While demand for transportation services is intrinsically linked to volumes and demand, transloading has proven to be a resilient segment of the industry in the past. How has demand at facilities held up during the pandemic?
Some transload commodities use transloads as a holding pattern for production not sold. Industries produce at a regular level while consumption may not match production. Transloads give customers the opportunity to position products in the marketplace for later sale.
Other customers may take advantage of fluctuating prices to purchase commodities and put them in a transload and then pick them up when they need them.
During the pandemic, if production was higher than consumption, customers could take advantage of storage at transloads to hold the product until consumption improved.