CSXI targets northwest - CSX Intermodal makers of railroad freight containers; Pacific northwest marketing area - Brief Article

Railway Age, Sept, 1992

CSX Intermodal last month announced a "multi-faceted market expansion" into the Pacific Northwest, built around its Frequent Flyer domestic container program, which uses 48-foot containers in a rail-truck network.

"Because the Pacific Northwest is an economically important, long term growth-oriented area with solid demographics, we are confident that the market will respond to our unique combination of door-to-door domestic intermodal services," said Ronald T. Sorrow, CSXI's vice president-marketing and sales. "Now that we have a proven track record of service reliability and newly added equipment and capacity, we can build the brand identity of our Frequent Flyer domestic container network in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia."

Sorrow said nationwide volume for the network increased 56% in this year's first six months over the comparable 1991 period.

He noted that CSXI also handles import and export traffic in the Pacific Northwest. In 1991 the company introduced a transcontinental, dedicated double-stack train for refrigerated cargoes-- apples, salmon, and other commodities-- for export from Washington to Europe.

CSXI has announced reductions of up to two days in transit time to the Pacific Northwest from Chicago and origins in the East, Southeast, and eastern Canada. The new service offers fourth-morning availability from Chicago to Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland.

Now, CSXI is adding 350 new 48-foot, 102-inch exterior width containers to its fleet. "We're expanding our fleet size by more than 20% just in time for the traditional surge in business during the third and fourth quarters," said Sorrow. Delivery of the new containers will be completed this month, bringing CSXI's 48-foot domestic container fleet to more than 2,000 units. About a third of these are insulated.