CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) has announced it is enhancing its groundbreaking
industrial site selection program to meet growing demand for new
rail-served manufacturing facilities. The enhancements will further
assist companies in locating properties that meet a wide range of
development criteria, including sustainability factors.
The CSX Select Site program, launched in 2012 in partnership
with Austin Consulting, a global leader in site development and
identification, was the first railroad-sponsored certification
program to offer rigorous site due diligence and capture the
essential factors needed to accommodate rail access. Since the
program’s inception, Select Sites have attracted dozens of
manufacturers, with capital investments projected to reach $14
billion and create nearly 11,000 jobs.
“The CSX Select Site program has been a tremendous success and
is increasingly in demand by companies seeking to access the
advantages of rail for improving supply chain efficiency while
reducing their carbon footprint and meeting sustainability goals,”
said Kevin Boone, CSX executive vice president of Sales and
Marketing.
To further assist companies and communities amid increasing
competition for rail-served sites, the Select Site program is
introducing four levels of qualification — Platinum, Gold, Silver,
and Bronze. The four levels will help companies identify sites that
best align with their needs. All sites will be included in a
searchable inventory, called Zoom Prospector, currently under
development. Users will be able to access the inventory at
csx.com/selectsite.
Thirteen Select Sites previously identified by Austin Consulting
that remain on the market are the first sites designated as
Platinum, given their size and the rigorous vetting already
accomplished. In addition to meeting minimum site thresholds,
Select Site Platinum candidates and designees must engage in a
rigorous evaluation, while also completing standard due diligence
studies. Platinum sites are 100-plus acres along CSX’s rail network
that are ideal for large rail-served industrial facilities.
“The greatest impact of the Select Site program has been
creating a mechanism to assist communities in identifying their
best industrial sites and to preserve them for capital-intensive,
rail-served manufacturers,” said Jonathan Gemmen, senior director
at Austin Consulting.
Under the enhanced program, the Gold, Silver and Bronze sites
will be identified using two new tools — Lasso and Site Shepherd —
provided through a partnership with Global Location Strategies
(GLS). CSX works with landowners and county economic development
organizations to capture the relevant site data in Lasso, which is
imported into GLS’ customized location analytic platform, Site
Shepherd. Lasso is a proprietary data collection platform built to
retrieve site-specific information from program registrants,
including acreage, site characteristics, utility infrastructure and
more. Site Shepherd houses an analytics model custom designed to
evaluate CSX-served sites for key rail-served industry siting
requirements. The platform provides data-driven analytics that
empower CSX and its economic development partners to optimize the
marketability of these rail-served sites and identify areas of
improvement. Additionally, for the first time, CSX, supported by
GLS, added considerations for environmental, social and governance
(ESG) factors, such as those concerning renewable energy, community
impacts, and brownfield site reuse.
Based on the properties’ Site Shepherd score, CSX designates
top-performing sites as Gold, Silver or Bronze. All sites will
receive valuable feedback regarding potential areas of improvement
and are encouraged to engage with CSX on how to continually improve
their score.
“Factors ranging from sustainability to shortening supply chains
by bringing manufacturing capability back to the U.S. are driving
companies’ growing interest in the economic and sustainability
advantages of rail,” said Christina Bottomley, CSX vice president
of Real Estate and Industrial Development. “The Select Site program
is another way CSX is partnering with companies to meet their
business objectives.”
Didi Caldwell, GLS President, added that the demand for
investment-readiness programs is being driven by communities
recognizing the need to have an “inventory of ready sites, primed
and on hand for prospects” to compete with other communities for
projects that foster economic development through building the tax
base and creating jobs.
“At Global Location Strategies, we are witnessing an
unprecedented client demand for speed-to-market,” she said.
“Employing site selection technology streamlines data collection
and empowers CSX to self-perform the evaluation; running sites
through a custom analytics model and providing a clear roadmap for
future investment.”
About CSX
CSX, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a premier transportation
company. It provides rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload
services and solutions to customers across a broad array of
markets, including energy, industrial, construction, agricultural,
and consumer products. For nearly 200 years, CSX has played a
critical role in the nation's economic expansion and industrial
development. Its network connects every major metropolitan area in
the eastern United States, where nearly two-thirds of the nation's
population resides. It also links more than 240 short-line
railroads and more than 70 ocean, river and lake ports with major
population centers and farming towns alike.
About Global Location StrategiesGlobal Location
Strategies (GLS) is one of the world’s most experienced and
reputable site selection firms specializing in capital- and
resource-intensive facilities. A two-time Inc. 5000 company, GLS
has revolutionized the site selection industry with its three
proprietary SaaS platforms; LOIS, Lasso, and Site Shepherd. In
addition to tech offerings, GLS offers a full suite of traditional
site selection services for companies and guidance for economic
development organizations. The company specializes in
pharmaceutical; advanced manufacturing; chemical/petrochemical;
energy/renewables; metals/polymers/composites; paper;
warehousing/distribution, food & beverage, and automotive
sectors. For more information, visit
www.GlobalLocationStrategies.com.
About Austin ConsultingAustin Consulting is a
nationally known site-selection consulting firm with years of
experience in professional site selection consulting across a wide
range of geographies and industries. In addition to corporate site
location, Austin provides site evaluation services on behalf of
public and private economic development groups, transportation
companies, and utility providers to identify and evaluate sites for
future development. Austin Consulting leverages the in-house
technical resources within its parent company, The Austin Company,
a design-build construction firm. Austin is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Kajima Corporation. For more information, visit
www.theaustinconsulting.com
Contact:
Matthew Korn, CFA, Investor Relations904-366-4515
Bryan Tucker, Corporate Communications855-955-6397
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