Photo courtesy of IGP.
The first event was in Garden City, Kansas, U.S., and covered the Kansas rail and container transportation systems, railway transportation overview and outlook. The second event was at the IGP Institute on the Kansas State University campus. It focused on the most effective ways to ensure containerized grain products arrive to customers in exceptional condition.
“I came to learn more about how to move our grains and food products internationally in containers,” said Earl Roemer, president of Nu Life Market in Scott City, Kansas, U.S. “I not only enjoyed learning a lot about the opportunities in moving containerized grains internationally, but also some of the challenges, and that was a big part of the education in this course.”
The workshop covered topics including Kansas rail and container transportation systems; container logistics; export documents and counter party risk; and non-vessel operating common carriers.
In addition to classroom discussions and presentations, participants traveled to Edgerton, Kansas, U.S., to tour the DeLong Co. Inc. container facility.
Jay O’Neil, senior agricultural economist at the IGP Institute, described how participants who attended the workshop gained knowledge of the regular truck freight for sorghum or other commodities is set at a lower price per running mile than the price per running mile of drayage containers.
“This difference makes it currently uneconomical to sell and load containerized grain out of southwest Kansas, as grain sellers need to be able to originate containerized grain within a 60-mile radius of a container ramp like the BNSF ramp in Edgerton,” O’Neil said.
