Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

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TC Man
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Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by TC Man »

I decided to click on the questions page of GoGo Squeeze website, asking about any potential chance of rail service at the Traverse City (Grawn) location. Received a rather interesting response today, though does this mean Grawn? Does the GLC marketing person see this board? Seems like she's saying rail shipping to their distribution center from the plants, though I could be wrong.



"Thanks for reaching out to GoGo squeeZ about our Traverse City plant.  

We have shared your comments with our team. Now that we have opened a new distribution center, we are able to further reduce our carbon footprint by utilizing rail as our main lanes to transfer our product.  We are very excited about this!

Thanks again for your interest and concern.

Best,"
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SD80MAC
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by SD80MAC »

Maybe they will be trucking to an intermodal terminal?
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AARR
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by AARR »

I 2nd this
SD80MAC wrote:
Fri Sep 18, 2020 3:08 pm
Maybe they will be trucking to an intermodal terminal?
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TC Man
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by TC Man »

Probably, but seems like potentially an opportunity for GLC to get it by rail from the plant..Probably not able to compete with truck though. Though why even bother with rail intermodel then, if they truck to the nearest intermodel facility, would that be Chicago? In which case just truck all the way to the distribution center, wherever that's at?
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NS3322
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by NS3322 »

Materne (parent company of Go Go Squeeze) has a distribution center in Bolingbrook, Illinois. From the way the email is worded it sounds like the finished product will be transported to an intermodal terminal and than loaded on a train probably to the West Coast.

I know for a fact that Campbell's Soup in Napoleon, Ohio does the same thing; trucking the finished product to CSX in North Baltimore and shipping it to California and other terminals.

Companies like GoGo Squeeze are highly unlikely to ship their products in boxcars straight out of the main plant (mainly because of JIT). Inbound raw materials (such as sugar) are typically what these food processing companies receive.

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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by Raildudes dad »

I track inbound cars for a business. They are right up front - if they could get it by truck, they would. So I've been tracking their cars for 4+ years. I have a number of horror stories of cars either going astray or just sit in a yard with a "bad" waybill that looks good. I need to monitor the progress of every car just about every day. I'm getting fairly good at identifying ones with an issue. :shock:

David Lang
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by David Lang »

Keep those railcars moving Raildude's Dad.

By the way, how are you doing sir? Haven't talk to you in a while.

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AARR
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by AARR »

NS3322 wrote:
Fri Sep 18, 2020 10:46 pm
I know for a fact that Campbell's Soup in Napoleon, Ohio does the same thing; trucking the finished product to CSX in North Baltimore and shipping it to California and other terminals.
Campbell's inbound raw materials is shipped to a warehouse on the other side of town managed by a logistics company. More and more companies are subbing out transportation to professional companies and let them decide how to best move their commodities.
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justalurker66
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by justalurker66 »

I am surprised that they know that a train is involved in their shipments.

One challenge of logistics is being able to handle the product at both ends. Boxcars work nice if the warehouses at both ends can handle rail (including yard work of re-spotting cars if more cars are on property than loading doors) but warehouses using trailers are much more flexible. Spot and respot trailers at any door at any time without needing to have multiple vehicles ready to move at the same time. Smaller operators can get away with railroad spotted cars (fill the empties then hope the railroad takes them away promptly and provides more cars to fill) but those rubber tire trailers have flexibility at both ends of the journey. Pull them off a train in California and take them to whatever warehouse they need to reach.

Unit trains of multiple cars between two points are an excellent use of trains. One still has to have adequate facilities at both ends. But the more product moving between A and B instead of A and B through Z the more point to point transport makes sense.

TC Man
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by TC Man »

Well wishful thinking anyway, in reality, I foresee those tracks beyond Beacon to be abandoned officially before long.
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Racer
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by Racer »

Could inbound sugar or other ingredients for Go Go Squeeze be a viable business for GLC to pick-up? Is there any other prospective business in TC aside from the two current shippers?
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chapmaja
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by chapmaja »

I decided to look into the location of the distribution centers. Currently, all I can find is a single location, in Bollingbrook, Il listed as a distribution center for GoGoSqueez's parent company in the US. They list jobs in four locations, Nampa, ID, TC, Michigan, Lockport, Il, and New York, NY.

Looking at maps of the locations, Lockport, Il does not get rail service. The nearest tracks are roughly a mile west of the facility and have I-355 in the way.

Nampa, ID, has a significant amount of rail service in the vicinity of the plant, but does not have access to the plant.

TC is the only location I see with direct rail access.

Could they use direct rail in the future? It is always possible that they have opened a new distribution facility I can't find, that does use rail service. I think it is much more likely that the rail service they will be using would be intermodal containers to/from Chicago (unless a new facility is going in TC that I'm not aware of - it if it is, its a better kept secret than Disney buying land to make Disney World. )

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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by PatAzo »

The difficulty shipping food products by rail is most receivers do not need boxcar quantity. A move to distribution center in Bolingbrook would take two Class 1's to make the delivery. I'd wonder if the delivering carrier would be enthusiastic receiving a car in Chicago to move it 10 miles down the line.

DLM
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by DLM »

For awhile, all finished product was moved to a warehouse in Grand Rapids due to the shortage of trucks in Grawn. From there, it was trucked to their customers. Not sure who has the warehouse contract currently. They ran daily trucks with packaging/manufacturing items north and applesauce south. Cheery Growers did the same thing from their warehouse near I-94. I provided all the intermodal services to Cherry Growers prior to their bankruptcy. I tried to work with Materne with no luck. Also, GoGo Squeeze packaging would not ride well in a boxcar.

joeyuboats
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by joeyuboats »

Well, whatever happens, I hope that it all works out for the locals, the city and county, and the railroad. Employment is employment, and that is a good thing all around. The state needs it.
That being said----what the heck kind of name is Go Go Squeeze????

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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by Raildudes dad »

I work with a customer on rail service. In the last 3 weeks I have 2 horror story's that would drive anyone to trucks regardless of cost. Worse than delivering and placing a loaded center beam from Alberta in a refinery on Delaware Bay in spite of being notified and then ............... sending it back to the original shipper. We got them to reverse that move in MN and it finally got to MI
NS customer service people must get a bonus on how short they can get get call to be. First, they want to transfer you to the yard the car is in. Sometimes it goes well and others....not so well. Just let it ring, no voicemail there. Second, quick answer, the waybill is fine. Slow down please, the waybill is not fine. Tell me where the car is going from where it is. Where is the customer? At the address shown. "Oh we don't serve there. Why have the previous 30 made it there. I don't know, we will return it back to CN. Look up the waybill on car xx 123456. it made it. We still need to return it to CN. Always end with "Can I help you with anything else? "not today" while I'm thinking I don't have another one astray ... yet.

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DaveO
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Re: Go Go Squeeze email stating rail service starting

Unread post by DaveO »

joeyuboats wrote:
Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:27 am
what the heck kind of name is Go Go Squeeze????
A name aimed for the target market... children.

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