关于BNSF的简介.docx

1. An Introduction of BNSF1.1 BNSF ProfileBNSF is the short form of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. BNSFs history dates back more than 160 years to 1849, when the12-mile Aurora Branch Railroad was founded in Illinois. Over the next several decades, many additional rail lines were built and eventually became part of what is todays BNSF Railway. Some of BNSFs major predecessor railroads were Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Burlington Northern; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Frisco; Great Northern; Northern Paci_c; and Spokane, Portland & Seattle. BNSF was created Sept. 22, 1995, from the merger of Burlington Northern Inc. (parent company of Burlington Northern Railroad) and Santa Fe Paci_c Corporation (parent company of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway). On February 12, 2010, BNSF became a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, IncHeadquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, BNSF is one of the largest railroads in North American with operating railway route miles reaching 51,500 kilometers, serving 28 states in America and two Canadian provinces. BNSF plays a vital role in the U.S. economy, hauling the products consumers use every day and the raw materials manufacturers need to make those products. BNSF is among the worlds top transporters of Intermodal traffic, serving over 40 ports. More than 30 modern railway Intermodal transportation bases distribute in most metropolitan areas along the BNSF railroad routine. BNSF ships more than five million containers and trailing boxes every year and is regarded as the largest railway Intermodal transportation carrier in the world. It also hauls enough coal to generate roughly ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. The companys three transcontinental routes provide high-speed links between the western and eastern United States. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second-largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary competitor for Western U.S. freight.1.2 BNSF and American EconomyRailway retains a congenital monopoly and with its large scale of investment and high entry barrier, its acquired monopoly intensifies. BNSF Railway provides a vital link to the U.S. economy by connecting producers and consumers. The routine miles of BNSF reach 32,000 miles which serves 28 states in U.S. and 2 provinces in Canada. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, every dollar invested in rail systems (track, locomotives, bridges, etc.) returns 3 dollars to the American economy in terms of job creation, business efficiency gains and expansion opportunities. Americans freight railroads generate nearly 265 billion dollars in total annual economic activity and sustain 1.2 million jobs, including 175,000 in the industry itself.BNSF bolsters the economy by investing heavily in infrastructure and facilities. In 2011 alone, BNSF worked with its customers to locate 172 new and expanded facilities, representing investments of about 1 billion dollars and creating more than 2,100 jobs. Facilities include ethanol plants, distribution centers, lumber yards, biodiesel plants and Intermodal centers.Most recently, BNSF and its partners began construction on the Kansas City Intermodal Facility. The facility will provide better access for shippers to the BNSFs Transcontinental Corridor and the growing north-south Midcon Corridor. The 250 million dollar development will help create approximately 13,000 jobs.BNSF works to earn returns that enable us to continually re-invest private dollars that improve the value and efficiency of our service to our customers and the nations economy.Rail is critical to commerce and the health of local, national and global markets. Nowadays, the American railways are undertaking the task of consuming goods transportation which accounts for 71% of American GDP, the coal carried by railway accounts for 65% of the total use in electricity generation, the whole unit of an automobile carried by railway accounts for 70% of the vehicles sold in markets, the cement carried by railway everyday could build a 72 kilometer highway, the wheat shipped by railways could be enough for every American has a loaf of bread in 6 days of a week. No other form of ground transportation can move the sheer volume of goods and products to the global market as efficiently and safely as freight rail does. As a result, the U.S Department of Transportation expects demand for freight rail service will continue to rise.BNSF has carried more than 3.9 million Intermodal transportation containers and boxes in 2009 while in 2010; the total gross volume reached 9.2 million units. Through the Intermodal transportation, the goods carried by BNSF Railway has covered almost all the daily necessities in peoples life such as clothes, shoes, personal products, electronic products, furniture, food, toys, cars, auto parts and paper products.BNSF is the largest Intermodal transportation railway carrier in the world with its vast Intermodal transportation network which serves more than 40 ports on the West Coast, American and Vancouver, Canada and all the railroad network of BNSF could carry the goods to all the staple markets in North America. Through the transportation network of BNSF which connects other railway companies, the main consumer markets in American are completely covered. The 98% of logistic facilities and warehouse of the top 20 importers in America are within the radius of 320 kilometers to BNSF Intermodal transportation facilities.Freight rail can help reduce American dependence on foreign oil, because trains transport on average a ton of freight nearly three times as far as a truck on the same amount of fuel. Freight rail can also provide tremendous value in reducing the countrys transportation carbon footprint, given its reduced emissions versus truck-only freight transportation. Finally, freight rail can help reduce highway congestion by providing an alternative to long-haul trucking.Technology is key to an efficient rail system that can meet growing demand. To that end, BNSFs IT systems are integrated into customers supply chains to provide information they need on transportation and scheduling. From order entry to final delivery, every shipment and piece of equipment are tracked to ensure a timely delivery of goods.1.3 BNSF and ChinaChina plays an important role in the growth of BNSF Railway. The railways L.A.-to-Chicago transcontinental route is humming with mile-long BNSF trains, their rail cars stacked two containers high with Chinese-made toys and togs, purses and plasma TVs. The town of Colton, Calif., east of Los Angeles, is now the busiest spot in the West for rail traffic, thanks to a tsunami of transpacific trade-1.3 billion dollars for BNSF alone in 2004 arriving at ports from San Diego to Seattle. At the end of the day, says Rose, BNSFs chairman, president and CEO, all roads lead to China (Worth &Thomas, 2004). Particularly railroads: BNSFs China-related business has doubled in the past six years. The cooperation between BNSF and China has a time-honored history. In 1980s, BNSF and its predecessor started carrying goods from China through Cosco Group and offered grain exports shipping service to China. In August, 2004, BNSF signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding on Railway Transportation Cooperation with Chinas Ministry of Railways, becoming the only railway operator cooperating with Chinas Ministry of Railways on railway management, operation, logistics and high-tech. Moreover, BNSF also has a co-operational relationship with State Administration of Grain and CRCT. It is known that 55% of goods BNSF carried annually belong to pan-Pacific trade and 60% among that from China. BNSF Railway even officially set up an office in China in 2006 which became BNSFs operational center in China and Asia, overall planning BNSFs businesses in Asia including its co-operational partner Orient Oversees in Hong Kong.1.4 Economic EfficiencyAccording to the Overview of BNSFs Second-Quarter Financial Performance, total revenues for the second quarter 2012 and six months ended June 30,2012, were up 6 and 8 percent compared with the same periods in 2011. This increase was primarily due to improved yields and fuel surcharges, primarily driven by higher fuel process. BNSFs total units were up 2 percent for both the second quarter and the first six months of 2012 compared with the same periods in 2011.Operating expenses were up 1 and 5 percent for the second quarter and first six months of 2012 driven by volumes and higher fuel prices. BNSF continues to invest heavily in maintaining and renewing its network to provide safe, reliable service to its customers. The 2012 capital commitments forecast of BNSF continues to be approximately 3.9 billion dollars compared with 3.5 billion dollars in 2012. 2.1 billion dollars in capital will be spent in 2012 on maintaining the core network and related assets. In addition, BNSF will continue investing in the locomotive and rail car fleet, as well as in projects to expand and improve the efficiency of its infrastructure. BNSF also plans to spend about 300 million dollars in 2012 as it continues installing positive train control in response to a federal mandate.2. Logistics IntegrationThe most obvious evidence of BNSFs logistics integration is its intermodal strategy and its intermodal facilities which are efficient and provides BNSF with a huge competitive advantage in the global economy.2.1 Intermodal Freight TransportIntermodal has been the fastest growing rail traffic segment for many years, intermodal combines the door-to-door convenience of trucks with the long-haul economy of railroads. Rail intermodal transport has quadrupled in the last 25 years, rising from 3 million trailers and containers in 1980 to more than 12 million in 2006 and 2007. Today, intermodal accounts for 22 percent of rail revenue.2.1.1 The Definition of Intermodal Freight TransportIntermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (rail, ship, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damage and loss, and allows freight to be transported faster. Reduced costs over road trucking are the key benefit for intercontinental use, as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This may be offset by reducing timings for road transport over shorter distances.Intermodal transportation, with the options of integrating multiple modes, provides a flexible response to the changing supply chain management requirements in global markets and distribution systems. The integrating of modes requires a process or a systems approach for execution and a higher degree of skill and broader knowledge of the transportation/supply chain processes . . . information, equipment, and infrastructure” (Muller, 1999). Intermodal transport, as it moves from a focus on infrastructure components to a holistic focus on process or systems will have more viability and applicability in the world of global supply chain management.The concept of Intermodal Transport in American Railway was first proposed in the 1860s which means the use of more than one mode in the process of a single trip and is usually used to describe the use of two or more modes in the process of standard container or trailer freight transport. Two trailing ways are usually adopted in intermodal transport: one is trailer on flat car and the other is the container on flat car. Moreover, Intermodal Transport applies to time-sensitive freight transport with more than 500 miles distance which also requires the seamless integration of highway, railway and water route vehicle transport. Intermodal Transport has an obvious advantage on large-scale containerization but less efficient on a small number of container transportation. The average daily speed of American Railway Intermodal Transport in could reach 450 to 620 miles and Railway Intermodal Transport is an important mode of transportation in the U.S. which has obvious promotion to the local social economy. BNSF and UP is the main carrier in the Western States of U.S, and NS and CSX occupy the markets in the Eastern States.2.1.2 BNSFs Intermodal TransportBNSF is the largest intermodal transportation railway carrier in the world with its vast intermodal transportation network which serves more than 40 ports on the West Coast, America and Vancouver, Canada and all the railroad network of BNSF could carry the goods to all the staple markets in North America. Through the transportation network of BNSF which connects other railway companies, the main consumer markets in America are completely covered. The 98% of logistic facilities and warehouse of the top 20 importers in America are within the radius of 320 kilometers to BNSF intermodal transportation facilities.Intermodal transportation is one of the BNSFs strategic focuses. At present, the percentage of intermodal transportation in the total revenue of BNSF is higher than any other railway companies in North America. In 2011, BNNSF invested 3.5 billion dollars in its intermodal transportation network and related infrastructure to ensure the safety and efficiency of goods which is the important measure of BNSFs development. BNSF has become the most stable service provider with the largest service scales in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, offering the most speedy intermodal freight transport service. Compared to waterway service, rail freight service can shorten transit time about seven days. In order to better satisfy its clients, BNSF has increased and improved 105 s railway intermodal transport service items since 2009and the goods influenced take up 80% of the total Intermodal freight transport volume. BNSF has newly opened 23 railway intermodal transport service items and improved 54 old service items just in 2009 and BSFN has already substantially improved 29 railways intermodal transport service items in 2010. Through these measures, the transit time of BNSF Railways is significantly reduced and transportation frequency is raised greatly. For example, accelerating containerization service is the fastest service items in intermodal transport with average daily miles of more than 800 miles. BNSF rail intermodal transports a huge range of consumer goods- everything from bicycles to auto parts, lawn mowers to glassware, greeting cards to clothing, and toys to computers- and increasing amounts of industrial and agricultural products as well. In the meantime, BNSF has improved the railway transportation equipments such as increasing the length of the train. At present, the average length of trains sent from Southern California by BNSF is about 3 kilometers and the average length of trains sent from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States is about 2.4 kilometers. Moreover, BNSF has successfully operated the train with the length of more than 3.6 kilometers. The lengthening of the train could increase the amount of containers on each train and improve the throughput of Intermodal facilities in order to significantly increase the volume of the whole system. In terms of innovation on railway transport equipments, BNSF has specially designed the alternating current traction locomotives, three-tier storage rack train, Eurasia Land Bridge container train and other various freight railways rolling stock.In recent two years, BNSF has also strengthened its cooperation with railway companies in the eastern states of America and promoted its services to more regions in the eastern states of America. For example, BNSF offers the linear service to Atlanta. Through the cooperation with CSX, BNSF could offer services to many ports in the Southeast region of America and through the cooperation with NS, BNSF could offer services from Southern California to Ohio and services covered the vast northeast regions of America.2.2 Intermodal FacilitiesIntermodal facilities are sites where freight is conveyed from one mode of freight transportation to another. BNSF has 33 intermodal facilities in the United Sates with the total handling volume of 12 million containers.2.2.1 Kansas City Intermodal FacilityThe new Kansas City Intermodal Facility (KCIMF) is a state-of-the-art Intermodal facility ideally located along the BNSF Railways Transcontinental Corridor. KCIMF has been designed to accommodate the growing demands of freight rail transport. The facility features container and trailer service, more than 500,000 annual unit capacity, six 8,000-foot strip tracks, five wide-span cranes, 1,800 paved parking spaces and automated gate systems. The design of KCIMF is configured to suit the broad range of multi-modal needs such as international and domestic Intermodal through KCIMF, direct rail service and immediate access to Interstate Highways 35, 70 and 29.Logistics Park Kansas City (LPKC) covers 535 developable acres. Over 7 million total square feet of LPKC are developable and nearly 3 million square feet are directly served for railways. LPCK is the foreign trade zone and is available for the heavy-weight corridor. LPKC is set to become among the largest, most modern freight logistic centers in the industry. Located just 25 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City, Logistics Park Kansas City is positioned amid the growing distribution and warehousing centers of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.LPKC and KCIMF provide complementary direct rail, truck and Intermodal services for warehousing and distribution in adjacent mutually supportive locations. Device and promise the synergistic design and integrated functionality of the two facilities help provide superior service and promise the opportunity