Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 1, 1993 TAG: 9310010232
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Alabama site on which Mercedes-Benz says it will build a $300 million auto assembly plant was recommended by Norfolk Southern Corp.
And Norfolk Southern said it will extend rail track to the new plant and be the automaker's major hauler.
It's too early to estimate the number of freight car loads or revenues the railroad will gain from Mercedes, said Roanoke spokesman Bob Auman. "We are hopeful it will be significant."
Auman said the railroad proposed several sites to consultants working for the German automaker, including the final choice. He said the same tract had been considered earlier by General Motors Corp. for its Saturn plant, which ultimately was built in Tennessee.
The consultants narrowed the list to one site in each of several states. The four finalists were Athens, Ga.; Tuscaloosa; Summerville, S.C., and Mebane, N.C.
NS has rail service to all of them, putting the company in "a win-win-win situation," Auman said.
Athens apparently dropped out of contention, but Auman said NS didn't know that until it became apparent this week that Tuscaloosa was the choice.
The only other shipping of Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicles to be made at the new factory will by via truck using Interstate 59/20, Auman said.
The company also will gain cargo from the new BMW auto plant under construction near Spartanburg, S.C. NS serves that site, as well.
The Mercedes-Benz factory will employ 1,500 people and produce 60,000 vehicles a year, two-thirds of them for export. Under the current plan, NS would NS ships cars for every automaker in the United States. Automobiles are its second-largest commodity after coal. haul vehicles to ports at Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans; Charleston, S.C., Jacksonville, Fla.; and Savannah and Brunswick, Ga., Auman said.
He doubted any cars would be shipped through Hampton Roads. It would, he said, be "a circuitous route."
NS did not pick up land options for Mercedes-Benz in Alabama as it did in Mebane, N.C. Auman declined to say whether the railroad will be reimbursed for its North Carolina options.
Besides the immediate business and prospects for future expansion, "It's an advantage to be able to safely ship products of a prestigious organization," Auman said. The Mercedes-Benz business, he said, "will be a significant reference for us."
NS ships cars for every automaker in the United States, including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Honda. Automobiles are the company's second-largest commodity after coal.
by CNB