News & Events

Announcing the 2019 Loup Select Connect Facilities

Released December 5, 2018

Announcement

This week, Loup announced its 2019 Select Connect facilities, a designation given to a select group of premiere transloaders in its more than 700-facility transload network.

Loup Opens New Railport in Oklahoma to Meet Local Frac Sand Needs

Released August 3, 2018

Announcements

Oklahoma is home to STACK, an active shale play located near the central portion of the state. Production levels are rising in this area, which is great news for oil producers, but they face a challenge: frac sand is required for the horizontal drilling process that produces their product, and the very best sand for the job, northern white sand, is located all the way up in Wisconsin and Minnesota. This very challenge is what drove a Loup solution: establish a railport in El Reno, Oklahoma — right in the middle of the STACK shale.

Inbound Logistics Names Loup a Top 100 3PL Provider

Released August 2, 2018

Announcements

We’re delighted to announce Inbound Logistics magazine has named Loup a 2018 Top 100 Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Provider. This marks the second year Loup employees have been honored for their dedication to providing top-notch service to our customers, as last year UPDS, one of the subsidiaries that merged to form Loup, also earned the designation.

Loup Operations Carrier Support Team Realigned

Released March 13, 2018

Announcements

In an effort to improve the quality and timeliness of responses to carrier inquiries, we have realigned our carrier support team within Loup's Operations department.

Loup Appoints New Operations Director

Released February 14, 2018

Announcements

Loup is excited to welcome a new member to the team: Mike Dickmeyer will serve as Loup’s Senior Director of Operations - Intermodal & Auto Parts. In his role, Mike is responsible for all of Loup’s intermodal operations, leading the Intermodal Operations team, and ensuring Loup meets the specialized needs of our intermodal and auto parts customers.

Coming Soon: ShipmentVision Capacity Manager

Released December 13, 2017

Announcements

Exciting enhancements are coming soon to our advanced shipment tracking platform, ShipmentVision. Starting this spring, Loup will offer Capacity Manager, a new functionality that gives customers unprecedented visibility to their inbound rail cars across all rail carriers. Capacity Manager is being rolled out now on a limited basis and will be available for a wider audience in early 2018.

UPDS Receives SmartWay Excellence Award for Second Consecutive Year

Released November 8, 2017

Announcements

UPDS (now Loup) is proud to have been honored with a SmartWay® Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the second consecutive year. UPDS was once again recognized as an industry leader in freight supply chain environmental performance and energy efficiency.

Loup Logistics Launches Today

Released November 1, 2017

Announcements

Today marks the very first day of business for our new company, Loup Logistics. Loup is the result of a merger of four subsidiaries, Union Pacific Distribution Services (UPDS), Streamline, ShipCarsNow and Insight Network Logistics (INL) into a single, wholly owned Union Pacific subsidiary: Loup.

A Day in the Life of a Logistics Service Representative

Released September 27, 2017

Articles

Meet Ashley Eisert. She’s a Logistics Service Representative, which means she uses her expertise to manage customers’ shipments by providing logistics support, problem solving and proactive monitoring.

Every day, Ashley helps ensure our customers’ products are moving efficiently by road and by rail to arrive at their destinations on time.

A Day in the Life of a Senior Logistics Manager

Released September 20, 2017

Articles

Meet Lori Nicholson. She served as the Senior Logistics Manager for Carrier and Contract Services at UPDS. We’re excited for the opportunity to feature Lori, since she recently retired! So perhaps we should say this is a day in her former life…

Lori was the leader of the Carrier Services team, which supports off-rail logistics by providing motor carrier and contract services at a competitive price.

Conference Recap: Railport Operators Conference

Released September 13, 2017

Events

At UPDS, transloaders aren’t vendors — they are critical partners in our network. That’s especially true for those who operate our railport facilities. In honor of these hardworking partners, we recently held a conference specifically for railport operators so we could spend some quality time together and ultimately better serve our customers.

Extending Market Reach With Rail: Shipping Composite Railroad Ties

Released September 6, 2017

Solutions In Action

What do hard plastics have to do with railroading? In some places, they are the foundation of the railroad — literally.

Event Recap: The FCA Affiliate Rewards Road Tour

Released August 30, 2017

Events

Confession time: At UPDS, we get a little nerdy about cars. That’s because our Intermodal team helps ship the parts that eventually become finished vehicles.

So we were pretty excited when the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Affiliate Rewards Road Tour rolled into town.

UPDS Named Top 100 3PL Provider by Inbound Logistics

Released August 16, 2017

Announcements

After hundreds of companies submitted credentials, we’re proud to say UPDS has been named one of the Top 100 Third-Party Logistics Providers of 2017 by Inbound Logistics magazine.

This annual list, compiled by Inbound Logistics editors, celebrates logistics service providers that offer the capabilities and experience needed to meet readers' unique supply chain and logistics needs.

Customer Spotlight: First Star Recycling

Released August 9, 2017

Articles

When you think about recycling, you probably imagine used paper being made back into paper and empty aluminum cans being reused to make, well, more cans. But some pretty interesting materials can be produced from recycled materials.

Just ask Omaha-based UPDS customer First Star Recycling. They collect recycled materials from residences and businesses (including UPDS and our parent company Union Pacific), sort and process them, then ship them off to customers who give them new life. Yes, paper may become paper and aluminum may be reincarnated into another can, but that plastic park bench you sat on the other day? Or your carpet — or even the clothes you’re wearing? First Star customers use recycled materials to make all of those things, too.

Connecting Construction Sites to Rail

Released August 2, 2017

Solutions In Action

Have you ever stopped to think about how many materials are delivered to a construction site? Contractors know that in order to get the job done, a very long list of supplies must arrive on time and in the right order. That means the transportation of those materials is critical to the success of the job. But did you know transportation can also help contractors win jobs in the first place?

Thwarting Theft and Damage: Shipping Tequila Safely

Released July 19, 2017

Solutions In Action

Tequila can be a tricky product to ship. For one, the containers are glass, so they break easily. Tequila is also a high-value product, making it an attractive target for theft.

The Benefits of Rail Meet Just-In-Time Delivery

Released July 12, 2017

Articles

Recently, Kenny Rocker, vice president and general manager of industrial products for our parent company, Union Pacific, published an article in Building Products Digest about “Last Mile Delivery & the Evolving Rail Transportation Marketplace." Rocker explains that by providing transloading and forward-staging options, lumber and building supply shippers get the benefits of rail while maintaining the just-in-time delivery their customers require.

Supplier Spotlight: San Jose Distribution Services, Inc.

Released June 28, 2017

Articles

California-based warehousing and transloading provider San Jose Distribution Services, Inc. (SJDS) has a reputation for its rail knowledge and focus on safety — so you could say we have a couple things in common. That makes them a perfect fit for the UPDS transloading network.

A Day in the Life of a Logistics Service Representative

Released June 21, 2017

Articles

Meet Alexandra Tomo. She’s a Logistics Service Representative who provides logistics support for customers and operators for our railports, which provide transloading services and are all served directly by our parent company, Union Pacific Railroad.

Greasing the Wheels for a Successful Bid

Released June 14, 2017

Articles

If there were an award for persistence, Fremont, California-based transloader Truck-Rail Handling would win it. For the last year, the company has bid on UPDS transloading jobs, but we simply haven’t been able to find the right fit. Recently, the right opportunity arose — and their persistence paid off.

Conference Recap: The 2017 Mexico Carrier Conference

Released June 7, 2017

Events

At UPDS, we don’t see our relationships with suppliers as merely transactional. Rather, we see suppliers as a critical part of our network with whom we work to find new business opportunities and develop the best solutions for our customers.

In the spirit of working collaboratively, the UPDS intermodal team recently hosted 10 Mexico-based intermodal dray carriers at our 2017 Mexico Carrier Conference in Monterrey, Mexico. Over the course of two days, more than 60 people, including our key railroad providers, gathered to network and create stronger bonds that will benefit our respective businesses, our customers and the automotive industry.

Turning Trash Into Treasure: Helping Waste Haulers Win More Bids

Released May 31, 2017

Solutions In Action

When a building is torn down, have you ever paid attention to what they do with the rubble? Most people don’t. But there it sits: tons upon tons of crushed rock, cement and brick as well as dirt and other debris. Before the site can welcome its new purpose, it all must be removed.

Supplier Spotlight: ADS Logistics Co, LLC

Released May 17, 2017

Articles

When it comes to transloading, ADS Logistics Co, LLC is a jack of all trades: They transload sheet metal in coil form, metal sheets/blanks and bars, ingots, paper rolls, lumber, drywall, pipe, conduit, machinery, plate, slabs, billets, I-Beams, composite railroad ties, and numerous other non-hazardous cargo from boxcars, coil cars, gondolas, flat and center beam cars. For the last four years, they’ve been helping UPDS customers get access to rail through safe and efficient transloading services.

Realizing Railport Potential: Moving Malt to Key Markets

Released May 10, 2017

Solutions In Action

You might have noticed microbreweries have grown in popularity over the last few years. As the craft beer market has boomed, we’d like to say we played a small part in it.

But what does beer have to do with UPDS? While we can’t take credit for the final product, we can take credit for delivering some of its ingredients, like malt. Recently, we’ve helped malt shippers get access to affordable product storage and rail shipping — and that means key markets are getting the ingredients they need to make those delicious brews.

UPDS and Fellow Union Pacific Subsidiaries Unite to Celebrate Excellence

Released May 3, 2017

Events

At UPDS, we thrive on finding innovative transportation solutions for our customers, so it’s only fitting that we make a point to celebrate the hard work and ingenuity of the teams who make those solutions happen. We do so at our annual Summit Awards ceremony, which celebrates the previous year’s achievements.

This year’s celebration, held on April 27, was a little different, though. Instead of celebrating on our own, we teamed up with fellow subsidiaries Streamline, which specializes in door-to-door intermodal services, and ShipCarsNow, which provides multi-modal auto transport.

Supplier Spotlight: Dassler Domestic Logistics

Released April 19, 2017

Articles

'Small but mighty' is a fitting description for Dassler Domestic Logistics, an intermodal trucking company and valued UPDS supplier based in Louisville, Kentucky. Dassler’s fleet is comprised of just over 100 power units, but it’s their size that allows every person on their team to provide strong service and a personalized commitment to their customers.

Slashing Demurrage Costs: Leveraging Logistics to Optimize the Supply Chain

Released April 12, 2017

Solutions In Action

Shipping can be a complicated matter. Although most people think it’s a “Point A to Point B" operation, when a company is receiving raw materials to create a product, shipments come from multiple origins — so it’s more of a “Point A, B, C, D, E to Point F" scenario. When these shipments all arrive at the same time, things can get complicated…and costly.

Reducing Transit Time: Bringing Barite to Denver

Released April 5, 2017

Solutions In Action

Recently, barite became the latest product on the UPDS shipping roster. What is barite, you might ask? Barite is a mineral used as a weighting agent in drilling muds (also called “drilling fluids"), which are used to ensure safe and effective drilling of oil and natural gas wells.