The
Dispatch The newsletter for Watco Companies
May 2021
Table of Contents
Summer Spike 2020-2021 ____________________________________________________________________________ 4-5 Equipment and Expertise _____________________________________________________________________________ 6 Director of Engineering Is Among RT&S Honorees _____________________________________________________ 7 Magazine Names Watco SVP to Its “40 Under Forty” List ______________________________________________ 8 Refugio Transload Terminal is Open for Business _______________________________________________________ 9 Team Member Anniversaries _______________________________________________________________________ 10-11 New Arrivals ______________________________________________________________________________________)____ 12
Highlights
On the Cover
Would you like to a create a new custom patch hat? Contact marketing@watco.com for more information.
On the cover: The Watco stevedoring team in Houston loads a 400,000-pound locomotive on a vessel bound for Columbia.
Don’t forget, all Watco team members will have $5.00 flat-rate shipping on all orders placed through Watco Gear. 2 The Dispatch | May 2021
Safety Anniversaries April 1 – Lake Charles Switching (LA) – 11 years April 1 – Mill Creek Mobile Repair (OK) – 4 years April 5 – Mississippi Southern Railroad (MS) – 16 years April 5 – Cincinnati Tropicana Switching (OH) – 3 years April 6 – Kaw River Railroad (KS, MO) – 1 year April 7 – Prattville Switching (AL) – 5 years April 11 – DeRidder MeadWestvaco Switching (LA) – 18 years April 12 – Tulsa Port of Catoosa Marine Terminal (OK) – 2 years April 15 – Hammond Switching (IN) – 9 years April 20 – Cudahy Repair and Maintenance Shop (WI) – 1 year April 27 – Houston TPC Switching (TX) – 14 years
May 2021 | The Dispatch 3
Summer Spike Program Takes on New Look for 2021
Each year on Memorial Day, Watco kicks off the Summer Spike safety program. This program runs through Labor Day, and the primary focus is to reduce the spike in incidents and injuries that increase during the summer months. Summer brings many distractions such as vacations, high temperatures, and kids being home from school, to name a few. The safety program is geared towards bringing team members’ focus back to safety and how to make it through the summer months injury-free. In past years, the program focused on a different topic each week, covering approximately 12 to 14 topics, depending on the year and how the weeks fell. However, this summer, there will only be three main topics for each service area.
4 The Dispatch | May 2021
“This year, we’ll be actively focusing on the areas of highest risk of incidences that can cause serious injury. We’ve gone through reports and researched the three primary causes of incidences and injuries in each service area. We’ll spend each month going into detail about the causes and prevention of that subject matter,” said Travis Herod, Senior Vice President of Environmental Health and Safety. “By calling attention and focusing on the highest risk areas, we hope to create positive habits that will reduce team member injuries.” Unlike the more structured Winter Freeze program, Summer Spike is managed at the location level, and each manager takes the Summer Spike program and makes it their own. Last summer, many teams
celebrated reaching safety goals with picnics, barbecues, and prizes. “In previous years we had a monthly drawing where three team members who didn’t have any violations were able to win a prize. We also had a hamburger and hot dog cookout each month and then a bigger cookout at the end of the summer,” said Jerry Waun,
South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad General Manager. “The team seemed to really like it so we’re going to do that again this year.” The Watco Gear store (watcogear.com) will have Summer Spike stickers, tees, and safety shirts available to anyone interested in purchasing them individually or for their teams.
Order your custom Summer Spike shirt!
Insert Watco or RR Logo
Insert Watco or RR Logo
Insert Watco or RR Logo
Minimum order of 24. Contact us for details at marketing@watco.com. May 2021 | The Dispatch 5
Equipment and Expertise
Watco’s recipe for transloading success On any given day at Watco’s Greens Port Industrial Terminals (GPIT) docks on the Houston Ship Channel, you might see a 420,000-lb. locomotive high in the air or a 59-foot dive boat suspended overhead and being ‘walked’ by a crawler crane to an outbound cargo ship.
components, like towers or blades. “Last month, we moved a little over 200 blades into the terminal by ship, and shipped them out by truck and rail,” says Wind Manager Andre Wheaton. The average blade is 62 meters, or over 200 feet, moved using the terminals’ Liebherr harbor cranes.
The stevedoring and other activity making up material handling at GPIT offers a window into Watco’s terminal and ports, where experienced team members with specialized equipment skillfully handle project and other cargo. The 45-foot dive boat, by the way, weighed about 32 tons. It was transloaded from an ocean vessel to a cradle on our dock for a couple of days before being loaded onto another ship. The Watco team used a 300-ton-capacity Link-Belt crawler crane and created what’s known as a Christmas tree rigging of spreader bars and slings to lift the boat and move it down the dock to the outbound vessel.
This is just a small sampling of the activity at GPIT, where crawler cranes, harbor cranes, reach stackers, top loaders, and more are at work throughout not only the docks but elsewhere at the 735-acre terminal. And variations of this activity are playing out at scale every day throughout the Watco network. At the Osceola Marine Terminal on the Mississippi River in Arkansas, what is thought to be the world’s largest model of material handler is assembled and ready for operation. With a reach of more than 130 feet and powered by a 500kW electric engine, the Sennebogen 895 E will move inbound raw steel commodities and outbound steel coils.
The locomotive came in by rail with the Watco switching team spotting it on the dock. To load the GECX 1025 for its destination, Watco personnel operated the cranes on the ship, which was bound for a port in Ecuador and eventually the Cerrejón Railway in Columbia.
Team members at nearly 100 transload, wind, and marine terminals and ports are operating hundreds of cranes, forklifts, excavators, dozers, and other equipment assets (plus additional equipment brought in as needed) to handle all types of project and general, bulk, liquid, wheeled, and other cargo.
GPIT General Superintendents Eddie Najera and Ruben Powell are in charge of seven Vessel Superintendents who control the loading and discharging operations on GPIT’s five deep-water docks. “We touch base with the ship lines and customers to do the logistics,” says Najera, “depending on what kind of cargo we will discharge or load for them.”
It’s apparent that when Watco says “we can handle it,” we mean it.
The cargo might be a massive steam turbine generator from Poland, offloaded from a 150-meter cargo ship and transloaded directly to a Louisiana-bound barge. Or steel anchor chains, each over 200 feet long and weighing over 55 MT (300 lbs. per foot), moved in bundles with a Link-Belt 348 Hylab crawler crane. It might be wind turbine 6 The Dispatch | May 2021
Director of Engineering Is Among RT&S Honorees
The Railway, Track & Structures trade publication has selected Watco’s Drew White for its new “10 Under 40” award. “It is sincerely an honor to even be considered, let alone awarded” the recognition, White said. “I couldn’t be more humbled and appreciative.” White, a civil engineer, is one of only 10 people selected in the inaugural group for the honor, given to railroad engineering professionals under the age of 40. White has 15 years’ experience in the industry and has been with Watco since 2013 as Director of Engineering, driving the project design and development process. His achievements since joining Watco are many. He and his brother John White, Vice President of Engineering Project Management, codeveloped Watco’s engineering services, unique in the industry in that it provides engineering and design-build solutions (unlike other railroad or terminal operators). The Design & Development group’s results include more than 1,000 successful growth projects developed and executed over the last eight years. Besides co-developing the engineering team, other examples of Drew White’s contributions and leadership include: •
The recent reconfiguration of the Baton Rouge Southern Railroad (BRS) yard for greater railcar storage, creating greater operating flexibility and increasing safety
• A crucial 2016 temporary oil-storage solution for the San Luis Potosi Distribution Terminal until the permanent solution was ready •
Design and development of the first inter-basin railcar sand loading facility in the Permian Basin to ease trucking constraints and increase reliability and surety of supply
Drew White Director of Engineering •
Pre-Watco roles leading the implementation of the $1.4 billion-dollar Chicago-St. Louis high-speed rail program and managing a 30-member BNSF team completing track maintenance and capital construction projects.
• Receiving BNSF’s Award for Excellence after leading the renovation of the Hannibal Subdivision in Northeast Missouri “Drew’s leadership and work ethic have set an example for many to follow,” said James Trollope, Senior Vice President of Project Management and Engineering. “I’m excited to see the contributions he’ll make in years to come.”
May 2021 | The Dispatch 7
Magazine Names Watco SVP to Its “40 Under Forty” List
we have, who are all pushing in the same direction every day with the same goals in mind.” Nielsen came to Watco in late 2015, and an early impact was dramatically reducing departmental turnover. Under Andy’s leadership, the turnover rate among the team has dropped from a concerning high of 54% in 2016 to 7% in 2020. His many contributions have included consolidating and streamlining some financial reporting and budgeting processes, and he was deeply involved during construction of the San Luis Potosi Distribution Terminal. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Rick Baden nominated Nielsen for the award, which is based on leadership skills, achievements in business, and character, among other criteria. Andy Nielsen Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting Andy Nielsen, Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting based in Overland Park, Kansas, recently was named to a select group of young leaders in the region. Nielsen was chosen for the annual “40 Under Forty” list by Ingram’s, a monthly digital and print publication that covers business, industry, and economic development in Kansas and Missouri. This is the 23rd year for the award, which recognizes the achievements and promise of professionals who are younger than 40. “I was surprised and just proud to be part of the Watco story,” Nielsen said about learning of the honor. “Watco has such a strong team culture that any personal acknowledgment doesn’t appropriately represent the great team that
8 The Dispatch | May 2021
“In my experience,” Baden said, “what makes Andy notable as a younger leader is that he consistently demonstrates a strong capacity to understand a wide range business challenges. He embraces our servant leadership approach and is good teammate, ready to jump in wherever he may be able to help. “Not only does Andy develop strong internal relationships within Watco, but he quickly develops strong relationships with our customers, investors, bankers, advisors, suppliers, and many other relationships. “The best part about Andy is that he is just a great person and someone you like to be around.”
Refugio Transload Terminal is Open for Business
Formerly a sand receipt facility for the energy industry, Watco’s newest Texas terminal, the Refugio Transload Terminal, is now open for business. The Watco team at the facility previously performed operations, but ownership of the facility now opens the doors to new opportunities to bring in a variety of customers and commodities. Hilda Morin has been at the facility, located two hours southwest of Houston, since 2011. She was hired on as an operator and worked her way up to supervisor, assistant terminal manager, and then to her current position as terminal manager. “We’re excited to bring on new business,” Morin said. “We have 200 plus acres here with 100 acres of that undeveloped. There is so much potential here for growth.” Connectivity to the facility is a big plus to the full-service rail-served terminal. Two Class I railroads serve the site, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific, and there are currently 650 existing railcar spaces. A planned expansion will accommodate additional railcar storage space or allow for a SIT (Storage in Transit) yard. There are eight 2,000-ton concrete silos on site with state-of-the-art conveyer systems for handling bulk commodities with the opportunity to transload from rail to silo to truck in any combination. The facility’s automatic truck transloading system can rapidly fill from multiple lanes to maximize the terminal’s truck throughput. This capability, with the proximity to the growing Corpus Christi, Rockport, and Sinton areas, will support the bulk products, chemicals, oil and gas, wind energy, agriculture, and steel industries. “I see this as a great learning opportunity for everyone here,” said Morin. “We can build on the experience that we already have and discover even more ways to provide cost-effective options to meet our customers’ needs. That’s one thing Watco has always been good about, finding better ways to provide service.”
May 2021 | The Dispatch 9
Team Member Anniversaries Congratulations to the following team members celebrating May anniversaries:
1 Year: Hunter Anderson, Jason Andres, Jamie Bailey, Jimmy Caceres, Kley Cameron, Shiuan-je Chen, Kimberly Cohen, Lea Hedger, Adam Hulse, Trysten Lewis, Nikeitria Mason, Matthew Morrison, Trinedy Mosley, Jonathan Rice, James Richey, Christopher Senst, Dalton Taylor, Zachary Tipton, Shawn Young
2 Years: Lindie Adair, Raul
Carrizales, Richard Cooper,
Victorio Tudon, Erick Wagoner,
Nicholas Desjarlais, Perla Diaz,
Jimmie Welch, Brandon Willis,
Alton Durham, Joshua Fetzer,
Chad Zentz
Justen Gardner, Andrew Gossett,
5 Years: Keith Abele, Charles
Jacob Green, Robert Green, Roosevelt Green, Timothy Guymon, Jimmy Guyton, Abraham Hamilton, Dionicio Hernandez, Ryan Hisey, Nicholas Holiday, Harold Jackson, Miguel Jacobo, Jessica James, Derrick Johnson, Danny Kelley, Robert
Ashley, Jorge Castaneda, Christian Daniels, Aaron Garcia, Joshua Golightley, Joseph Hamm, Dakota Hedges, Tori Herman, Charles Hudson, Matthew Magee, Chris Martin, Tyler Sessions, Patrick Stephenson, Amanda Thomas, Scott Young
Aguirre, Miguel Barrera Vasquez,
Koehn, Zachary Landrum,
Elliot Bercier, Kenneth Berg,
Charles LaRocque, Tuscan
Colten Camp, Gregory Carley,
Larsen, Bielka Leiva, Nerisa
Allen, Joshuah Armel, John
Jesse De Soto, Roy Dixon, Chase
Leota, Brett Lindstrom, Stephen
Bickle, Dustin Brant, Miguel
Driscoll, Scott Durham, Shane
Maloney, Jarrett Manharth,
Cantu, Miguel Cantu, Gardner
Erwin, Connor Ferguson, Barry
Sheldon Mashburn, Bret McGuire,
Cole, Shanna Damesworth,
Fredericks, Blayne Frey, Juan
Mercedes Medina, Detayvious
Jacques Freeman, Willie Gibson,
Garcia, Juan Garcia Perez, Kim
Merrill, Clara Moore, Ryan Neal,
Robert Gross, Zachary Hilton,
Gardner, Angelica Godinez, Tex
Ronald Owens, Shannon Parker,
Garrett Hoover, Adam Johnson,
Grantham, Dana Hartleib, Hosea
Jose Perez, Denise Phillips, Jose
George King, Johnni Lawrence,
Hayes, Charles Hernandez, Martin
Pina, Walter Punteney, Donald
Pedro Luna, Paul Martin, Chad
Hernandez, Daniel Hindmarch,
Ryan, David Sanchez Gonzalez,
Matthews II, Omar Reyes, Michael
Tevin Hooper, Larry Huff, Christian
Joshua Schultz, Kalasinh
Robert, Keily Schumann, Jennifer
Iverson-Sorrells, Jonathan Keller,
Sihabouth, Christopher Steed,
Simpson, Matthew Sprayberry,
Jenifer Little, Rudy Lopez, Michael
Dalton Want, John Watson, Jason
Daniel Tumbleson
Maddux, Charlie Massingille,
Williams, Lynae Womble
McKenna Mitchell, Ronnie
4 Years: Mario Almazan, Evan
7 Years: David Alvarado, Robert Blevins, Tim Cain, Pamela Cannon,
Baker, Alexander Blum, Joshua
Travis Chamberlain, Aaron Davis,
Briseno, Jerald Clark, Isaac
Derrick Davis, Caleb Dellasega,
Coomes, Keith Cornett, Veronica
Rasheed Devine, Gabriel Gonzales,
Garcia, Cole Kershner, Rojelio
Sharon Hansen, Michael Holland,
Lopez, Christopher McGee, Phillip
Christopher Kleman, Brandon
Moorlag, Kenneth Morgan, Aaron
Lockley, Matthew Lumm,
Morris, James Ortiz, Jennifer Otto,
Christopher Maxwell, John McRae,
Luis Oyervides, Ray Price, Logan
Christopher Nunnelley, Jerry
Mooney, Kevin Moore, Leonard Neal, Tony Perkins, Haydan Prescott, Armando Reyes, Victor Reyes, Martin Rodriguez, Ernesto Sedillo, Don Skaggs, Deanna Smith, Laekin Starr, Rachel Turner-Brown, Jacob Wasserman
3 Years: Brooks Backes, Richard Burns, Willard Burwell, Jose
10 The Dispatch | May 2021
Reed, Kylie Robinson, Tyler Smith,
6 Years: Jason Abbott, Cameron
Team Member Anniversaries
Quintana, John Ray, Jacob Short, Dwayne Smith, Jerry Waun
8 Years: Jordan Brown, Shawn
14 Years: Michael Hubbs, Ricardo Leija, Danyale Norman, Jeffrey Raker, Matthew Smith,
Delaney, Carl Dunlap, Thomas
Chris Spear
Fabis, Melissa Gardner, Tabitha
15 Years: Jason Danz, Matthew
Hansen, Kris Hemby, Jeff Huser, Roy Lanthorn, Cole Schulz, Lawrence Shinavar, Michael Smith, Jessica Swafford, Zachary Wooldridge
9 Years: Terry Bell, Timothy Boyd, Ozell Campbell, Trinity Campbell, John Davis, Daniel Farr, Tashata Jackson, Jerome Lawson, Raul Lazo, Jerry Lowe, Drexel Newton, William Patterson, Daniel Perez, Lovon Simmons, Russell Spragis, Matthew Tarwater, Christopher Thomas, Christopher Thyer, Mem Webb
10 Years: Joseph Bradley, David Castagno, Anthony Hampton, Wesley Lindell, Christopher Miller, Frank Nickowski, Kenneth Powell, James Richards, Robby Rodriguez, Samuel Rodriguez, Jack Scott, Terence Snell, Jeremy Stegner
11 Years: Mario Bretado, Kristopher Colley, Adam Hall, Joshua Holt
12 Years: Kevin Anselmi 13 Years: Thadius Hawkins,
Koser, Gregory Lewis, Hugh Peo, Dan Sanger, Keith Schlotman, Nicholas Zerebiny
16 Years: Aaron Coester, Steven Conrad, Douglas Corbin, John Gaither, Evan Groth, Timothy Groth, Kevin Leport, John McFadden, Jason Noll, Charles Wagner, Ron Willman
17 Years: Aaron Hawkins, Melissa Ross, Bradley Walker
18 Years: Matthew Fetzer 19 Years: John Banks, Michael Greenwalt, James Lilly, George O’Connor
20 Years: Enrique Castillo, Christopher Hamill, Allen Kellar,
25 Years: John Snow 26 Years: Barbara Cody, Anthony Delecce
29 Years: Walter Tisler 31 Years: Terry Schiska 32 Years: Michael Brown, William Gray
33 Years: Randall McPherson, Todd Mulrooney
34 Years: Terry Market
35 Years: Mark McClellan, Jay Prawucki
36 Years: Daniel Barrington, Patrick Ray
42 Years: Michael Roberts 43 Years: Jose Acosta 48 Years: Braden Seese
Richard Kelly, Duane Spurrier
21 Years: Chuck Shaffer 22 Years: Robert Cronch, Terrance Redd, Casey Thrall
23 Years: Howard Belgrod, Stanley Bryant, Thomas Lipp, Douglas Marshall, Jay Parsons
24 Years: Scott Davis, Jason Jeane, Calvin Jyles, Sean Nally
Nakia Jenkins May 2021 | The Dispatch 11
New Arrivals
Archer Lynn Horne Chad and Bliss Horne announce the birth of their son, Archer Lynn Horne, born March 27, 2021. Archer weighed 8 pounds and was 20 inches long. Archer was welcomed home by his brother Kellen 2. Chad is a Senior Data Integration Analyst working out of the Overland Park, Kansas, office.
Graduations The school year’s end is quickly approaching, and many family members of the Watco team will be crossing stages across the continent (and ocean) to receive their diplomas. Watco would like to acknowledge their hard work and show how proud we are of all graduates from our families by listing them in the June edition of The Dispatch. If you would like to have a graduate’s information listed, send in the information in the following format: Graduate’s name and relationship to Watco team member , Watco team member’s title and location, the school the graduate is attending and location of that school, and if the graduate is receiving a degree from a college, university, or trade school, list the graduate’s degree type. An example would be: Billy Doe: Son of John Doe, locomotive mechanic in Oklahoma City, OK; graduating from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Email the information to: marketing@watco.com and add Dispatch Graduation in the subject line.
12 The Dispatch | May 2021
