EssEx TErminal railway Company

MOVING THE FUTURE

BOSSCANADIAN

Moving the Future: Essex Terminal Railway and

Morterm Limited

ESSEX TERMINAL RAILWAY / MORTERM LIMITED

Morterm discharges international cargo from an ocean-going vessel at its dock in the Port of Windsor.

BOSS

United States and Mexico, the

companies are positioned well

to capitalize on opportunities

and ensure not only stability,

but continued growth.

“Freight patterns are changing

a bit. We are starting to see

cargo offloaded at different

ports, sometimes smaller

or further into the seaway

instead of the large ocean

ports such as Vancouver,

New York, and Los Angeles

as shippers look for ways

to avoid congestion and

keep their freight moving,”

said Tracy Pringle, director

of business development.

“Because larger and larger

vessels are being used to

transport international goods,

the traditional ports are

congested. Large vessels

take longer to unload, and

ships can wait days to be

unloaded and cargo is at a

standstill. We are seeing our

customers find new ways and

means to move their cargo;

sometimes using smaller

vessels that can navigate the

St. Lawrence Seaway and

deliver to ports in the Great

Lakes Region, like Morterm.”

100+ Years of Success

“To stay successful in logistics,

you have to be responsive,

flexible, and adaptable to

new environments, new

cargo types, and new

methods of transportation,”

said Pringle when asked

about the company’s 113-

year history. “Regarding

our success? We pay great

CANADIAN

for metal, industrial, chemical,

agricultural, renewable

energy, and lumber industry

sectors to connect freight

to the Canadian Pacific

Railway (CP), Canadian

National Railway (CN), and

CSX Corporation (CSX).

ETR’s sister company,

Morterm Limited (Morterm),

is the only full-service general

marine cargo terminal

in the Port of Windsor

providing a range of material

handling services including

Unpredictable weather,

millions of dollars in cargo,

and the possibility of the

smallest delay throwing the

whole delivery system out of

whack: welcome to logistics.

For The Essex Terminal

Railway Company (ETR),

these are only a handful of

issues the company deals

with on a daily basis. But for

the past 113 years, ETR has

proven itself time and time

again as a reliable, quality

short-line railway in Ontario

stevedoring, warehousing,

and outbound shipping by

rail, road, or river. Morterm

routinely handles steel, bulk

products such as raw sugar,

and project cargoes like wind

turbine components—which

are big and heavy but still

require precision handling.

With the combination

of services between the

two companies allowing

customers to reliably and

efficiently ship freight by rail

to every corner of Canada, the

ESSEX TERMINAL RAILWAY / MORTERM LIMITED

Windsor-Detroit Bridge Project

Since 2004, plans for a bridge that would

create efficient traffic flow across the

Canadian/US border and connect the

industrial areas of Delray and Brighton

Beach have been in the works. Pringle

shared that the bridge will be built,

it’s just a matter of time. ETR/Mortem

anticipates several benefits from the new

international crossing, such as the ability

to handle the construction materials that

will undoubtedly be required for such

a large project. It also would provide a

better traffic flow at the busiest border

crossing in North America, which positions

Morterm well as a central distribution

point for manufacturing, construction,

and agricultural processing firms.

2015 | Supply Chain BOSS | 54 | Supply Chain BOSS | 2015

ETR crews on Engine #108 pass adjacent train of LPG cars

BOSSCANADIAN

create a regulatory burden

and increased costs to the

companies. Companies like

ETR/Morterm are forced to

invest heavily in terms of

manpower to stay on top

of legislative and regulatory

changes and need a dedicated

team member (or members)

to manage. However, it

means companies involved

in logistics have to invest

heavily in staying on top of

the legislation. The most

recent overhaul has been

the Safety Management

System, which will enable the

railway to demonstrate, in a

concrete and visible manner,

its commitment to safety to

its employees, customers

and the public and will help

railways ensure compliance

to regulatory environments.

At the ETR, Ed Clough, the

company’s rail superintendent,

dedicates a great deal of

his time to these efforts.

Construction on

North America’s

Busiest Rail Crossing

Most companies wouldn’t

relish the idea of repairing

a broken rail in the highest

traffic-volume rail crossing,

located at the foot of the

busiest international crossing

for trade in North America

(the Ambassador Bridge

in Windsor, Ontario, which

For example, finding and

retaining skilled staff can be

incredibly difficult due to the

nature and environment of

the industry. Marine terminals

in the Great Lakes can’t

accept vessels for about

three months of the year

because the St. Lawrence

Seaway closes from the end

of December until generally

the beginning of April due

to ice conditions in the

Lakes. Morterm is a 12-month

operation with the ability to

receive cargo by truck and by

rail as well as by vessel, but

typically the winter months

see industry-wide layoffs.

The ETR runs seven days

a week, 12 months a year

but employment levels at

both companies are largely

driven by the amount of

freight at any given time. To

overcome staffing challenges,

ETR/Morterm work hard to

provide opportunities for

growth and advancement

for its employees.

Other challenges come in

the form of the regulatory

environment in which ETR/

Morterm operate—specifically

in terms of safety and

security. Rapid changes to

legislation and strict rules for

compliance, while necessary

for the prevention of injury,

incident, and cargo theft,

attention to our customers.

Without customers, you

don’t have a business.”

While ETR and Mortem’s

attention to detail regarding

their customers is a big part

of their continued success,

there are several other factors.

Mortem understands that

truck freight literally drives

the industry—most cargo

companies in the industry,

like ETR/Morterm handle

go-to destinations not

directly located on a rail

line or accessible by ship.

Focusing on the needs and

tight time constraints of

truck drivers, both delivering

and receiving freight from

Morterm, has provided the

company with great results.

“By respecting the truckers

need to be in and out as

quickly as possible, we are

able to keep them happy,

their dispatchers happy and

our customers happy. It also

means that truckers don’t

mind coming here; in fact

some even look forward to it!”

Long-term success like ETR/

Mortem doesn’t come without

challenges. What proves

these companies’ standings

however, is how they handle

these challenges and move

forward with the solutions.

ESSEX TERMINAL RAILWAY / MORTERM LIMITED

2015 | Supply Chain BOSS | 7

Crews replace broken rail at North America’s busiest border crossing.

Family Owned & Operated since 1954

ROBINSON TRANSPORTStrategically located close to

the Windsor, ON/Detroit, MI border. We specialize in

flatbed hauls and can handle almost any size of load.

We are committed to our clients and our community and we guarantee great service.

HARROW, ON | | WWW.ROBINSONTRANS.COM

BOSSCANADIAN

required for maintenance. The machine

is extremely user-friendly, intuitive,

and flexible, allowing a single operator

to change the attachments from

forks to a ram in under five minutes.

Typically, a change like this would need

three men for an hour. The size of the

machine is also deceiving—it carries the

payload of a machine twice its size.

“As a smaller, privately-owned company,

we are able to be agile and also benefit

from watching the larger Class 1 Railways

invest in research and development, and

then follow the technological trends

and deploy quickly,” shared Pringle.

“In terms of shipping everything is

moving at a rapid pace in technology—

we continue to monitor and evaluate

where we should upgrade and invest.”

What’s Next?

While the ever-growing logistics and

shipping industry evolves towards a

tighter regulatory environment, ETR

and Morterm aim to be key players

in moving North-American destined

freight from the EU, especially into

the Greater Toronto Area and Midwest

U.S. manufacturing regions.

“It will take focus and time to establish

ourselves as a player in that market,”

Pringle mentioned. “Our companies

will have to approach each segment

separately—the freight can be

booked directly by the customer,

by the manufacturer, or producer,

by a shipping company or by a

third-party logistics provider. Each

market segment requires a strategy,

market development, and business

development as well as developing

the niche position for the company.”

was a sight to behold and

something we won’t see again

in our lifetime—we hope!”

Technological Innovations

Morterm has developed

a proprietary terminal

inventory management

software—fondly referred

to as TIMS—to manage its

customers’ incoming and

outgoing inventory. Users

of the Terminal are able

to log in 24/7 with unique

usernames and passwords

and view customer reports

such as inventory on hand,

orders placed or pending,

and loads of material inbound

and outbound. The specially

built software program is

unique to Morterm and

acts as a differentiator

from their competition.

The company’s most recent

purchase, a $500,000

investment into a Kone

70,000lb forklift, will

help Morterm improve

efficiencies and time

machine applicable. In

layman’s terms, it creates a

load-bearing, flexible levelling

grout for the elastic fixing

of grooved rail, creating a

floating surface for rails. This

is invaluable for weather

changes that cause the rail

and surrounding material

to expand or contract, as

well as for the volume of

traffic this particular crossing

sees on a daily basis.

London Trackwork President

Geoffrey Richey and Vice

President Charles Richey,

the developers of the new

technology, were on hand

to witness and ensure the

success of this once-in-a-

lifetime repair. “The hard

work, dedication, planning,

and efficiency of the team

responsible for the repair

ensured that the project was

done not only on time, but

both weekends, the road

was open to vehicular traffic

earlier than anticipated,” said

Pringle. “The entire operation

routinely handles $300 million

in trade per day; 25 per cent

of all commercial volume

between Canada and the US;

and over 10,000 commercial

vehicles per day) and having

to shut down traffic two

weekends in a row. With

frequent freeze-thaw-freeze

cycles through the winter

and hot, humid weather in

the summer, a piece of the

rail in the crossing had split

and needed to be replaced

to ensure against any danger

of derailment. The ETR was

up for the challenge and

worked with partners OWS

Railroad Construction and

Maintenance and London

Trackwork to complete the

repair and deploy the first

installation of their Icosit

technology in North America.

Sika Icosit KC 340 is a two-

pack Polyurethane grout for

rail fixing and is a flexible

two-component polymer

grout based on polyurethane

resin, which is hand and

2015 | Supply Chain BOSS | 9

Terminal East View

ESSEX TERMINAL RAILWAY / MORTERM LIMITED

1601 Lincoln AveWindsor, ON N8Y2J3

Phone: 519 973 8222Fax: 519 973 7234E-mail: info@etr.ca

etr.ca

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EssEx TErminal railway Company