|
TDANA proudly welcomes two industrial park members this year into the organization. The board encourages transload industry professionals to acquaint themselves with these unique companies and the variety of services they can offer.
Located 8 miles outside the bustling hub of Saskatchewan’s largest city, the Saskatoon Transportation Link touts an 800-acre area to serve Canada’s two premier railroad main lines belonging to the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. The site also boasts primary highway on its property that can hold maximum weight.
“The transportation companies we serve are able to haul bigger loads, which is therefore more economical,” Saskatoon Transportation Link President Stuart Busse said.
He noted that while mining coal, diamonds and gold constitutes a large portion of the province’s economy, agriculture remains the biggest segment at 40% of the Canada’s farmland. Trainloads and shipping containers offer the cheapest method for assisting to export the country’s agriculture products, and Busse stands proud to serve this significant market.
Although currently lacking a facility for these services, the crew hopes to enhance the site by adding food-grade potash operations, which meet different regulations than the potash used as crop fertilizer. Unlike other locations that lack separate loading facilities for each and lose time cleaning equipment to avoid contamination, Saskatoon Industrial Park would feature two areas specifically designated for each product.
“We recognize the need and advantage these operations would offer, so we plan to provide them once a potash company signs on with us,” Busse said. “Our separate loading facilities would prevent losing valuable shipping time and achieves efficiency for customers.”
Clientele also appreciate the park’s separate loading and distribution points. While other sites can’t always claim this coveted feature, it helps Saskatoon achieve smooth, speedy service with minimal congestion.
“If a specialty train returns with empty oil containers, that’s not as efficient as shipping containers loaded with grain one way and televisions on the return route," Busse said. “Customers want to avoid spending money on transporting empty containers. Our 800 acres of container storage make this possible.”
He hopes other transload locations look to Saskatoon Industrial Park as an example and pursue similar efficient, environmentally friendly operations.
And nearly 1,460 miles south within Oklahoma’s Citizen Potawatomi Nation, the 700-acre Iron Horse Industrial Park is on track to set a precedent for transloading sites across the U.S. This conveniently centralized site currently hosts manufacturing operations and warehouse storage for conduit and piping sought by oil and telecommunications industries, as well as municipal government water systems. Additionally, sites are available for manufacturing and warehousing in the automotive support, aerospace, renewable energy, and environmental sustainability industries. Its status as the only active foreign trade zone on Native American trust property entails federal regulation and tax exemptions.
“That is beneficial from a marketing standpoint,” said James Collard, Ph.D., Citizen Potawatomi Nation director of planning and economic development. “We offer a wonderful tax benefit package for clients. They spare huge amounts of money, and it draws more business.”
Responsible for diversifying the tribal economy, Dr. Collard mentioned the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s admiration for Canada and plans to honor their historic ties by expanding the Iron Horse Industrial Park site for Canadian, including Canadian First Nations, businesses. By expanding the Iron Horse Industrial Park site, greater business and trade opportunities are made available for both International trade and intertribal trade. A grant from the Economic Development Administration has helped fund the project, which has included utility securement, new rail placement and environmental considerations. The expanded operations are slated for a summer 2021 completion and will call for a significantly increased workforce.
“We look forward to helping grain producers within 50-100 miles of the site ship their product north, as well as processing incoming containers from Canada,” Collard said. “Although most decline to make big decisions right now with the pandemic, we’re participating in discussions with several companies as everything seems to be lining up for the future.”
In addition to securing more partnerships with its northern neighbor, Iron Horse seeks to increase its market participation abroad, which is not widespread within the Native American community. Through the International Inter-Tribal Trade and Investment Organization (www.IITIO.org), Collard advocates for developing mechanisms through which Indigenous peoples can trade over international boundaries. He encourages other tribes to engage in international trade and bring manufacturing and transloading into their respective nations, as the operations will directly benefit its citizens through bringing wealth back to the tribe.
“Possessing a global presence is our future, and we have used our park as an example for other tribes to help diversify the indigenous economy,” Collard said. “Iron Horse is very much a site from which local products are shipped out of the immediate area to anywhere around the world or within our own state.”
|
