Western Railroad Discussion > freight rates

Would any of you know what the current net ton charge is for freight out of Montana going east to New York?  

Kinda depends on the commodity one would think, where you thinking winter wheat? Or bridge
parts for Baltimore?

Out 

Individual RRs have more leeway to set their own rates these days too?

Victor Baird

Bagged montana stoker coal in a 40 foot box car in a less than car load lot. 

The anthracite market has hit $400.00 a bagged ton in some places.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/24 15:25 by leon.

As Out mentions, it depends on the commodity, but unfortunately, the simplicity ends there. In the past, you could go to a carrier website and plug in some general information to get a ballpark figure, but they now require registering to obtain. You will need to know the origin shipper name and serving carrier, the receiver’s name and destination carrier, and if the equipment will be privately or carrier-owned. The rate may either be expressed as per ton or per car. You will also need to find the correct 7-digit STCC (Standard Transportation Commodity Code). There are probably a good number of TO folks having this type of access to grab for you (I gave up mine about five years ago).   
 

Thank you

44 tons on pallets, I would assume that BNSF would carry
the first leg then ns then (watco) to the local siding.

 

Asuming a boxcar, you'd most likely get car rate, $5600-7000 range I'd think.

Out 

The freight rate will be as much as the market will bear.  One VP marketing boiled it down to: what is the value of a product in Montana, compared to the value of a product in New York.  The difference is the max expected freight rate that could be extracted.

As noted above, commodity is important,
what is the competitive rate, rail, trans load, truck, intermodal, barge, pipeline
how many rails in the route?  Origin or Destination served by one or more railroads
who is providing the rail car?
What is the volume, per day, per week, per year
How many years will the freight move
is there a volume commitment? Liquidated damages for volume shortfalls?
Where are the empties sourced? Backhaul or Headhaul
Operational nature of customer sidings.

There's probably a few other specifics, that could impact the rate to a specific movement. 

it's not easy to determine a specific rate, even though it would be easy to calculate the average rate after the fact.
 

are there 40 foot boxcars in service anymore, 40 foot containers yes , maybe 50 or 60  foot boxcars?

There are still a few 40 foot plate F cars, stack those pallets!

Out