Heyl & Patterson Blog

A locomotive's sole purpose is to move a train along railroad tracks.  It has no payload capacity of its own, and it's not a very efficient mode of transportation.  It is an effective engine for transporting raw bulk materials such as coal, iron ore, limestone and chemicals across the country, but pushing individual railcars a few feet at a time into an unloader is not the best use of its abilities.

Indonesia is one of the largest coal producers and coal consumers in the world.  Over the past two decades, Indonesia's coal industry has transformed itself from being an unknown, minor player in Asia's coal markets to the world's largest exporter of steam coal.  Indonesia created this world-scale industry despite challenges created by widespread government corruption, a weak legal system, the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 and the fall of the Suharto government in 1998.

The busiest cargo port in the western hemisphere is the Port of South Louisiana.  It extends 54 miles along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.  About 6000 vessels pass through on an annual basis, and it accounts for 60% of all raw grain exports from the American Midwest.  Grain and other commodities such as coal, ore, wood chips, sand, feed and salt are classified as bulk cargo.  As the name implies, bulk cargo is transported unpackaged in large quantities, and is often transferred from ship to shore by some form of bucket unloader.

The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered in the early 1800s by British scientist Michael Faraday. The basic method is still in use today — electricity is generated by turbines that are turned by pressurized steam, which is produced by burning some form of fuel. This is the first process in the delivery of electricity to electric utility customers. The other processes, which are transmission, distribution, storage and recovery, are carried out by the electric power industry.

Short line and regional railroads are an important and growing component of the railroad industry. They operate and maintain 30% of the American railroad industry’s route mileage, and account for 9% of the industry’s freight revenue and 12% of railroad employment. The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of more than 475 short line and regional railroads in legislative and regulatory matters. ASLRRA’s upcoming Annual Convention connects the organization with their customers, vendors, and partner railroads.

Iron ore was one of Australia’s commodity success stories from 2009-2010, and will attempt to continue its healthy performance in 2011. Industry volatility, pricing, mergers, huge investments and expansions are now on the scene, not to mention record flooding in Queensland that has affected the mining industry. With over 380 senior executives expected to be in attendance, the 14th Annual Global Iron Ore & Steel Forecast will continue its role as Australia’s premier event for the region’s iron ore and steel industry. Heyl & Patterson will be exhibiting, along with local rep Seevinck & Associates.

The idea of cross-country route across Central America was conceived by the Spanish, abandoned by the Scottish, initiated by the French and completed by Americans. A century after the Panama Canal transformed global trade, a new “dry canal” could someday link Colombia’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts as an alternative to the Panama Canal. And it would be run by China.

In the past few weeks, Australia has suffered the worst flood in its history.  With an estimated cost of about $5 billion, it’s shaping up to be the nation’s most expensive natural disaster.  Satellite views of the northeast state of Queensland show an affected area the size of France and Germany combined.  In Brisbane alone, Australia’s third-largest city, as many as 20,000 properties and 200,000 people have been affected.  And economically, the worst hit sector is expected to be the coal industry.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Pittsburgh, PA – Heyl & Patterson Inc., a specialist engineering company headquartered in Pittsburgh, is part of a team to be awarded with Power Engineering magazine’s 2010 Coal-Fired Project of the Year.  The project, “DryFining,” created a new technology for coal-firing power plants that improves fuel quality, decreases volatile gas emissions, and reduces a plant’s operating expenses and maintenance costs.