Business View Magazine
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That diversification has been a key element of the
IANR’s resurgence. In 2010, 73 percent of its revenue
was from corn and soybeans; now those commodities
represent about 20 percent. Today, the railroad hauls
such varied freight as machinery, chemicals, ethanol
and ethanol-related products, distiller grains, caustic
soda, hydrochloric acid, powdered and bentonite clay,
tomato paste, lube oil, propane, potash, tractors, and
meat. The IANR wind component distribution center at
Manly is the largest in North America and a new steel
distribution center will open in the summer of 2016.
“The third-party investment along our track hit $500
million last year from companies that want to locate on
the Iowa Northern,” Sabin states. “We’re also very ag-
gressive in establishing industrial parks under our own
direction. And that has been very positive in getting
companies that hear about us. Or they see a success
story that we’ve done with our terminal operations and
then they join us. So we’ve got a chemical/ethanol
transfer terminal at Manly, called Manly Terminal, and
we’re part owners with a trucking company. And it’s
going very, very well. We’re doing quite well in acquir-
ing and attracting new industries into that site.”
Sabin admits that being a local owner/operator gives
his company a significant, home field advantage.
“We’re very local,” he admits. “We’re part of every
community and county and we know these folks, quite
well. Amy (Amy Homan, the Director of Carload Mar-
keting) spends a lot of time with the managers of the
grain operators, the communities, and the mayors. We
have a name and a face instead of just being a railroad
flying through town. That makes a huge difference in
getting that next industry onto the railroad.
