Suraj: Introduction

Ronak- sally walles

Dhumal: Cost evaluator
Meghna: Opportunities/ threat in rail transport
Chetnani: CIS president
Pingle: Fumigation expert
Harsh: sustainability of Rail transport in US

Suraj- Introduction
Most economists and U.S. business advocates say a key ingredient to solid,
sustainable growth in the American economy is expanding exports. After all,
as large as our domestic consumer market is, 95% of the worlds markets lie
outside the United States.
But what happens to a shipper that suddenly receives a large agricultural
export order thats time sensitive and requires an innovative transportation
network to make it happen? Exactly such a dilemma was facing Birdsong
Peanuts
How this fifth-generation, 102-year old company crafted a new logistics
solution into a dynamic, ongoing, highly sustainable intermodal operation
with the help of three partners is a masterpiece of planning, operations and
collaboration.

In fact, Birdsong and its logistics partners Cordele Intermodal Services and
the Georgia Ports Authority were awarded one of three 2016 Alliance Awards
presented by SMC3 and Logistics Management magazine. These awards are
the only honor in the industry that recognize strategic partnerships working
to produce meaningful, collaborative supply chain outcomes. Heres how
Birdsong and its partners solved this impressive export challenge.

Ronak- Sally walles

We buys carefully selected peanuts directly from farmers fields. Theyre

then cleaned, shelled, sized and usually shipped in truckload lots to
manufacturers who turn them into many popular food itemsfrom peanut
butter to peanut M&Ms.
In fact, Birdsong is one of the countrys largest shellers, buying about one-
third of U.S. peanut production.
The company operates six shelling plants throughout the peanut-growing
belt comprised of 11 states extending from Virginia to New Mexico.
In addition, it operates 85 buying points where it buys and stores farmers
stock. It also owns extensive cold storage warehouses to keep peanuts in a
protected environment until shipped to customers.
Although not a household consumer name, Birdsong is well known in the
close-knit peanut industry. Chances are, if you eat products made from
American peanuts, youve consumed peanuts from Birdsong.
We had never shipped peanuts from the United States to China
Our normal exports amounted to 150 to 200 containers a month to western
Europe through Rotterdam.
However, the Chinese New Year order was substantially larger. It required to
ramp up to between 400 and 500 containers a month from December
through March and move huge volumes to the Port of Savannah to get to
China before the Chinese New Year.

Dhumal: Cost evaluator

Wells found that there wasnt enough capacity to move the order via truck in
the time allotted. Plus, it was going to be too expensive to move the order by
truck due to the additional cost for chassis rental fees incurred during
fumigation, which would have taken place off-terminal in Savannah.
In fact, moving the container off terminal would have required Birdsong to
wait up to five days at a cost of $20 to $25 per day for each chassis rental
and there would have been an additional day and charge for the dray into
the port at a cost of $85 per container.

Chetnani:
We capacity to move the large order, and offered direct container drayage to
the Savannah port via rail.
Additionally, We offere Birdsong cost savings in both the chassis rental and
drayage through its offering of on-terminal fumigation and USDA inspections.
This would allow the container to be sealed and ready to go to the ship in
Savannah with reduced emissions levels from the fumigation process
required of overseas shipments.
As a result, Birdsong would be able to fulfill its export order. And if this new
collaboration worked, it would allow the company to aggressively pursue
more business in new marketsand at the same time, it would benefit
Georgia peanut farmers by creating a new service so more acres of peanuts
could be planted

Still we will be having problem regarding the fumigation of the cargo. As all
the fumigation process takes place at port only. Which is a big bottleneck for
us as well as cost consuming also
As waiting line adds chassis cost day by day.

Pingale: Fumigation expert

One big issue was the fumigation process, which is required of all exports
and usually done at the port, requiring up to three days to complete.
I have one suggestion of off-port fumigation location in Cordele, Ga., right off
Interstate 75 in the southwestern corner of Georgia. This by-passed the port
completely for fumigation, which would have slowed the entire export
process to a crawl.
The biggest obstacle was refining the fumigation process by implementing a
new fumigant, The fumigant that was historically used took up to three
days to complete its process, but the new fumigant only required 24 hours,
and that helped tremendously.
The way our fumigates also reduces the number of days that the shipper
pays for chassis, as CIS grounds the containers during this process. The
typical process was to leave the container on wheelswhich is anywhere
from two days to six daysand the shipper is paying at least $20 per day for
the chassis.

Dhumal: Cost evaluator

In addition to saving the $20 to $25 per container for chassis rental charges
and the $85 drayage fee per container, Birdsong saved by moving the
fumigation location out of the Port of Savannah to Cordele. To top it off, it
saved precious time.
At the end of the day, Birdsong has gone from shipping 10% to 20% of its
traditional exports via intermodal to now almost 90% of all exports using the
CIS partnership.

Meghna:
I would like to throw some facts to evaluate future business through rail
logistic.
Harsh: