The
Dispatch The newsletter for Watco Companies
January 2021
Table of Contents Rebrand Solidifies Watco as the One Source for Complete, Integrated Transportation Services ________ 4-5 Junction City Team Keeps America Rolling __________________________________________________________ 6-7 Discover the Difference Joely Gath Makes _____________________________________________________________ 8 Team Member Anniversaries _______________________________________________________________________ 9-10 New Arrivals __________________________________________________________________________________________ 11
Highlights
On the Cover
Check Out the New watco.com
On the cover: The Decatur & Eastern Illinois Railroad kicks up a frosty powder as it cuts the first tracks through new snow at a crossing near Murdock, Illinois. Photographer – Jackson Vandeventer
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Safety Anniversaries December 1: Decatur River Port (AL) – 5 years December 3: Junction City Repair and Maintenance Shop (KS) – 1 year December 5: Elizabeth Dedicated Terminal (NJ) – 2 years December 8: Ithaca Central Railroad (NY) – 2 years December 9: Neodesha Repair and Maintenance Shop (KS) – 1 year December 12: Medina Dedicated Mechanical Services (TX) – 4 years December 13: Stockton Transload Terminal (CA) – 3 years December 18: St. Louis (Sarpy) Transload Terminal (MO) – 17 years December 20: Alabama Warrior Railway (AL) – 1 year December 21: New Johnsonville Dedicated Terminal (TN) – 14 years December 28: Swan Ranch Railroad (WY) – 9 years December 31: Ventura Switching (CA) – 13 years
Safely Improve Every Day
January 2021 | The Dispatch 3
Rebrand Solidifies Watco as the One Source for Complete, Integrated Transportation Services Last month, Watco was excited to announce the launch of our new brand. In mid-December, Watco Companies became, simply, Watco. The change reflects a year of conversations with customers and team members, which came about when we started thinking about the fact that there’s no other transportation services company like Watco.
“We’ve gone through an exciting rebranding process to make sure our customers and our team members understand exactly what we do, where we do it, and who we serve. We are one Watco, one company, offering services across an amazing landscape.”
– Dan Smith, Watco CEO
Through the years, when customers asked us to provide services we’d never provided before, we said we would figure it out for them and do it well. We’ve done that over and over, and we’ll always do that for the good of our customers. The only downside was that, as we added new services over time, customers and team members no longer had complete knowledge of everything we do. We realized a rebrand could help solve that problem.
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We started talking to customers and team members across the company, to describe Watco from their own points of view. A key takeaway from their input is that we needed to do a better job of letting everybody – inside and outside the company – know that we are one transportation services company, one team – one Watco. The rebrand doesn’t change Watco’s day-to-day work or the way we serve customers. But we hope it will: • Give customers and team members greater awareness of everything Watco does, • Give customers fresh ideas about how to use Watco services, and • Make it easier for team members to talk about all of Watco’s areas of transportation expertise. We are the one source customers need for comprehensive and integrated transportation services. We: • Move products by rail, water, road, and sometimes air; • Load and unload ships, barges, trucks, and rail cars; • Store products for customers; • Repair and maintain rail cars;
• Optimize and execute comprehensive logistics to get products where they need to go, anywhere around the globe; and • Design transportation facilities and develop real estate opportunities.
The tagline also is a reminder that safety is at the center of everything Watco does. We are committed to returning team members home at the end of their workdays just as they arrived.
As part of the rebrand, we’ve launched a new website, watco.com. The new site is designed so it’s easier for customers, team members and suppliers to discover all the services Watco provides and quickly navigate to the information they need. Watco.com is organized around our five service areas, illustrating that everything we do is integrated and that Watco is a single-source transportation services company. Our service areas are:
Transportation
Material Handling and Storage
Logistics
Repair and Maintenance
Design and Development
The rebrand process includes an updated logo, with the word “Companies” removed to reflect our new brand, and a fresh tagline: Discover the Difference.
The tagline communicates the important ways Watco is different: • In the ways we treat our people, our customers, our partners and our suppliers; • The breadth of our services; • The career opportunities we offer; • The ways we take care of each other and give back to our communities; and
We invite you to Discover the Difference of working with and for Watco by taking a look at a couple of great new tools – our Discover Watco brochure and our Discover Watco video. Both will give you a full picture of who we are and what we do. Another important change connected to the rebrand is that Watco Supply Chain Services changed its name to Watco Logistics. As one of our core service areas, Logistics offers customers unbiased, third-party logistics expertise that bundles the best solutions for customers without favoring Watco or any other transportation provider over another. Logistics, like all our services, is driven by what’s best for the customer. Watco solves customer supply chain challenges like nobody else. Our rebrand is an important change that helps us emphasize that message. What will never change are our core commitments. People will always remain our top priority, and safety will remain at the center of everything we do. In this issue of the Dispatch and in the months ahead, watch for stories and other information about how we’re living out our new One Watco brand with customers and team members and in the communities where we live and work.
• The exceptional service we provide our customers. January 2021 | The Dispatch 5
Junction City Team Keeps America Rolling
Watco’s Junction City, Kansas, mechanical repair shop stands out for many reasons. They are experts at repairing pressure differential hopper cars and applying interior coatings for food-grade railcars, and they are currently the only shop in the Watco network that repairs the flatcars that carry intermodal containers. Intermodal containers are the large rectangle boxes you’ve probably seen stacked on top of each other as they pass through crossings. Those containers can carry anything from hay bales to electronics like computers and TVs. Since they’re designed to be moved via any mode of transportation, containers require special flatcars when moving by rail. The Junction City team saw the need to keep these railcars rolling and developed the capability to repair them.
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Intermodal flatcars bring their own set of challenges. For one, they arrive in what are called five-packs because they have a different type of connection than other railcars. Five cars are connected and can’t be easily uncoupled from each other. If one has a defect that needs repaired, all five must travel to a shop. That creates issues with room in the shop and yard. “The ability to logistically handle these types of cars is something that differentiates our shop. There aren’t a lot of shops that have the room in their yards or inside their shops to switch these cars around. If a customer wants to do these repairs with Watco, we’re the team to do this work,” said Eric Franco-Velez, Plant Manager. Disconnecting these cars requires at least a team of three. The body of the flatcar is raised by a crane
on one end, simultaneously and in coordination with a forklift at the other. As it’s raised, another team member pulls the pin from the coupler. “We have guys on the team, this is their specialty. We have one section of the shop set up specifically for them, and we can pull as many as we need, depending on the severity of the repairs,” Plant Superintendent Abram Silva said.
“I take a lot of pride in the role we play in supporting our country’s supply chain,” Silva said. “I feel that way about every car we get here, but intermodal freight is such a large part of this economy. It’s how this country moves. To be a part of that, that’s the tops. One of our partners, Union Pacific, uses ‘Building America’ as their motto. I like to think our motto is ‘Keeping America Rolling.’”
Some of the most common repairs are on the container guides and the connections on the floor to secure them. The male-female connections between the interior cars of the five-pack are some of the most demanding repairs. They’re secured by a pin and rarely separated. That results in a lot of wear, which can cause excess movement and problems. The most challenging aspect of repairing these cars arises from doing them efficiently and safely. Even light repairs take extra time, because the team doesn’t just get to set up and focus on one car, like they would with a hopper or tank. “There might be an hour’s worth of repair on each unit, but each time you move to the next one, you’ve got to pack up your welder, any tools, your torch, anything you need, and move them to the next unit, because there’s not room to move the five-pack around in the shop,” Silva said. “This has to be done efficiently while still not cutting any corners.” During the COVID pandemic, most freight movement has been down, but intermodal has stayed relatively strong. Franco-Velez says they saw that as an opportunity. They set out to repair flatcars safely and quickly within the customers’ requested turn-time.
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Discover the Difference Joely Gath Makes Joely Gath personifies Watco’s brand: She makes a difference. In Watco’s Pittsburg, Kansas, corporate office, where she is a revenue account specialist, Gath will rally a smile when a team member is down. She will rally a joke to lighten stress, and she will rally to help colleagues with their workloads at the end of the month when “things are straight chaos.” “I try to be as positive as I can. I hope it doesn’t come off as annoying,” she said. For Brian Manning, Watco General Manager of the Yellowstone Valley Railroad and the Dore Terminal, Gath is anything but annoying. “Joely is definitely one of my favorite people to work with,” Manning said. “She has helped me out many times when it comes to billing issues, etc.” Watco Teammate Chase Gunnoe agrees. “Even though she might be 800 miles away, Joely’s knowledge of our customers and railroads makes it feel as if she’s right here with the team in the Appalachian Mountains. I’m grateful for that type of reliability,” said Gunnoe, a Watco Sales Manager based in West Virginia. Clients appreciate Joely’s enthusiasm, too. “I worked for Watco before I took my current role with OCM, and during that time, she was always helpful for anything I needed, while maintaining a positive attitude,” said C.J. Miller, General Manager at Oklahoma Construction Materials and former Watco Trainmaster at the Stillwater Central Railroad. Joely doesn’t hide her emotions about her team members, past or present. “They are fantastic people. I hope they like me, because I like them a lot,” she said. Gath also strives to make a difference in her community, where she rallies citizens for good causes. She and her cousin, Erika Steeby, organize two charity events each year: the Pittsburg Area Toy Run in November and the Mutt Run in the spring. 8 The Dispatch | January 2021
The annual Toy Run could have ended when Gath’s Uncle Dan passed away in 2017. He had organized the event for years, but Gath couldn’t bear to see local children go without gifts on Christmas morning. That’s when she and Steeby stepped in to continue the tradition. In 2020, the 36th annual Toy Run drew 100 big-hearted bikers – including multiple Watco team members. Everyone pulled into the large parking lot at Big Lots!® and went on a shopping spree. With bags of dolls, Nerf guns, Lego® sets and stuffed animals strapped to their bikes, riders paraded down Broadway Avenue to the local Salvation Army. Members of the rally donated more than 300 toys that day. In the spring, Gath and Steeby organize the Mutt Run, a fundraiser for the S.E.K. Humane Society in Pittsburg. And, yes, it’s a motorcycle rally, which is funny, because Gath doesn’t like motorcycles. “I’m scared of them,” she admits, laughing, “which is quite ironic, and everybody jokes with me about it.” But she does have a soft spot for animals, having two rescued fur babies of her own, and sees the Mutt Run as a way to make a difference. “I have a lot of people I look up to at Watco,” she said. “I bounce questions off them about these events. When it’s stressful, they help me stay in the right headspace.” Making a difference often requires going the extra mile, but it comes naturally for Gath. “I feel like doing the minimum in life is just wasting your time. I have a job, and I have the means. Some people aren’t that lucky, by no fault of their own, especially this year,” she said. “I always want to be able to say I helped out.”
Team Member Anniversaries
1 Year: Matthew Apollo, Jamie
Babetch, Waylon Barta, Francisco Bassols, Matthew Beard, Dereck Brown, Travis Combs, Ashley Copeland, Jeffery Cornett, Wyndle Darby, Joseph Drake, Thomas Fenton, Oluwadamilola Feyisetan, Kyle Forsman, Stephen Fulton, James Garner, Joshua Glover, William Griffin, Matthew Grimes, Alan Halling, Andrew Hanretty, Johnnie Hardy, Wendell Held, Christopher Hill, Jeffrey Holmes, Christina Johnson, Darrell Keller, John King, Joel Lacoss, Tommy L Lamb, Sharron Lankford, Leslie Liberty, William Medlen, Ezekiel Montalvo, Jesus Munoz, Chit OO, William Pack, Bryor Parisien, Shannon Phelps, Justin Piland, Dalton Poitra, Charles Polach, Patrick Reding, Humberto Rojas Zuniga, Dustin Sellars, Reginald Sharp, Matt Sobba, Heath Spence, Bryan Steinberger, Todd Stimpson, Kelly Stringer, Gregory Tellier, Chad Tylicki, Lesly Valeriano, David Webster, Andre Wheaton, Austin Wise, Joe Wyse, Calvin Young
2 Years: Jarrod Austin, Joseph
Battaglia, Justin Becknell, Christopher Bernal, Lorenza Burris, Matthew Camacho, Jason Camann, Jesse Castro, Pablo Cota, Jason Crawford, Norman Dishman, Brandon Douglas, Curtis Frazier, Catina Freeman, Nichole Gonzalez, Danielle Gosch, Justice Hamner, Gregory Harris, Jasmine Harris, Kayla Jensen, Russell Johnston, Terrell Jones, Devin Jurs, Jure Kauzljar, Daniel Lancaster, Justin Leggitt, Matthew Lemke, Paul
Lewis, Carlos Lopez, Matthew Maddox, Kentrell Maxie, Haleigh Mejia, Davon Miller, Melissa Mortimer, Charles Peak, Steven Pounders, Dustin Ramos, James Raney, Alexander Rodriguez, Jody Sayson, Michael Schwartz, Corey Seals, Mark Semm, David Soendker, Robin Stark-Headden, Sami Taha, Donnie Taylor, Willam Taylor, John Thomas, Joe Torres III, Menno Valkenborg, Kevin Vanhoozer, Kevin Webb, Anthony Woods
3 Years: Jonathan Audsley,
Jamaar Benton, Mark Bonar, Donald Brayman, DeAnne Burdick, Jose Cardoza, Gabriel Chavez, Julio Diaz, Andrew Dill, Anthony Escobar, Darin Grundeman, Jody Hyndshaw, Aaron Jensen, Chelsy McQuarie, William Melton, Marissa Miller, Henry Orosco, Scottie Shafer, Teedra Thompson, Maxwell Tunison, Jaime Velasco, Mike Womack
4
Years: Jennifer Alons, Derek Batterton, Justin Cole, Cooper Cose, Stephen Dominguez, Tyler Hamilton, Clyde Harris, Esteban Hernandez, Isaac Jaramillo, Shawna Mateo, Laura McNichol, Efrain Padilla, James Riggs, Shaun Toopes, J Bonifacio Vieyra, Shayne Wood
5 Years: Michael Aleknewicus,
Mitchell Alred, Joshua Breth, Jeremy Cazares, William Ethridge, Brady Hutching, Sue King, Charles March, Justin Marr, Lance McHan, Tung Nguyen, Adam Pope, Daniel Roth, Joe Valle, Richard Wampler, Neal Ward, Kalob Winkler, Ryan Yanez
6
Years: Melissa Amaya, Mike Berry, Jason Broadway, Nathaniel Burke, Daniel Coiner, Michael Cooper, Corey Crutchfield, Edis Cruz, Alexander Cruz-Oyola, Jorge Dela Torre, Archie Fields, Patrick Forbes, David Fugge, Lezli Hicks, Brittany Hodge, Jesus Ibarra, Amy Iori, George Johnson, Keith Lacaze, Timothy Shelley, Jordan Vasquez, Solomon Watkins, Cameron Wiles, Marcus Wiley
7
Years: Luther Boothe, Robert Cefarelli, Nick Coomes, Joshua Drawdy, Richardjames Drummondo, Lance Gates, Amanda Haggerty, Darvis Hicks, George Hutchinson, Casey Lorbiecki, Laura McKinney, Juan Moreno, Jessica Nielson, Buddy Olvera, Brad Peot, Theodore Savage, Perry Thomas, Jonathan Thompson, Jose Torres
8 Years: Michael Barajas, Robert
Campbell, John Dellinger, Gregory Ferguson, Matt Hayes, Jaime Henry, Travis Luinstra, Kevin Martin, Tina Swallow, Joseph Whitaker, Cyle Windsor, Michael Yoger
9
Years: Kenneth Brown, Justin Haisch, Danelle Kenny, Russell Koczur, Preston McNew, Curtis Nobis, Lee Smith, Marcos Soto
10
Years: Daniel Caine, Nathan Champion, Angela Gilmer, Daniel Harkness, Miranda Kichler, James Lanier, Benjamin Murphy, Steve Rodriguez, Todd Vaughan
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Team Member Anniversaries
11
Years: Eric Bowlin, Seth Morris, Angel Vazquez
12 Years: James Carter, Michael
Kertz, Joe Martinez, James McCoy, Servando Mendez, Abram Silva, Raymond Warrington Years: Ricky Carter, David Garcie, John King, Charles Lambert, Jon Mihalic, Michael Ward, Robert Ward
13
14
Years: Ronald Close, Melissa Faughn, Kevin Gonzales, Jean Guerrier, Stev Iseli, Herman Lewis, Frank Nichols, Jason Wood
15 Years: Thomas Addison,
Derek Brown, Johnny Fields, Michael Gray, Robert Gray, Anthony Kirkland, Eddie Lapine, Joshua Leslie, Donnell Rhone
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16 Years: Matt Heeren,
Jimmie Miller, Santos Polanco, Timothy Watson
17 Years: Gary Griswold, Brian Pflughoeft
18 Years: Fallyne Deao,
James Goodyear, Patrick Peabody, Jeffrey Volek
19 Years: Jonathan Evans,
Michael McGee, Leon Odom, Kenneth Schulze, Samuel Winegarner
20
Years: James Brewer, Kenneth Parkin
21 Years: Leon Abercrumbia 24 Years: Roger Kelley
25 Years: Billy Gathright 26 Years: Shannon Knisley, Brady Rogers
28 Years Sherlyn Graham,
Milburn Stewart
29 Years: Michael Beatty, John Falk, John Pond
30 Years: Kirk Hawley 31 Years: William Gast 33 Years: James Young 33 Years: Melvin Davis 36 Years: Dewayne Dockens 41 Years: Fredrick Burrell 44 Years: Tex Inman
New Arrivals
Kolby and Lyndsey DeBerry announce the birth of their son, Deklan Eugene DeBerry, born on September 30, 2020. Deklan weighed 6 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. Deklan was welcomed home by his five siblings. Kolby is a Conductor/Engineer for the Lubbock & Western Railway (LBWR). LBWR trainmasters Matt Jackson and Johnny Ortegon had this LBWR special onesie made for the DeBerry’s new addition.
Cain and Kaylei Greene announce the birth of their son, Shepherd Cain Greene, born on November 14, 2020. Shepherd weighed 9 pounds, 3 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. Shepherd was welcomed home by his big brother Sterrett. Cain is the General Manager of the Alabama Southern Railroad.
Kyle and Brittney Cunningham announce the birth of their son, Easton Ray Cunningham, born on December 8, 2020. Easton weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. Easton was welcomed home by big brother Grayson. Kyle is a Track Laborer for the Kanawha River Railroad.
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