(The following appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on March 17, 2011.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Greenbrier Companies took recent new orders to build 4,200 more railcars, most of them double-stack intermodal wells, valued at $325 million.
The orders also include some boxcars and covered hoppers for various cargoes plus some cars for the European market. Greenbrier said delivery for the most part should be later this year.
That is the latest sign of steadily rising demand for intermodal equipment, after the supply chain snugged up last year when soaring imports from Asia quickly snapped up available marine containers and many cargoes were transloaded at U.S. coasts into larger domestic containers for the inland move. Meanwhile, the recovering economy quickly took up all the domestic 53-foot containers that were available, prompting intermodal suppliers to order more at several points last year from box builders in China.
The full story is available at www.joc.com.