A Lot On The Lines
Summary
After averting a national labor strike and starting to address declines in speed and service, the rail industry appears ready to roll past a rough stretch—and thats good for U.S. ethanol. According to the Association of American Railroads, roughly 70 percent of all ethanol produced in the U.S. is shipped via rail from production facilities—mostly in the Corn Belt—to larger transload sites, blending locations or refineries. A major rail strike was close to happening in December 2022, but President Joe Biden’s Administration stepped into the middle of a complicated labor dispute between the railroads and the union-represented workers to ensure it didn’t play out. In an April letter to the STB, the major ethanol trade groups including Growth Energy and RFA called out those dwell time numbers as part of the overall dissatisfaction felt by many toward rail service. With the added numbers of personnel expected in the field, Hatch says the time percentages that reflect how long cars are waiting at origin or remaining idle when they could otherwise be en route to the next location, will go in a better direction.