Oil Trains (RJMA / MARJ, OI-x, etc)

Rumor is that there might be some more soon.

We always hear that rumor but the fact that the tanks from Walnut have moved (nbs was pay $1 a day to store) may be indicative of an incoming shipment. There has also been rumblings of moving 6 packs to Keag again. The 70 car limit has been lifted so we shall see...

Another one: Crude oil train derails in Alabama, fire and explosions reported

This is the incident to which bostontrainguy is referring:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... e15351149/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would prefer, however, that we not discuss it in this thread, as there appears to be no connection to Pan Am. I've posted the article to the Bakken Oil thread in the Class I General Discussion forum, and also to the G&W thread in the Class II General Discussion forum. Either of those threads would be good places to continue the discussion of the Alabama incident.

"We always hear that rumor but the fact that the tanks from Walnut have moved (nbs was pay $1 a day to store) may be indicative of an incoming shipment."

Walnut = Yarmouth?

As they are private cars, why would NBSR pay storage fees?

Cowford wrote:"We always hear that rumor but the fact that the tanks from Walnut have moved (nbs was pay $1 a day to store) may be indicative of an incoming shipment."

Walnut = Yarmouth?

As they are private cars, why would NBSR pay storage fees?

Yes Walnut = Yarmouth. CPF 185 to "Walnut Switch" at 183.25 or so.

Quite common for the leasor to pay storage fees if business drops off. If NBSR was leasing the cars for the Irving oil service then when the business dropped off the cars are paid for and NBSR is responsible for storing them. Seems quite logical that they would pay to store them rather than sell the lease (its not like there's a bunch of tanks on the market) that way if the business comes back (as it hopefully will) then they have cars at a pre arranged price.

"If NBSR was leasing the cars..."

That's one big "if"!

Cowford wrote:"If NBSR was leasing the cars..."

That's one big "if"!

Could also be Irving Oil, which would make more sense. While technically 2 different entities, Irving Oil, and JDI get tossed around here like one in the same...

I'm sorry for the confusion... what I had meant was Irving Oil had the lease on the cars. They were paying $1 a day to PAR to store them.

Per car, or for the whole set?

since irving outputs 300k barrels/day- 4000+ railcars, why doesn't pas wake up and establish an all-in price that wins the in-bound and maybe the outbound to the distribution places. storing railcars should be a wake-up for these folk. as i see it, pas could be in the car-bird seat for irving ins?out. remember, barge is slow. not good for hi-value product. as i estimated with mm&a , the move could generate $100k+ for pas at the present $14/barrel going price. outbound could possible be better since barging is liking watching grass grow. rail can easily beat it when you include the time costs.ken patrick

KEN-
Since you posted on this general subject on the MMA thread as well, here's a partial cross-posting of my response, restricted to those parts that bear more directly on this post:

Some points:
-The tank cars haul crude to Irving and are returned MT. The reason is that the crude residue would contaminate refined product without an expensive, labor-intensive, and environmentally challenging cleaning process. The cars sitting in Maine recently were temporarily not needed, so they were temporarily stored. Demand can be and frequently is elastic.
-Shipping refined product would require another fleet of dedicated tanks, construction of which would be years off.
-Because of earlier shipping patterns, coastal distribution points have marine infrastructure in place. As recent popular reaction to the proposed ethanol facility north of Boston demonstrates, building rail infrastructure where there is none is not guaranteed.
-Barging may be slow, but it is generally reliable and predictable. Just-In-Time may be the modus operandi and mantra for some items, but less so for commodities.

Photo by Jeff J. Bray:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=474335" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From the Bangor Daily News:

Bangor Daily News wrote:Pan Am Railways reported carrying 15,545 barrels through the state in March, the first trainborne oil shipments since October, according to figures from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Read more at: http://bangordailynews.com/2014/05/15/b ... -in-march/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting piece on tank cars, worth the time to watch:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show ... 6253507770" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;