Dive Brief:

• Archer Daniels Midland, the food-processing and commodities-trading powerhouse, opened an intermodal facility on 250 acres near one of its facilities in Decatur,, Ill.
• Intermodal yards connect transportation methods by dedicating space to move containers among trains, trucks, and ships.
• The ADM facility is a rail-truck operation, located where three Class 1 railroads connect and close to four interstate highways.
• ADM is an extraordinarily large player in food processing. Although most consumers are unfamiliar with the company, nearly everyone who manufacturers food in the U.S. and globally uses ADM ingredient brands or commodities.

Dive Insight:

ADM is no stranger to the transportation business. As the company became an increasingly large shipper of crops and ingredients, it began to create its own transport system. Today ADM owns and operates deep-water bulk ships, river barges, truck lines, logistics services, rail cars, etc.

The new intermodal facility in Decatur is just one more cog in the global leviathan that is ADM. But to smaller businesses in Decatur, it has the potential to be a very important cog. By using the ADM yard, local businesses can gain cheaper and faster access to rail transport and import/export markets. Certainly that's worth applauding.