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We utilize two
proprietary software products - CRCS and Waybill
Tools - to assist in the process of setting
negotiating goals for our clients that are both
aggressive and realistic. Commonwealth Rail
Costing System (CRCS) allows shippers to analyze
the railroad's variable cost of service and price
mark-up for a given origin-destination pair. It uses
the most recent railroad unit costs provided by
the Surface Transportation Board.
CRCS takes into account the client's current freight
rate, mileage, car type, car ownership, commodity,
lading weight, tare weight, switching charges, and
the unit costs of each railroad making up the route.
Data on average railroad unit costs varies by
railroad and is updated each year. CRCS
calculates the railroad's revenue-to-variable cost
ratio (freight rate being charged to the shipper
divided by the railroad's variable cost for the
movement).
Why analyze railroad costs using CRCS?
Commonwealth Rail Costing System helps our clients:
- Negotiate better freight rates by setting
target rates based on cost
- Estimate freight rates without actually getting
quotations
- Verify that a movement with rates at
different minimum weights are consistent
- Benchmark yearly change in freight rate
mark-up over cost
- Create mileage scales for use in contractual
car return provisions
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Waybill Tools
database is used to research typical freight
rates being charged by the railroads for moving
products over various traffic lanes. This
information can be used by shippers both
for rate negotiations and competitive analysis.
Database Description
Each year, the American Association of Railroads
(AAR) provides to the Surface Transportation Board a
3% stratified sample of the rail traffic across all
the commodity segments. This annual Public Waybill
sample has approximately 600,000 records of data and
spans across numerous commodity segments.
Waybill Tools uses a commodity specific subset of
the Public Waybill that reduces the size of the data
to only those records of interest to a client.
Twelve different product modules are available
to meet your needs according to area of product interest
(see chart below). The
railroad freight data in each module spans from 1991
- 2007. Each movement record shows a number of
fields, including the origin and destination,
Business Economic Area, freight rate charged to the
shipper, billed weight, commodity, and mileage.
Competitive Analysis Reports
Commonwealth Logistics will customize competitive analysis
reports from Waybill Tools which show
detail or summary statistics for rail traffic that
moved between an origin region and a destination
region hauling a specified commodity. These
statistics include the freight rate paid by the
shippers to the railroads. Freight rate information
is expressed as revenue per movement or car, revenue
per hundredweight (cwt.), and revenue per cwt.-mile basis.
Product Modules
Available
| Module |
STCC |
Records |
| Chemicals |
28 |
760,000 |
| Petroleum Products |
29 |
144,000 |
| Metallic Ores |
10 |
82,000 |
| Coal |
11 |
700,000 |
| Crude Petroleum |
13 |
10,000 |
| Non-Metallic Minerals |
14 |
284,000 |
| Food |
20 |
616,000 |
| Wood/Lumber |
24 |
422,000 |
| Pulp/Paper |
26 |
404,000 |
| Rubber Products |
30 |
40,000 |
| Clay, Concrete, Stone |
32 |
244,000 |
| Primary Metal Products |
33 |
272,000 |
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