Watco and Mid-Ship Provide Comprehensive Logistics Management
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The newsletter for Watco Companies April 2020, Volume 21, Issue 4 Watco and Mid-Ship provide comprehensive logistics management by Tracie VanBecelaere in 1974, primarily focusing on ocean charter- Managing Editor ing, and consisting of non-containerized ship brokerage-chartering. In 1991 they added the When it comes to logistics, Watco has an ag- logistics division, which handles the logistics gregate of some of the most experienced players of everything except ocean chartering, planning in the industry. Watco not only has dedicated the movement of cargo from vessel to the point and experienced team of rest. Mid-Ship is a non-asset-based company members designing that coordinates services and manages providers logistics moves for on behalf of their rich customer base. The ser- our customers; vices managed include stevedoring, surveying, Watco has broad- trucking, rail, and barging. Mid-ship can handle ened its service all facets of the move or just the pieces that the offering via customer needs handled. a strategic The Mid-Ship logistics group is comprised of relationship about 35 team members who work out of four lo- with Mid-Ship cations across the U.S., and the headquarters are Logistics. located in Port Washington, New York. The Pitts- The companies’ relationship has burgh, Pennsylvania, location manages truckload been ongoing for many years, and in activity; New Orleans, Louisiana, team members April of 2018, it was made official when focus on barge operations; and the Houston Watco purchased an interest in Mid-Ship Texas, group, provides in-house logistics man- Group LLC. In December of 2019, Watco agement services for Kinder Morgan along with made another investment in Mid-Ship, other clients. The Port Washington team oversees purchasing a large percentage of the logistics all activity including barge management. Mid- company with a small investment in the marine Ship manages the ocean movement (via Mid-Ship division as well. Marine), extends into the interior U.S. via barge Watco SVP Sales-Logistics Lynda Patterson and truck moves executed by Mid-ship Logistics, said, "Mid-Ship Logistics has in-depth knowl- which utilizes Watco Logistics to provide addi- edge of the inland riverway networks and barge tional truck depth and rail sector expertise. The operations in general and is well known to many cargo that Mid-Ship moves is mostly non-con- customers in the barging world. Therefore, add- tainerized products such as steel and industrial ing Mid-Ship into the mix makes a lot of sense bulk. The benefit of using the logistics services is for Watco, particularly as we have invested in a they can move cargo from door-to-door, offering port and terminal network that barge manage- a one-call end-to-end solution with one consoli- ment complements, and we have moved to offer dated invoice. increased modal breadth in our supply chain One good example of how the Watco and offerings." Mid-Ship teams work together is when a large George Kachmar, Mid-Ship president, said, industrial customer of Mid-Ship needed an The combined logistics teams at Watco and Mid- Ship are composed of experts in supply chain "Like most good partnerships, the benefits go off-site location to store their bulk raw material. managemet utilizing a variety of transportation both ways. Mid-Ship gains the added value of Mid-Ship and Watco teamed up to identify a modes including barge, truck, and rail, as well a large organization with the huge potential to location that was easily accessible, able to handle locating warehousing and managing inventory. provide end-to-end solutions for our respective the product, and then capable of unloading barges customer base and new customers. Mid-Ship and then reloading back to barge once it was teams more ways to utilize Watco resources, they provides Watco with a Marine transportation ready to be shipped out. Watco’s Vicksburg, Mis- will only do so when it makes good business solution to combine with Terminal handling, sissippi, terminal stored the product on-site and sense for their customers. trucking, and rail. Watco and Mid-Ship are indi- then was able to ship 22,000 tons of cargo via “In the end,” Kachmar said, “we are going to vidually strong but unbeatable as a team." barge to New Orleans, where it was transloaded do what is in the best interest of the customer. Of Although the Watco and Mid-Ship partnership from barge to ship and then delivered to the East course, we first see if we can use a Watco facility may be fairly new, Mid-Ship has been around Coast of Mexico. in the logistics plan, but we need to present all for quite some time. The company was started Although the relationship gives the logistics options to the customer.” Team members receive February Winter Freeze bonuses by Tracie VanBecelaere that our team is continually watching out for the While Troy Kutella Managing Editor safety of not only their team, but ensuring every- at the Wisconsin Rap- one interacts safely. ids Railroad was riding While congratulating our team members for Rose Oljace caught that a customer had re- a shove, he noticed a their near miss catches and safety suggestions, it leased the incorrect bundle lengths. She noti- person near the tracks would be remiss not to mention all of the team fied the customer of the with her back to the members who have been performing their day- discrepancy, and Rose team talking on their to-day duties and working to ensure that their noted there was another phone. When the loco- environments are a safe one during the pandemic bundle that would best motive got closer, she we are going through right now. Staying focused fit the weight request but still hadn't turned around Troy Kutella is imperative, both for our own safety and also a different length. This and seemed unaware Wisconsin Rapids for our customers, who rely on us as critical resulted in a grateful cus- that they were coming. Railroad infrastructure team members who are keeping tomer and a satisfied end- Troy stopped movement Conductor America moving during this challenging time. user. A $500 savings was and let her know that The 2019-2020 Winter Freeze Safety program derived from not hav- when she was around the has come to an end. However, a focus should ing to return the wrong Rose Oljace tracks, she needed to be continue on reporting near misses and submitting material and redeliver the Terminal Division aware and expect move- safety suggestions for continuous improvement correct material. Customer Service ment in any direction at Chicago Heights, Illinois of safety practices at all locations. Congratula- At the Tioga, North any time. tions to the team members for their attention to Dakota, terminal, team John Ray, with the detail and reporting what they had noticed. member Shane Bengson Louisiana Southern John Staples, at the Ghent terminal in Ken- exercised Stop Work Railroad, noted that a tucky, was loading a Authority when a driver customer's tracks had basket for our customer exited his truck without drainage issues and were John Ray Louisiana Southern when he noticed a pin donning proper PPE. The filled with water and Railroad was coming out of the team member notified the were covering a derail. Conductor/Engineer clam shell of the cus- shift lead and supervi- The team let the cus- tomer's basket. Had John sor, who then informed tomer know about the problem so that it could be not caught it, a piece of the truck driver of the addressed and prevent an accident. the clam shell could've PPE requirements for the Mike Lawver, the mo- fallen while traveling to area. The truck driver Shane Bengson bile locomotive mechan- the furnace or directly donned the proper equip- Terminal Division ic at Bayway and Ithaca ment, and the unloading Utility Central Railroad, created John Staples into the furnace. Good Tioga, North Dakota Terminal Division catch, John! and loading operation aluminum trays to hand Operator At the Cakokia ter- resumed. over the handrails of Ghent, Kentucky minal, an operator went Dave Mathews at the Omaha, Nebraska, ter- many of the locomotives onto the dock to repair a minal was reinspecting he works on. broken steam line, while contractors' work on the "Having the tray al- Kaleb Biffar, from coal heating system in the lows tools and parts to Mike Lawver operations, was watching blast staging area. He Diesel Mechanic be placed safely off of from above (the buddy noticed a foul smell that Conductor/Engineer the walkway, at a conve- system). The operator caused his eyes to water Bayway & Ithaca Central nient height reducing po- on the dock forgot to and immediately notified Railroad tential slip, trip, and fall turn off the steam valve leadership and secured injuries," said Lawver. and asked Kaleb to turn the facility so no one Johnny Rankin, Houston Material Handling, it off. He used his Stop else could enter. Further received his bonus for Kaleb Biffar Work Authority because Dave Mathews inspection of the facility a good catch event. On Terminal Division he wasn't trained in liquid Mechanical Division found the repaired heat- Friday, February 7, at Operator operations and wanted to Maintenance Mechanic ing system was not vent- B-dock, Johnny moved Cahokia, Illinois be sure that the procedure Omaha, Nebraska ing properly. The team the Fuchs 350 over to the was handled correctly. performed lockout and grinding balls operation David George, at the Middleport, Ohio, termi- tag-out on the system and contacted the contrac- to assist Gulf Stream, as nal submitted a safety suggestion to his customer tor responsible for repairs.