Kansas City Southern (KCS) announced on Monday, October 12, 2021, that it has engaged Commtrex to enhance the visibility and connectivity of the KCS network’s over 100 transload facilities in the U.S. and Mexico using the Commtrex platform. The new relationship comes at a time of increasingly complex and volatile global supply chains, capacity constraints, labor shortages, rising transportation costs, as well as growing trade throughout North America due to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. 

Located in 19 U.S. and Mexican states, the KCS transload network handles food and agricultural commodities, bulk materials, chemicals, paper and forest products, steel and other metals. The Commtrex platform allows shippers to search for transload centers by location, commodities handled, services provided and other parameters to develop their freight rail options. Close to one-third of Commtrex’s 2,300 members are rail-served shippers. 

“Working with Commtrex to support transload volume growth in the U.S. and Mexico supports our vision to be the fastest-growing, best-performing, most customer-focused transportation provider in North America,” said KCS executive vice president and chief marketing officer Mike Naatz. “This will help customers identify transload locations in competitive markets and secure shipping locations in Mexico - one of the fastest emerging logistics markets today.” 

“The ability to easily connect shippers with transload facilities at origin and destination to help them develop a rail shipping plan, will facilitate greater conversion of truckload freight to rail,” said Commtrex chief executive officer Martin Lew. “We thank KCS for entrusting us to support the continued growth of their transload footprint. Our team is excited to realize new efficiencies for KCS’ transload operations and shippers as we drive more commercial opportunities through our digital rail logistics platform.”