Port of Quincy Holds Important Rural Freight Mobility Summit

QUINCY, Wash., Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Port of Quincy recently held a Rural Freight Mobility Summit at Cave B Inn at SageCliffe (http://www.sagecliffe.com) near Quincy, Washington. Over 70 agricultural, food processing, railroad, trucking, ocean cargo, economic development, warehousing and distribution leaders attended the Summit, which primarily focused on freight mobility and transportation issues (intermodal, distribution, rail and trucking issues) impacting perishable shippers in North Central Washington and the Columbia Basin of Washington State.

The Port of Quincy Rural Freight Mobility Summit featured several high-profile speakers on transportation and freight mobility issues in Washington state, including:

• Dan Newhouse - Director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture;
• Bill Bryant - President of the Port of Seattle;
• Rep. Judy Clibborn - Chair of the Washington State House Transportation Committee;
• Rep. Mike Armstrong - Ranking Minority Member of the Washington State House Transportation Committee;
• Scott Witt - Co-Director - Freight Systems Division, State Rail & Marine Office, Washington State Department of Transportation;
• Chris Mnichowski - Co-Owner of Rail Logistics, LC / Cold Train, LLC.

In particular, a lot of the discussion at the Rural Freight Mobility Summit centered around the Port of Quincy's Intermodal Terminal and the new Pacific Northwest-Chicagoland Express "Cold Train" Intermodal Service (http://www.rrlx.com/www.icoldtrain.com/iColdTrain/Home.html), a new refrigerated intermodal container rail and distribution service between Quincy, WA and Chicago, IL, which was described by several of the speakers as an important cost-effective intermodal rail shipping option for perishable shippers in Central Washington.  

Additionally, the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal was hailed as a tremendous example of a successful public-private partnership in which public investment by the Port of Quincy, Federal and State Governments has now attracted and created private sector economic development from companies such as Rail Logistics (i.e., the Cold Train) and Columbia Colstor (i.e., the Columbia Colstor International Intermodal Warehouse), etc.

Moreover, there was quite a bit of conversation about the need for Washington state to invest in improved freight mobility infrastructure so that its ocean ports will be able to better compete on a global scale with new and/or improved high-tech port facilities in Canada and Central America.

• http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/nov/05/shipping-could-shrivel-without-freight-overhaul/
• http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/business/article_22f7ac36-e929-11df-9145-001cc4c002e0.html

To view photos or to see a video slideshow of the recent Port of Quincy Summit, please click on the following links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S29NZN7HGxg or http://picasaweb.google.com/portofquincy/PortOfQuincyRuralFreightMobilitySummitAtCaveB?feat=directlink.

For more information about the Summit, please contact Pat Boss of the Port of Quincy at [email protected] or 360-878-7073 or 509-214-7696.

About Port of Quincy

Located in the center of Washington state, the Port of Quincy (http://www.portofquincy.org) is an exceptional location for business and economic development with state-of-the-art industrial infrastructure including abundant low-cost hydropower electricity, high-capacity bandwidth dark fiber, a key cross-country rail mainline, a modern intermodal terminal, a major interstate freeway, relatively inexpensive industrial and commercial properties, a skilled workforce, and an all-around great location offering the best of rural lifestyles with easy access to urban amenities. The Port of Quincy offers premier industrial sites for high-tech companies, data centers, food processors, manufacturers and is an ideal location for warehousing and distribution centers. Companies or businesses locating in Quincy can take advantage of our modern intermodal terminal which includes over 10,000 feet of track and a new container maintenance and cleaning facility, in close proximity to nearly 1 million square feet of cold storage warehousing owned and operated by Columbia Colstor (http://www.colstor.com/colstorinternational2.htm), providing shippers with distribution, cross-dock and storage capacity in and out of Washington state with direct rail links to the PNW ports and major Midwest markets. The Port of Quincy provides a unique environment to a diverse array of industries. At the Port of Quincy, major agriculture and food processing companies such as ConAgra Foods, National Frozen Foods, Norpac, Columbia Colstor, Oneonta, Stemilt, etc. find themselves next door to technology giants like Yahoo!, Intuit and Microsoft.

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Port of Quincy