Features Breakbulk & Project Cargo
“ If you expected it to arrive and land straight to a rail car, and now you’ re waiting two weeks for a rail car to get back, you’ re going to be under the gun to make deliveries on time,” Davenport said.
For carriers like Wallenius Wilhelmsen, their scope of work typically ends once they discharge cargo at the port. From there, the cargo gets handed off to a receiver and moved to a rail car for the next leg of transport.
“ I think it caught a lot of people off guard just how quickly the demand for electricity is increasing.”
But lately, Wendt said those heavy cargoes have been staying put at the pier, sitting idly on the carrier’ s specialized cargo-handling equipment and leaving the carrier unable to move the equipment to the next port.
That means the shipper either has to pay demurrage fees to keep the cargo on the carrier’ s equipment or pay double handling fees to move the cargo elsewhere.
Even more challenging, Wendt said, is that because these are specialized heavy-lift trailers, there is a limited number of them available for other shipments.“ And if you keep them occupied for too long in the US, then we are lacking them at ports in Asia and Europe,” he said.
In-house fleets expanding
Recognizing the increasing demand for moving project cargo freight by rail, Fracht has been taking steps for over a decade to expand its rail car fleet through acquisitions.
Lockwood said Fracht now owns nearly 50 rail cars— including mostly eight- and 12-axle cars and one 18-axle car— sized to move breakbulk and project cargo, and the company plans to acquire or possibly manufacture additional cars to further grow its fleet.
Although Fracht still must rely on outside rail car providers, Lockwood said the investment has given the company a competitive advantage by having ready access to its own cars for key moves and customers.
“ We can have more control and management of our shipments, which is important,” he said.
Siemens Energy has also been working to make the most of its rail car fleet by extending the life of older cars it owns, using some as factory storage while leasing others.
“ We’ re really trying to ramp up to be ready for what’ s coming,” Davenport said.
He said changing perspectives in supply chain management could push OEMs like Siemens to acquire their own rail cars, as opposed to leasing equipment as they had done in the past. In addition to rail, barge and heavy-haul trucking are positioned to become more prominent modes of overland transport.
“ Previously, rail moves were rail moves, and truck and barge moves were truck and barge moves,” Davenport said.“ But if the rail car supply is not there, other players in the industry will jump in and capture that part of the market.”
Lockwood said he expects more companies to realize they need to invest in their own rail cars, but they will have to navigate long lead times and higher steel costs because of US tariffs— and that’ s if they are willing to put forth the capital for an asset with a 50-year lifespan.
“ Will it happen? We’ re in a market society, so I’ m sure it will,” he said.“ How fast will it happen? Time to market— that’ s the critical part.”
email: autumn @ autumngiusti. com
The North American freight car fleet contracted 1 % from 2019 to 2025. tvirbickis / Getty Images
16 Journal of Commerce | June 2026 www. joc. com