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8/14/2024
BNSF Railway Co. President and CEO Katie Farmer has responded to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Robert Primus' recently expressed concerns about the Class I's preparedness for the upcoming harvest season.
In an Aug. 8 letter, Farmer responded to concerns Primus raised in a July 23 letter in which he asked her to explain how BNSF was prepared to serve its customers during the 2024 harvest season.
"With this year's harvest quickly approaching, I, along with many of your agricultural stakeholders, continue to have grave concerns about BNSF's ability to adequately serve the anticipated demand, particularly moving through the Pacific Northwest (PNW) corridor," Primus wrote.
Primus said that in the wake of widespread rail-service issues that impacted the 2022 harvest season, in August 2023 he asked Class Is attending the National Grain Car Council's annual meeting if their railroads were prepared for the harvest season. Although the BNSF representative at that meeting indicated the company was ready, BNSF "stumbled" and fell behind in its PNW service commitments, Primus said. BNSF handles the majority of grain traffic to the PNW gateway.
In her response, Farmer said she disagrees with Primus' characterization that BNSF struggled to live up to its responsibilities during the 2023 harvest. (She defines the peak harvest period as running from mid-August through November.)
To explain BNSF's preparedness for the 2024 season, Farmer first described what occurred last year. While the most complex part of any harvest season is the initial ramp-up time when BNSF handles a surge in volume moving to the same export destinations in the PNW, heavy rain at the season's start prevented producers from bringing in the crop and loading trains prepositioned for movement to the export facilities, she explained.
"When loading could begin, those held trains then had to share available rail and crew resources with trains scheduled for later want dates, which made the harvest ramp-up process even more complex to execute," her letter stated.
"The week we delivered the first soybean train of the 2023 season to a PNW export terminal, our weekly grain volume increased by 2,550 carloads (32%)," Farmer wrote. "That figure represents the equivalent of an additional 23 loaded shuttle trains."
As for the 2024 season, BNSF is monitoring the expected crop yield and rail demand with its customers; has built up its crew bases to have sufficient train and engine employees to fulfill the anticipated fall harvest demand; has prepared locomotives to meet the harvest demands; has upgraded its winter plan; and has addressed as best it can concerns over disruptions to cross-border service with Mexico.
On the Mexico front, Farmer agreed with Primus about those concerns.
"Service to and from Mexico has been undeniably challenged this year, largely due to the impacts of the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the southern border," she wrote, adding that BNSF's access to Mexico at certain interchanges has been closed three times over the past nine months. Those closures occurred because of one U.S. Department of Homeland Security order and two were due to Ferromex (FXE) embargoes.
Given that BNSF does not operate across the border, the railroad is limited in its ability to address service disruptions in Mexico, she said. BNSF's contingency efforts are primarily aimed at limiting the impact of the disruptions on BNSF's broader network, she added.
In summing up, Farmer's letter stated the company is looking forward to joining rail stakeholders at the National Grain Car Council meeting on Aug. 27 and serving customers during the 2024 season.
"[W]e devote substantial attention to communicating through ongoing one-on-one touchpoints, our participation in the Ag Rail Business Council and our own BNSF Agricultural Products Summit," Farmer wrote. "In addition, we maintain a dedicated 24/7 grain desk within our Network Operations Center dedicated to coordinating grain movements with our operating department and customers."
Farmer's entire letter can be read here; Primus' letter can be read here.