SALT LAKE CITY — Multifaceted supply chain company Savage will develop a new transload facility for crude-by-rail movement from Utah’s Uintah Basin, the company announced Wednesday (Jan. 8, 2025).
The terminal, near Wellington in Carbon County, will unload the basin’s wax crude from tanker trucks into two heated tanks, after which it will be located into unit trains of insulated railcars for delivery.
Plans for the terminal come as the proposed Uinta Basin Railway, intended to allow a direct rail connection between the Uinta wellheads and the national rail network, remains in limbo while the U.S. Supreme Court considers an appeal of a lower-court decision blocking construction [see “Supreme Court hears arguments …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 10, 2024].
“Developing a new Savage transload terminal in Wellington will allow Uinta Basin producers to increase their production and access new markets without the logistical challenges of long-haul trucking or waiting on other logistical solutions requiring long lead times,” Jason Ray, president of Savage Infrastructure, said in a press release. “We believe this transload terminal will be the most efficient and cost-advantaged terminal in the area for producers and also for refineries seeking Uinta Basin crude.”
The company said it has purchased 277 acres of land zoned for heavy industry and obtained the necessary permits. “The terminal engineering and design have been completed and we are working closely with the railroads to obtain final design approval,” said Phillip Hoskins, Savage vice president, business development.
Wellington is on Union Pacific’s former Denver & Rio Grande Western route between Salt Lake City and Grand Junction, Colo., about 14 miles southeast of Helper, Utah.
Isn’t there already a crude transload in Wellington? Price River Terminal…maybe?
Yes, that one is owned by Watco. It’s been transloading Uinta wax oil since 2014
This would be a new one literally next door with more capacity.