.

“Thanks to Governor Greg Gianforte and Montana Department of Agriculture for joining Ardent Mills, Calumet Montana Refining, Bridge Agri Partners, and about 30 community members for the groundbreaking of another rail expansion project,” the Port of Northern Montana reported via Facebook.

UP

UP reported via LinkedIn that it is the first railroad to join Clean Fuels Alliance America, a national trade association for producers, marketers, and users of biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel. “This membership will help amplify our advocacy for mode-neutral programs that promote fair market access to biofuels, including renewables and feedstocks, in the 23 states where we operate,” UP said.

Based in Jefferson City, Mo., Clean Fuels Alliance America describes itself as “the coordinating body for research and development in the United States, comprised of state, national and international feedstock and feedstock processor organizations, fuel suppliers, fuel marketers, distributors and technology providers.”

In 1992, Missouri state soybean commodity groups founded the National SoyDiesel Development Board, which changed its name in 1994 to the National Biodiesel Board. In 2021, the National Biodiesel Board became Clean Fuels Alliance America, in a move that was said to “reflect the organization’s position as a proven, innovative part of America’s clean energy mix.”

Starting with seven members in 1992, Clean Fuels Alliance America now represents more than 100 companies in nearly all 50 states, varying from Fortune 100 companies to small, family-owned producers.