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Norfolk Southern has added a Saturday outbound train from the Greer Inland Port to Charleston.
The schedule of inbound trains per week remains at five while the container gates at the South Carolina Inland Port are open 24/7 for truck activity.
Part of the increase can be attributed to the BMW Manufacturing plant in Greer steadily increasing its annual volume to approximately 300,000 assembled units. BMW converted nearly 20,000 truckloads to rail, now using double-stack trains to move all parts and components for its X-series sports activity vehicles.
Norfolk Southern is the exclusive rail provider for BMW, which also enables the railroad to position and store all of BMW's containers.
Higher fuel and insurance expenses, new government regulations on hours of service and safety performance, tight driver market and constrained capacity are driving up trucking costs.