By James Ronald Skains
Journal Correspondent

Governor Kathleen Blanco turned the first spade of dirt in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Union Tank Car facility adjacent to England Air Park in Alexandria on December 2.

She told the large crowd present, "We are delighted to have Union Tank Car Company as members of our business community in Central Louisiana. It was a tough fight to get them to come to Louisiana, but it was well worth the effort."

Union Tank Car Company selected the Alexandria site after looking at several others in Louisiana, as well as other states. Jim Lester, CEO of Union Tank Car, said, "This was not an easy selection process. It finally came down to choosing between this site and one in Monroe."

Timing of the ground breaking was scheduled to follow the annual luncheon of the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, at which the Union Tank Car CEO was the featured speaker. Also singled out for honors at the annual meeting was Johnny Varnado, the first African-American to head the CENLA Chamber.

In his speech, Lester thanked Mrs. Varnado for her leadership in the negotiations with Union Tank.

"Johnny Varnado was instrumental in helping Union Tank Car build a bond of trust with the business community here in Central Louisiana," Lester said. "We felt the City of Alexandria would deliver on its promises and would work with us with enthusiasm in the future. They may have their differences, but to us they put on a united front."

"We don't want this to be the only groundbreaking that we hold here at the Union Tank Car site," Governor Blanco told the group. "We want to be back in about a year for the grand opening of which will be an outstanding manufacturing facility. Then in another year, we would like to be back for a groundbreaking for a major expansion of their facility."

Governor Blanco had taken the lead in efforts to bring Union Tank Car to Louisiana. At one point it seemed the company would select a site in Texas, where it already has one manufacturing plant. UTC has facilities at its home base in Chicago, and in Sheldon, Texas, and also operates a tank car repair facility at Ville Platte, Louisiana.

"This project is very important to Union Tank Car, because it is the first manufacturing facility that we have built from the ground floor," CEO Lester said. "In the past, we bought plants already in operation. So, this is not only a new day for Central Louisiana but also for Union Tank Car.

Union Tank Car owns and leases about one third of the tank cars now running on the rails in North America. UTC builds and leases cars to various companies, complete with a maintenance contract.

Lester said, "Union Tank Car traces its origin all the way back to John D. Rockefeller, who realized early on that the transportation of oil on railroads was going to be of major importance. At one time, his tank car company controlled about 80 percent of oil shipments in the United States. Union Tank Car has not been in the actual manufacture of tank cars during most of its history. We had primarily been an owner of tank cars, and then leased them out with maintenance contracts."

The new plant in Rapides Parish is scheduled to employ some 850 people of whom the majority will be welders, Lester said.

The CEO, who began in the UTC marketing department 25 years ago, said that 80 percent of the people to be employed in the new facility do not now work for Union Tank Car.

"We will begin hiring in 2005 and plan on turning out our first cars in 2006," Lester said.

When fully operational, the Alexandria facility will produce upwards of 80 cars per month. The Shaw Group, only Fortune 500 company based in Baton Rouge, will design and build the plant.

Lester said, "Our primary steel supplier is IGS, which was formerly known as Bethlehem Steel. Most shipments will be coming in on railcar. One of the major factors in locating here was the rail service available to us."

Governor Blanco said the plant will also create new opportunities for suppliers, vendors, and service operations.

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