May 17, 2024 - TRA Newswire -

A BNSF Railway customer in the Houston petrochemical region has announced a massive rail expansion.

The Third Coast Pearland, Texas operation inside the plant's limits will accommodate increased demand for inbound and outbound rail movements. Third Coast will add 40 railcar spots inside their fence line to be completed Q2 2025. Following this expansion, Third Coast will have space for over 125 railcars on site. 

"We are extremely excited to announce this expansion." said Jim Clawson, CEO and Founder of Third Coast. "Our Pearland Operations remain a cornerstone of Third Coast's manufacturing base, and these investments will allow us to continue serving the fast-growing US Gulf Coast Chemical Industry."

Third Coast provides contract chemical manufacturing for numerous partners and supplies terminal services to the oil, gas and chemical industries.

Beginning in June 2024, Third Coast's Pearland site will expand operating hours to 7 days per week/12 hours per day for bulk operations. The expanded hours are in response to customer demand requiring more capacity for loading, unloading, and blending activities. Currently, the site's reaction chemistry operation runs 24/7, and the expanded hours in bulk operations are the next step in working toward 24/7 operations plant wide.

To support the market demand for Gulf Coast manufacturing, Third Coast is adding a 10-stage batch distillation column. The carbon steel unit will have a capacity of 26K gallons (94 MT) and will be commissioned in Q3 2024, bringing the total number of reactors onsite to ten.

Additionally, Third Coast will begin construction on a new entrance into the facility, Gate 3, which will be completed first quarter of 2025. The addition of Gate 3 will decrease congestion at the existing entry and exit points allowing carriers to move more efficiently through the plant.