UP, Katoen Natie announce 'Dallas-to-Dock' service

Union Pacific Railroad and international logistics service provider Katoen Natie announced today a new service that transports plastic pellets from the Gulf region to Dallas.

The Dallas-to-Dock Service will transport the pellets in hopper cars to Dallas, where they will be packaged and transferred to intermodal containers. From there, the containers will travel to ocean ports via the railroad's intermodal service, according to a UP press release.

To support the service, a new plastic packaging plant will be built at the 3,000-acre Prime Point Industrial Park located in South Dallas County. The park is served by UP.

The plant will be built next to UP's Dallas Intermodal Terminal and offer 500,000 square feet of warehouse space with rail access. Scheduled for completion in third-quarter 2017, the facility will become Katoen Natie's 15th North American location.

"The new plastic packaging facility is strategically located in Dallas to align with empty container availability and our premier intermodal service to the West Coast for export," said Beth Whited, UP's vice president-chemicals.