Summer 2018 has been extremely busy with the opening of our NEW stevedoring and storage subsidiary, B.L. Duke River Terminal (BLDRT). Located on the Des Plaines river adjacent to our Joliet processing facility, BLDRT took over the Gerdau Rolling Mill, adding 250,000 sqft of indoor storage and 30.5 acres with barge and rail access. The US river system is surprisingly vast. Barge freight can extend from the East and Gulf coats as far west as Omaha and north to Minnesota and the great lakes. While the term stevedoring may sound unfamiliar, it has been around for hundreds of years; longshoreman, dockhand and dockworker are all phrases used to describe the loading and unloading of water vehicles. BLDRT will backhaul scrap barges with finished steel product from the mills direct to consumers in the Chicagoland area.
B.L. Duke River Transport offers customers an alternative cost savings transportation method during this difficult logistics climate. In a recent article published by the Daily Herald, the trucking industry has fallen on unprecedented times due to “added regulations, fewer driver hours and even fewer new drivers entering an already depleted industry.” This has caused an almost 40% surge in rates from last year. Utilizing the river system is significantly cheaper, up to four times less expensive, than standard trucking routes (see image). The availability of a facility on the river and the market’s demand of a pricing solution to the rising costs of the trucking industry have positioned BLDRT as an efficient transportation partner.
“BLDRT has the unique opportunity to bridge our mill relationships to service centers and manufactures,” states Kathleen Grady, VP of Business Development. “Our customers will no longer need to buy barge load quantities to take advantage of the significant cost saving that river freight offers.” B.L. Duke River Transport has heavy lifting capacity up to 500,000 lbs. and can ship directly to your facility via rail or truck from our convenient location off of I-80, I-355 and I-55. For JIT inventory programs, outdoor and indoor storage is available with climate controlled space coming this winter.
At B.L. Duke, we are always looking for ways to better service our customers whether it’s through technology, communicating industry knowledge or passing along cost saving practices, we continuously strive to revolutionize the scrap metal industry.
B.L. Duke River Transport is Innovation on the Move – call or email us today to find out more: 815-714-8900 or [email protected].