Rail shipment

A shipment of more than 4,500 tons of steel railroad rail recently received special handling for export through the Port of Beaumont.  The rail, which is destined for a rail welding plant in Mexico, was supplied by a steel mill in the Western United States.

Two unusual things about this shipment -- the length of the rail and the packaging required -- demonstrate the efficiency and capabilities of the port.  Each rail is 80-feet long and weighs more than 3,000 pounds.  In order to efficiently ship the cargo to its ultimate destination, port labor unitized the rails into packages weighing 15,000 pounds each.

The cargo was shipped to the port in special railroad flatcars designed especially for rail.  Five rails were unloaded from the cars, then placed side-by-side on the wharf so a team of longshoremen could securely strap them together into a unit.  In early July, the unitized rails were loaded into an ocean-going ship, the M.V. Rosellen, for transportation to a Mexican port.  Stevedore for the ship was Flanagan Shipping.

The Port of Beaumont was selected to handle this shipment because of its excellent rail connections with the origin mill and the competitive price for unitizing the rail.

This is the second large shipment of 80-foot railroad rail the port has handled this year.

For more information on this shipment or any questions you have about the port, please call us.