Document text
41 °F 5 Day Forecast Thursday, December 4, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 20, 2003 Wood product shippers rely on rail line By GREG STILES Mail Tribune Swanson Group Inc. mills are doing their best to keep pace with demand for dimensional lumber these days. The company’s Superior Lumber mill in Glendale and Sun Studs in Roseburg have filled 75 to 80 rail cars a week with 2x4s, 2x6s and other Douglas fir building products for shipment to California in recent months. The tunnel fire on the railway south of Ashland and resulting closure of the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad Co. (CORP) line across the Siskiyou Summit have blocked Swanson Group’s path to 95 percent of its customers. "It’s already affecting our business," says Steve Swanson, president and chief executive officer of Swanson Group. "We bring cars up from California and we’re short of rail cars at all of our locations, including Noti (west of Eugene). When we can’t ship, it becomes a serious issue because when we get behind it’s really hard to make up." Advertisement Central Oregon and Pacific has roughly 20 customers, including Roseburg Forest Products, Timber Products, Sierra Pine and Boise, using the line that snakes south through Douglas, Josephine and Jackson counties before crossing into California. Swanson and other customers will have to reroute goods north to Eugene where they’re passed on to a Union Pacific Railroad line, cross the Cascade divide, then head south via Klamath Falls and back to CORP’s rail yard near Weed, Calif. CORP general manager Dan Lovelady says the Roseburg to Eugene run, normally the railroad’s biggest train, has grown dramatically the past couple of days. "We’re adding 25 to 30 cars a day," Lovelady says. "That’s really taxed us." Rather than endure the expected week or longer delay in shipments, some customers are paying to transfer their orders to trucks, which presents its own challenges this time of year. "We ship both ways — from ... Yreka and to customers to the south," says Chuck Smith, Timber Products’ vice president for Southern Oregon operations. "It’s a major inconvenience, but not a crisis because we can make arrangements by truck." Timber Products ships between 30 and 40 rail carloads over the Siskiyou Summit each week. Even though the Springfield-based company has its own trucking unit, the availability of truck trailers isn’t a given. "Trucking is extremely tight already and this won’t make it any better," Smith says. "I guess it’s partly because the economy has picked up and traditionally in the fall there is a lot of freight such as Christmas trees being shipped. It’s just a busy time for trucks." Alan Lambert, who directs transportation for Sierra Pine mills in Northern California, Georgia and North Carolina as well as Medford, says his company ships about 15 cars of medium-density fiberboard out of the valley each week, down from 20 to 25 two years ago. The materials used to make ready-to-assemble furniture are sent to customers in Southern California and Tijuana, Mexico. "There’s going to be a substantial increase in our costs," Lambert says. "We’re not a huge player in the rail, but the shortage of flatbed trucks in Medford is probably going to hurt." "We’re talking somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 cars of veneer we’re going to move between now and the end of the year," says Roseburg Forest Products Vice President Hank Snow. "Short-term we should be fine, but we’ll have to move more veneer in trucks." Glendale is the point at which CORP normally ships north or south. But without a fresh supply of empty cars coming from the south, Swanson is unsure how the next month will play out. "Every single day that we don’t have cars puts us behind," Swanson says. "Long term, I don’t think it will have a serious impact as long as the railroad gets its logistics corrected and product can be moved around through Klamath Falls. It’s critical that they rebuild that tunnel for all of Southern Oregon." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times