Genesee & Wyoming issues 2019 industrial development report

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) yesterday issued 2019 industrial development results, which show the company's customers invested $1.1 billion in new projects in communities served by its U.S. freight railroads.

The developments supported commodities including grain, plastic pellets, lumber, paper, rock, and wind turbine components, G&W officials said in a press release.

“Access to national and international markets is still the key to attracting new rail-served industrial development projects,” said Mike Peters, G&W chief commercial officer. “Landing over a billion dollars of customer investment across our footprint of 105 U.S. railroads is testimony to their critical role in the supply chain.”

Developments that occurred in 2019 included:
• AMG Vanadium’s Zanesville, Ohio, spent-catalyst recovery facility on the Columbus & Ohio River Railroad;
• Melvin Stone Co.’s Whitewater, Ohio, quarry expansion on the Indiana & Ohio Railway;
• Plastic Express’ Pooler, Georgia, plastics transload center on the Georgia Central Railway;
• Vestas American Wind Technology’s Remington, Indiana, railhead location on the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway; and
• Weyerhaeuser’s Millport, Alabama, lumber facility on the Luxapalila Valley Railroad.

"We work hard in the communities served by our railroads to become part of their local economic development teams to support business growth and job creation,” said Kevin Phillips, G&W vice president of industrial development. “We focus on identifying optimal locations for new, rail-served projects in our database of over 500 prospective properties and then quickly getting customers online and shipping with tailored logistic service to help them reduce costs."