Latest / The Intermodal Logistics Podcast / The conversion surge, the merger & women in logistics (Live from IANA EXPO)

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The conversion surge, the merger & women in logistics (Live from IANA EXPO) · The Intermodal Logistics Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to this edition of the Intermodal Logistics Podcast.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Kevin Baxter, joined by my co-host, InTech Logistics, President Shelly Austin.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Kevin.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hey Shelly, and we are at the Intermodal Expo, IANA's Intermodal Expo in Long Beach.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be doing a few episodes from here.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And our first one, we are honored to have Kerry Kirchhoffer joining us from Union Pacific, the uh senior VP premium.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, thanks for having me.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So so first of all, tell us uh a little bit about yourself.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: We like to when we when we have a guest for the first time, get a little background.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So so tell us a little bit about your background, your uh position right now, and uh maybe a few things that you do day to day.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it seems crazy, but next month I'll have 34 years at Union Pacific.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the time has flown by, and I love working in the logistics space.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um last 15 years have been heavily focused on intermodal.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: My current role is senior VP of Premium, and so what we handle is all intermodal, meaning domestic and international and automotive.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um and a couple things that are on my plate right now.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: We're very focused on over-the-road conversion.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of freight coming at us very quickly, and we're wanting to try and find the best fit for a conversion to be able to come over.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: And we're also trying to stay with this demand picking up so quickly, we're trying to make sure that service and capacity stays ahead of demand.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Carrie, we uh we all just came out of a great session with with Jim Venice.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was a lot of fun.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so tell us a little bit about um from a UP perspective, how important is it as we're here at the expo to engage with the stakeholders of Intermodal?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: And what kind of headline uh message do you want them to take away?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um well, first of all, what a great way to kick off the conference this morning.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: Packed house, uh really strong message.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: I think that everybody really enjoyed uh having the opportunity to attend the morning session.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh for us, uh, our intermodal stakeholders are key because intermodal is a bit unique.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's a team sport, is what I like to call it.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: So you have the shipper, the IMC, the Drage carrier, and the railroad, and we all need to be on the same page so that we can deliver a strong door-to-door service for our customers.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and places like IANA are a great way to get all the stakeholders together to make sure we're going in the same direction.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: So that was great.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: In terms of Jim's key message, I think it would be in my words, uh, this merger really works because it's what customers have been asking for all along.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: A simple, fast, reliable way to get freight across America.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, on that, you you mentioned the merger.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so the proposed merger with the Norfolk Southerner is definitely the talk of railroad right now.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's kind of fun and exciting.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so tell us a little bit from an intermodal standpoint what a single-line transcontinental service would do for shippers and IMCs alike.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'd say three things.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, an unmatched reach.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna open up new opportunities for new markets that with a single line basis.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: We're also going to help reduce the actual cost as we put more capacity into the network.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: So, what I mean by that is we're gonna put capital in the ground for not only our main lines, but also for our terminals.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it looks like over a million lifts of new capacity that will go in as part of the merger.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then the big thing is faster service, um, which allows us, because this merger is really focused on taking trucks off the highway, and that is what's gonna allow us to be able to do that.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Who doesn't want fast service?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and that's a good segue into our next question.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: In the uh latest uh JOC survey, the uh inner the intermodal service scorecard, and and Jim mentioned this too, actually.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: The uh the UP is the top vote getter for for intermodal service from the uh IMCs that are surveyed and everything.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So um what would you say is driving that on your end and and how are you handling the uh the increase that's come from uh truckload conversion?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because truckload conversion is is I mean, everything's way up in intermodal right now.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um I would say that probably the big thing for us is that we needed to make sure that customers could see what optionalities they had.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: And what I mean by that is um the railroad needed to be prepared for the freight before it got here.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do you do that?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: That means you actually have to invest in the freight before you even see it.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: So at Union Pacific, what that looks like for us is it means a new Twin Cities ramp in Minnesota.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: It means a brand new international ramp in Phoenix, Arizona, a new Kansas City terminal uh that we just built last year, Inland Empire, which is in the heart of the fastest growing warehouse district in Southern California, several expansions with the next one coming out in February, and then in Northern California, let's not forget that we've got Lathrop.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: And that's just to name a few.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: So customers really want to make sure that the capacity is gonna be there and ready for them when they when they come over.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: The next thing then is uh technology.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: We really had to take a deep dive into technology, and I would say from two different ways.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because intermodal is a team sport, you got to focus on the ramps.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: And what I mean by that is at the ramps, if that driver doesn't get on and off the ramp efficiently, they just don't want to come to your terminal anymore.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: So for us, it was precision gate technology.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: It allows the truck drivers as they come onto the ramp to move in quickly and exit quickly off the ramp, being able to turn their day faster and efficiently when they come into a Union Pacific ramp.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really nice.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're a shipper, what keeps them up at night?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: I really think what keeps c customers up at night is being able to know where their freight is at all times.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: So when you hand something off to intermodal, one of the concern areas is but I can't see it.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so GPS for our rail box program has been a key focus for us for the past 18 months.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: We finally have GPS on all of our boxes and it allows customers that pure visibility.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then the final piece that makes it all flow, and Jim referenced this this morning, is surge resources.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: We are unique in that Union Pacific believes in having excess capacity available for when the freight wants to come.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: So that's both cruise and locomotives, and that has served us well as the intermodal has begun to double-digit tick up.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been uh it's been a really nice uh adventure that we've all been on this year.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: We've been waiting for a while.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we're excited.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so you so you mentioned a lot of this, but you you know, with the conversion, because that's what we're talking about, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: You've for so many years we talked about shifting.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and we weren't growing.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so with the conversion uh from truck to intermodal, tell us a little bit about how uh you I heard this a lot that you know, okay, well, truck is having issues and we're gonna use intermodal.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: How do we get shippers to we're we're seeing shippers try this service that haven't ever tried the service?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: We're seeing shippers that went away from the service and now are coming back to the service.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: How do we get them to keep it as part of their actual strategy and maintain it?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a really good question.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: And and I think that you it's easy for us to fail.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Ann referenced it today in her keynote, where she basically said, they're starting to come, but now the real trick is how do you get them to make it part of their strategy for the long term?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: So at Union Pacific, we believe that you really need to treat your intermodal customers that have been with you for 20 years differently than a brand new convert.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: And what I mean by that is the first 90 days are critical because to a customer that's been shipping truck all their life, they're used to calling up a truck driver and getting an answer.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, intermodal's a little bit different, right?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: They can they know exactly when that's gonna land.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: Intermodal, we need to have conversations with them so that we're successful about what's your cutoff time?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: What is a cutoff time?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: When's the doc ideally want to receive that freight?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: And how do we back into that?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just making sure you have those good upfront conversations first so that we're very successful.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: So we do that, but the real key to UP and our secret sauce is our IMCs.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that's because the IMCs open so many doors for us to new customers, and they are great at hand holding a new customer and being able to answer all those questions that I just talked about.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: So if you can get them and you can be successful for the first 90 days, it goes from being an experiment to being part of their strategy.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, personally, thank you.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: I we we love that we love the hype for IMCs.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: I that was awesome.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: And in speaking of that, to help uh us IMCs out there, in your perspective, if there's a shipper on the fence about intermodal, what what would you say to them to get them over that fence?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a very small percentage of the share that moves across the nation's highway today, and we want to expand that.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think when you're going after a new customer, the key is not to say, let's take all of your business and convert it on day one to intermodal.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: Intermodal will be your solution set for everything.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: I like to say, let's take a lane and let's deep dive on that lane and see what your true needs are and see if it's a successful candidate for intermodal.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: And once we figure that out, let's test that lane for 90 days.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: And once that that's successful, let's test it, measure it, and then decide where we go from there.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: And that's on to the next lane.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: So that I think is the way that our 20-year veterans that have been moving intermodal have gotten so big.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how we're going to be successful in getting over-the-road customers to switch and really be able to become those longtime converts.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, Carrie, the this last one, I it's near and dear to my heart.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: You have had such a successful career and in a male-dominated environment.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so what would you, you know, we're here working with all these students and these college kids, which you and I are very impressive students.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: They are feeling much better about the future.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I am too.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we love this, right?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: We love working with them.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: So in this male-dominated environment with these younger females that are wanting to get into the space, yeah.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: What what advice do you give them?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so the the good part is, you know, I told you at the beginning that I've been in the industry now for 34 years.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: So the first thing is I believe women show up, and when they show up, they need to stay.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: So when you look around the room, if you're the only female in the room, which I don't think is predominant anymore, I would agree with you, right?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: But if it is, know that it's important that you stay.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: I stayed and look, and it it turned out awesome for me.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: So that I think is the first piece of advice.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: But the second piece of the advice I have is make sure you learn the job.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: And intermodal is a bit unique.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: So not only do you have to learn the railroad, you got to learn the IMCs, you got to learn the customer.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: And the customer means go walk the dock on the railroad, go to a terminal and actually see how what makes it tick.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you understand what causes a customer to be successful and unsuccessful.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you don't, you're gonna be the quietest person in the room and it's gonna be a lonely career.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: If you just know how to do the PowerPoint, that's not gonna get you there.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's really important.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I would say after that, I've been very fortunate in my career that I wasn't always in the room, but I had some people above me advocating.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: So find your people.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: I've done a really good job.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: The number one thing I do is I try to now in this current role, I try to surround myself with people that are better than I would be.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I try and clear paths for them so that they can go do their job.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: That I think is the important thing so that when you're not in the room, someone up above is talking about you.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: And when you get there, so someone like me, it's make sure you do it for the next woman.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: Find find a mentor or mentee person and work with them so that we can just continue to have a really balanced work environment for everybody.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Great words of advice, yeah.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Carrie, we appreciate it.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for joining us.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: You guys, thank you, Jeremy.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: This is a great forum, and I really appreciated the opportunity to be able to come on and talk to all the people out there in IANA land.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for joining us as well on the Intermodal Logistics Podcast.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can find us wherever you get your podcasts.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Please do subscribe, follow, drop us a comment.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can email us also at podcast at intechlogistics.com.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And for more about intech logistics, go to www.intechlogistics.com as well.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Or Shelley Austin and Gary Kirchhoffer.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Kevin Baxter.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much, and we will be back again soon with another episode.