Optimize Your Business with This Time-Tested Method
Are you looking to enhance efficiency, cut costs, and gain a competitive edge with your liquid blending operations? An often-overlooked solution holds the potential to transform your transportation strategy: rail transloading. This process involves transferring goods or cargo between different modes of transportation — usually rail and truck. In this blog, we’ll dive into the economic benefits of rail transit, and explore how rail transloading can save you time and money.
Advantages of Rail Transit
Economies of Scale Advantage
Rail transport allows for larger shipments, which means you can take advantage of economies of scale. Shipping more product means you could negotiate lower prices per shipment. And since a train can carry the freight equivalent of 300 trucks, you’ll likely see huge cost savings. You could then take this extra money and put it towards growing your business. Additionally, you could pass those cost savings onto your consumers, giving you a competitive edge in the market.
Reduced Fuel and Maintenance Costs
Trains are generally more fuel-efficient than trucks on a per-ton basis. According to Union Pacific, “trains can haul one ton of goods an average of more than 480 miles on just a single gallon of fuel, making them 3-4 times more fuel efficient than trucks.” With rail transit, you can reduce fuel consumption and costs related to long-haul trucking. As mentioned above, you could reinvest these savings into your business or pass them on to your consumers.
Faster Transit Times
Rail transportation is often faster than trucking for long-distance travel. Trains maintain a consistent speed of about 50 miles per hour, which tends to be a faster alternative for long routes. Trucks do have the speed advantage for shorter routes, but often experience delays for longer travel. Therefore, it’s important to take a critical look at distance before deciding on a transportation method.
Access to Intermodal Networks
As mentioned above, rail transit offers faster shipment for longer routes. But, the great news is you don’t have to just rely on just one transportation type for the entire journey. Rail transloading facilities are often part of larger intermodal transportation networks. Meaning, you could ship by train for a portion of the journey, then switch to trucks when it makes sense. This method can help you further streamline costs, which benefits your business in the long run.
Work with Crystal Packaging for Your Rail Transloading Needs
It’s no secret that rail transloading offers a wide range of benefits for businesses in multiple industries. So, how do you get started? The first step is to work with a reliable liquid blending partner, like Crystal Packaging. An experienced manufacturer can not only help you create your blended products, but also offer helpful guidance on how to effectively ship them. At Crystal Packaging, we have been blending and shipping liquid products since 1977. Whether you need to ship by rail, truck, or another method, we’ll be here to help.
Located in Henderson, Colorado, we’re known as a leading provider of toll blending, contract packaging, windshield wash production, and other services for multiple industries. Our 70,000-square-foot facility features multiple blend tanks and more than two million gallons of storage. With our high-speed filling lines, we can fill, label, package, and palletize containers of varying sizes, streamlining your operations and reducing the time needed to get your product where it needs to be. Additionally, our location allows us to serve a wide variety of distribution and production centers in the area, enabling our customers to extend their distribution capabilities.
Finally, we maintain a range of certifications to hold us to the highest standards in manufacturing excellence. These accreditations include GMP, ECOCERT, and Safer Choice Standard credentials, along with an H-3 and EPA registration. What’s more, we have an on-site lab dedicated to testing services and product verification. When you work with us, you can be sure you’re getting the best products possible.
Let’s Get Started
Want to learn more about what we can do for you? Reach out to our team for more information.