Several members of the Port of Seattle’s Commission and Executive Team visited the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal to learn more about the recent economic and transportation developments that have occurred at the Port of Quincy, including high-tech data center expansions by Microsoft and Yahoo and new major data center development projects by Dell and Sabey.
The Port of Seattle officials also were provided a tour of the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal and of the Pacific Northwest-Chicagoland Express “Cold Train” Intermodal Service, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary. Since the “Cold Train” refrigerated intermodal container rail and distribution service (between Quincy and Chicago) started a little more than a year ago, it has grown in popularity with produce shippers in the Pacific Northwest as well as shippers in the Midwest.
Five days a week, the Cold Train service departs the Port of Quincy in central Washington loaded with fresh or frozen produce destined for the Midwest. The produce, grown and packed by local growers/packers in Washington State, is loaded into the Cold Train’s 53-foot refrigerated containers and brought to the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal. At the terminal, the containers are double-stacked onto an expedited nonstop train to Chicago.
On a related note, the Port of Seattle was interested in how it could work with the Port of Quincy as an inland port to facilitate intermodal shipments by rail from central Washington to the Port of Seattle. Additionally, there was discussion about how the Cold Train’s success of shipping both inbound and outbound cargo has effectively turned the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal into a key distribution hub for the central Washington area.
