Watco
Watco has been named a recipient of a 2024 HIRE Vets Medallion Award from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS).
The honor is for “exemplary efforts in recruiting, employing, and retaining out nation’s veterans,” according to the Labor department. It is the only federal award recognizing exceptional achievement in veteran employment.
“Watco being federally recognized as a Gold Medallion recipient demonstrates our commitment to our nation’s veterans’ success,” said Shannon Parker, who leads Watco’s military and veteran recruiting. “It shows that we are a company that recognizes the positive impact veterans bring to our company and hopefully will attract more veterans to Watco.”
The award is the latest for Watco’s program for members and veterans who are transitioning to the civilian workforce. Watco is also the recipient of the Veterans Engagement Award from the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), the Military Friendly Employee Veteran Leadership and Veteran Champions of the Year in Corporate America awards, and the VETS Indexes 3 Star Employer Award.
Separately, on Oct. 1, Watco’s El Dorado switching in Arkansas celebrated 30 years of serving LSB Industries.
The team catered lunch for Watco’s customer, handed out Watco hats and shirts, unveiled a banner, and presented the plan manager with a plaque commemorating the decades-long partnership.
Location Manager Danyale “Peanut” Normal has been at the facility for 26 years, and part of the Watco team for 24. He recalled that when he first started, it was just a three-person switching team, who worked one shift Monday-Friday. Now, El Dorado has 10 team members across two shifts, providing service seven days a week.
“As the years have gone on, our partnership keeps getting better,” Normal said. “As the customer has grown, we’ve grown with them. We have great communication because we care about them, and they care about us.”
Cando Rail & Terminals
Cando Rail & Terminals announced that it has recently collaborated with two leading global wind turbine manufacturers to transload (store and ship) wind turbine components at its Lethbridge Terminal, including storing and helping move 80-meter-long blades by rail—some of the largest blades to ever be moved in North America. The wind turbine components are being used for two wind projects in Alberta.
Cando’s Lethbridge Terminal, formally known as Transmark, has been transloading wind projects since 2005. The terminal, Cando says, is a preferred transloading location for wind energy projects because of the close proximity to major projects, large rail capacity (ability to take in multiple unit trains of components at the same time), and 36 acres of graveled laydown area. The wind turbine components start arriving at Cando’s Lethbridge Terminal well before the construction of a new wind project begins and are stockpiled in preparation for delivery to the wind project site. Components come in by both rail and truck from the manufacturer. Early delivery, Cando says, enables the wind projects to “mitigate risks of delays in the supply chain and reduce the amount of transportation equipment.” Instead of arranging for many trucks to move all the components at once, a few trucks can make the trip over a few months and slowly bring the components to the Lethbridge Terminal, and then once the wind site is ready, it is just a short trip for delivery.
One of the recent projects included collaboration with Vestas for 22 wind turbines with 80-meter-long blades. The blades, hubs, and some tower sections arrived at Cando’s Lethbridge Terminal by rail. The hubs and blades were loaded from vessel to rail in Duluth, Minn., some tower sections were loaded from vessel to rail in Houston, Texas, and the base and mid-section towers, which are too large for rail, arrived by truck.
Another collaboration with a second manufacturer included 49 wind turbines with 77-meter-long blades. All the tower sections arrived at Cando Lethbridge Terminal by rail and the rest of the components came in by truck.
Now that the work for both projects is complete, 640 components have passed through Cando Lethbridge Terminal. The logistics of transloading two large wind energy projects during the same timeframe, the company says, requires close collaboration between Cando and multiple partners, including the manufacturers, Totran Transportation, TNT Crane, and Class I service provider CPKC.
“A strategic location, award-winning safety practices, decades of rail and transload operational experience, and advanced logistics capabilities make this unique opportunity to transload wind turbine components successful,” said Cando, which added that its network of rail terminals “are well positioned to move whatever products our customers need us to.”
