Potato shipping expert joins technical resource panel
Paul Vander Stoep, manager of the Washington Perishable Shippers Cooperative Association, has accepted an invitation to join the Technical Resource Panel for the Washington State Transportation Commission's Statewide Rail Capacity and Needs Study.
The panel of technical experts has been formed “to ensure the study is as comprehensive as possible and to guard against significant errors or omissions,” according to Commission Chairman Dan O’Neal.
“I am glad to be asked to join this activity,” says Vander Stoep. “Not only will I be able to make sure that shippers’ needs are accurately represented, but it will also keep me close to the Study’s development and what others are offering.”
A transportation veteran with over 35 years experience in rail shipping, Vander Stoep is responsible for ordering hundreds of refrigerated rail cars per year for packers and shippers of Washington potatoes and onions. He has frequently testified and been consulted as an expert by the Transportation Commission, agencies and the legislature.
The Washington State Transportation Commission was instructed by the Legislature to "...assess the rail freight and rail passenger needs in this State...[and] recommend public
policies for state participation and ownership in rail infrastructure and service delivery, including but not limited to planning and governance issues."
The Resource Panel will be comprised of about 60 individuals and organizational representatives of rail shippers and receivers, freight and passenger rail carriers, associations of rail users, organized labor, ports, government agencies, the military, truckers and academics.
The Statewide Rail Capacity and Needs Study is due to be completed by December.
Chef2Chef News Desk