b'36American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(ROUTEcontinued fromfor moving vehicles over dis- mark of that PSR strategy wasservices that contribute to thethatdisplaybetterproduc-page 34) tance when compared to autoa robust scheduling componentoverallproduct.Perhapstivity andconsistencyin terminals in Mexico, one on thehaulingbytruck. Accordingbacked up by detailed analyt- the easiest comparison is thatshort improves a customers Pacific coast in Lazaro Carde- totheAmericanAssocia- ics which is also a critical ele- theservicedemandsforanbottomlinethisservice nas, another facility on the GulftionofRailroads(AAR)inment of AMPORTS approachEV like Telsa are very differ- has moved beyond the stan-side at Altamira, and the thirda typical year railroads carryinredefiningits in central Mexico at Queretaro.1.8 million carloads of autosproduct.Akeyfeatureoftheandparts.AndasKachrooAnd another AMPORTfootprintisthepointedoutintheinterviewcomplimentary ownershipofpropertiesandwith the AJOT, there is littlewrinkletothe theirstrategiclocations.Forcomparison between the haul- AMPORTS strat-example, Freeport, Texas oning capacity of a freight trainegy is the development of inland the Gulf of Mexico is located- that can literally haul hun- terminals on rail-served routes. adjacenttotheburgeon- dreds of vehicles - to a truckThe auto processor already ingautomarketinTexas.that moves less than a dozenhas an inland terminal up and But Freeport also provides a(normallynine).TheAARrunningandplansformore locationrelativelynearthenotesthatrailroadsusuallyin the future. These new rail-PanamaCanalgatewayandhandle around 75% of all theserved inland terminals offer the facilities in Mexico, espe- newcarspurchasedintheanopportunitytoleverage cially Altamira.US in an average year. Andthe existing terminal network. Thefacilitiesmyseemrail is often a near to end-to- Bybeinginland,theyare randomlyplacedbutthereend transit, taking up a lionsplacedoutsidetheregional is a logic to the distribution.share of the surface portion ofport zones that are often con-AMPORTSautoprocessingthe supply chain move.gestedandwherelandisat terminalsarestrategicallyFor that reason, Kachrooapremium.Byestablishing spreadout(exceptingthehasplacedanemphasisininlandterminals, AMPORTS three located in the US ro/rodeveloping a rail strategy tonot only is creating new auto hubthe Port of Baltimore)exploittheinherentadvan- processing space but an abil- ent than that of a Jeep, a Forddard pricing model. The anal-and the two in Northern Cali- tagesthatrailbringstotheity to service their customers150 or a Cadillac.ogy is that the pricing is more fornia.Thereisaself-sup- tablevolume and speed. fasterandmoreefficientlyEVsales,whichdespitelike an insurance policy. The porting mechanism built intoFromamile-highviewraising the productivity of thethecurrentheadwinds,areservicemodelenablesthe theirlocations.Forexample,oftheautomotivesupplynetwork itself. This makes theexpectedtosurgeoverthecustomertobetterweather iftheBaltimoreterminalschain, the more efficient theservice more reliable and con- nextdecade,accordingtoadisruptionsandtohave need to shift vehicles beyondutilizationoftherailseg- sistent for the OEM customerrecentstudybyCoxAuto- moreconsistentoperations theirlocalfacilities,thereisment, the more efficient theand for the supply chain part- motive.Andtheprocessingand thus a better return than theJacksonville,Floridater- entire supply chain becomesners, whether they are the ro/ demands of an EV are verymight otherwise be the case.minal.AndJacksonvillecanfortheOEMsandotherrocarriers,truckersorotherdifferent than an ICE (internalWhile this is a different do the same with the facilitysupplychainpartners.Andthird parties.combustionengine)vehicleroute than other auto proces-locatedinPortEverglades,forAMPORTSthegreaterbecause of the batteries. Autosors have traditionally taken, south Florida. Equally, the ter- theefficiencyoftheautoc ustoMerc entric processors have to adjust foritopensthedoortoanew minal in Freeport, Texas cansupplychain,thegreaterAsKachrooexplainedthese changes. For example,approach to auto logistics.providesupportto Altamira,thevolumeofvehiclesthethisupwardleveragingofaquicklookatAMPORTS Mexico on the Gulf Coast sidecompanysfootprintcantheentiresupplychainfitsterminallegend(seemap) while Lazaro Cardenas on thehandle.Wewanttomakeintotheoverallconceptofindicatestheyalreadyhave(CONTRACTScontinued Pacific coast can support thetheproductmoreseamlessbeingcustomercentric.electric charging facilities atfrom page 34)Benicia and Antioch facilitiesfor everybody [in the supplyAndmanyofAMPORTSfouroftheirautoprocess- existing fleet, and the devel-inNorthernCalifornia.Andchain], Kachroo explained.OEM customers are legend- ingterminalsspecificallytoopmentofnewtechnologies. the Queretaro facility in cen- In a sense Kachroos strat- ary brand names in the auto- handle EVs. Continuing our positive start tralMexicocansupporttheegy for the auto supply chain ismotive circles. They includeThe smorgasbord of ser- to2024,thesetwoseparate, two coastal facilities.reminiscent of E. Hunter Harri- nearlyallthebigautomak- vicesallcontributestothesignificant multi-year contracts WhilemostAMPORTSsons Precision Scheduled RailerslikeGM,Ford,Toyota,customercentricservicefurther strengthen our existing terminals are located in port(PRS) strategy that he imple- Subaru, Nissan, Mazda, Mit- model.partnerships with key custom-areas they are also supportedmentedinthe1990satCana- subishi, Honda, Hyundai andAndthisfeedsintoers in the high and heavy and by highway and railroad linksdian National (CN) and spreadTesla,justtonameafew.anotheraspectofthebusi- automotivesegments,extend-toeachotherandtheircus- in one form or another to nearlyAlthough in general the basicness model: moving beyonding predictability for both the tomersthe original equip- every other Class 1railroad. Theservice of auto processing ispricingasKachrooarticu- customerandWalleniusWil-mentmanufacturersbetterPSRbusinessmodelempha- fairlyuniform,withineachlatestheconcept.Whenthehelmsen, says Pia Synnerman, known as OEMs.sized consistent, reliable andbrandandindeedeachtypeservicedeliverstheKPIsChief Customer Officer at Wal-Andcomingbacktothepredictableservice.Ahall- ofvehiclearespecialized(Key Performance Indicators)lenius Wilhelmsen.Baltimore terminals and supply chainresilience.Although manyofthero/rocalls wereshiftedtootherports, because of the closure of the shipchannelfollowingthe MVDalisallisionwiththe Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 th,the auto process-inginAMPORTSfacilities still continued. According to Kachroo, 60% of the vehicles were returned and processed in April and they are expect-ing that figure to rise to 95% forApril.Withthechannel nowopenBaltimoresro/ro business which annually han-dles 840,000 units of which roughlyhalfarehandledby one of AMPORTS facilities, shouldreturntofulloperat-ing capacity.W hatsW orking on ther ailroadAndtheautoproces-sors railroad links are poten-tially a differentiator from Kachroosperspective.Rail transportation is hard to beat'