Watco recently added one new Customer and in the process, added three new locations. ND Paper (Nine Dragons Paper Holdings) is now served at locations in Old Town and Rumford, Maine, and in Biron, Wisconsin, at the Wisconsin Rapids Railroad. ND Paper manufactures various types of high-quality pulp, paper, and paper-based packaging materials.
The team at the three locations will provide services switching commodities such as wood chips, clay, latex, corn starch, talc, logs, wood chemicals, rubber chips, and coal depending on the facility. The company, based out of China, currently operates four mills in the United States. The Biron and Rumford facilities are integrated pulp and paper facilities, and the Old Town location produces unbleached softwood kraft pulp. The fourth location in Fairmont, West Virginia, is one of only three in the world that produces airdried, recycled pulp.
Watco Team Members had initially been in discussions with operators at the Wisconsin operations when they were approached about switching opportunities at the other two locations in Maine. Pan Am is the short line provider for the Maine locations, and the Watco Team members switch the railcars within the facility and receive and hand off the cars to Pan Am.
The Wisconsin Rapids Railroad took over operations on September 1, but didn’t begin switching railcars until the third. They did take the opportunity to go out on Labor Day and get familiar with the tracks before their first day of service.
The team currently has four team members and one Go Teamer on staff. C. Tyler Dunsworth serves as general manager and was previously with Watco’s Stillwater Central Railroad. Dan Hogan serves as an engineer and has 22 years of railroad experience. Troy Kutella and Nick Brown are new to the railroad industry and are busy learning how to be safe and efficient conductors.
Tyler said, “The start-up went off without a hitch. We took our time, learning the Customer’s needs and preferred method. A team member who works for ND Paper commented, ‘the transition was very smooth, and we’re happy to have a switcher that listens to our needs.'”
Brothers Joshua and Matthew Tarwater made the long trip from Alabama to serve as team members at the Maine locations. Joshua serves at the site manager for both Rumford and Old Town, and Matthew is the crew leader at Rumford. They were previously conductor/engineers at the Alabama Southern Railroad. Joining the brothers are, Josh Blanchard, Jeromi Corliss, Joey Feero, Ralph Jackson, Blaine Pelletier, and Michael Smith. Most of the team members are new to the railroad industry and are learning the ropes on how to provide the best service to the Customer.
The team at Rumford began switching cars for ND Paper on September 9, and the Old Town location is getting ready to begin operations shortly. The Old Town mill was shut down three years ago by previous owners, and ND Paper has been working to get everything in good order.
Joshua said, “ND has worked hard and invested in getting operations going for the long term. Our start-up went well, and the new team is working hard on building their skills.”
Keith LaCaze, Sr., senior vice president of operations, said, “I’m very proud of the effort that went into the start-up of these new locations. Watco had a concise timeline to get these locations up and going. It took a group effort from not only the local management team, but also from Go Teamers across our network.”
