Senior Rail Operations Coordinator

Methanex; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Methanex is seeking a Senior Rail Operations Coordinator in Houston, Texas. This role involves executing the railcar fleet strategy and managing relationships with rail system providers to ensure optimal operations. Responsibilities include overseeing the QTS rail management software and proactively managing costs associated with the railcar fleet.

The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 7 years of experience in rail logistics, excellent communication skills, and strong problem-solving abilities.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years of experience in a rail related supply chain or logistics role.
• Thorough knowledge of rail operations or processes is preferred.
• Capacity to learn and adapt to new systems quickly and efficiently.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage fleet strategy to ensure customer supply.
• Oversee rail management software and adjust rail routing as needed.
• Manage relationships with rail system providers and lessors.

Skills

Communication skills

Problem solving

Multi-tasking

Rail operations knowledge

Logistics expertise

Tools

QTS software

MS Office Suite (Outlook, Excel)

Job description

Position Summary

The Senior Rail Operations Coordinator will be primarily responsible for executing the railcar fleet and positioning strategy for Methanex North America Marketing & Logistics. Proactive management of our railcar fleet by the incumbent is essential to delivering security of supply to our customers during standard operations as well as contingency events, including but not limited to natural disasters, weather related issues, demand shifts and planned and unplanned plant outages. This role is also responsible for freight repositioning and ancillary cost management associated with the Methanex railcar fleet, ensuring adherence to Methanex Preventative Maintenance program, and supporting Responsible Care related initiatives.

Additionally, the rail coordinator oversees our rail management software (QTS). The coordinator will work with QTS daily to adjust rail routing and to expedite rail cars where necessary. This position will also be responsible for creating/maintaining internal and external KPIs related to the movement of the rail fleet utilizing the QTS software. In addition, the rail coordinator will be responsible for validating and troubleshooting billing related to the maintenance and upkeep of the railcar fleet.The incumbent will provide periodic back-up support for the Senior Rail Analyst for day-to-day requirements as needed

Position Responsibilities

Fleet Strategy

• Develop short and medium-term fleet plans to meet demand requirements at all ship points
• Understand Methanex supply chain and proactively anticipate impact of shifting supply and demand
• Understand customer requirements to anticipate and mitigate potential supply impacts
• Manage fleet positioning during contingency events to ensure 100% customer supply
• Control costs through fleet repositioning and understanding of contractual rights and obligations
• Proactively manage empty railcar pipelines to ensure plant loading requirements are met to avoid production impact.
• Monitor railcar location and schedule, communicating to Customer Service as necessary.
• Manage railcar movements in and out of storage according to demand patterns
• Optimize fleet to minimize demurrage and lease track expenses
• Monitor and actively communicate to stakeholders, any impacts to orders arising from rail disruptions (weather related, railroad strikes, contingency events, railroad schedule outages, derailments, route blockades, etc)
• Prepare and distribute report on cars at terminals vs open order to ensure that customers can be covered
• Follow ISO (Corporate and Regional) and Responsible Care procedures.

Rail Operations

• Manage relationship with Rail System provider, ensuring adequate fleet and railroad performance.
• Identify opportunities to enhance processes with our Rail System provider
• Manage railcar onboarding and offboarding or at start and end lease terms, respectively
• Review specifications on proposed cars to ensure they meet Methanex requirements
• Manage rail fleet related communications to Sales and Customer Service teams
• Support development of customer messaging regarding transit times, delays, or rail requirements
• Coordinate inspections of new cars with receiving locations, address discrepancies as required
• Work with lessors to ensure all rail cars adhere to Methanex’s technical specifications (gaskets, O-rings, etc.)
• Ensure that lease contract data is maintained (rider details, car ID, rate, expiration, etc.)
• Ensure robust understanding of contractual rights and obligations in lease agreements, for effective cost control.
• Manage billing patterns
• Procure placards, seals and other materials required by terminal locations
• Manage and track off-lease periods, ensuring all credits due are captured
• Coordinate with outsourcing rail party to troubleshoot any rail delays
• Collaborate with railroads and Rail System provider to expedite shipments as required
• Communicate with Customer Service & Logistics team if transit time needs to be updated due to weather related delays, new routes or deviations
• Coordinate with the outsourcing rail partner the actual billing of the cars to different locations
• Coordinate with Customer Supply Specialists when customer needs to return empty cars

Maintenance and Responsible Care

• Support the implementation and execution of the Responsible Care plan
• Contribute to the development Responsible Care procedures
• Share best practices in industry with customers and suppliers and initiate implementation at Methanex
• Obtain and maintain hazmat certification as required
• Lead the fleet preventive maintenance plan and report monthly performance metrics
• Lead Non-Accidental Releases (NAR) investigations and evaluate trends to avoid NARs
• Perform root cause analysis for railcar related incidents (derailments, customer issues, plant issues, etc)
• Ensure railcars meet Methanex and regulatory standards, lead correction of any deficiencies.
• Manage relationships with railcar material suppliers
• Ensure only approved suppliers perform work on Methanex railcars.
• Coordinate new supplier review as needed.
• Approve actions taken by 3rd party rail software and transactional support companies regarding:
  • a. Railcar Preventative Maintenance program per Methanex Standards
  • b. Repair work (Shop and mobile repair units)
  • c. Maintenance of cars including related Railtrac data maintenance
  • d. Regulatory data - umler, railink, OT57, OTMA
  • e. Re-qualifications
  • h. Invoice auditing & Approval of work / quotes
  • i. Reporting and analysis on shop spending - budgeting improvement

Position Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years of experience in a rail related supply chain or logistics role
• Thorough knowledge of rail operations or processes is preferred
• Working knowledge of 3rd party freight (rail) beneficial
• Rail related hazmat training beneficial
• Excellent communication, written and verbal, and relationship building skills
• Multi-tasking and problem solving in a timely manner is essential
• Capacity to learn and adapt to new systems quickly and efficiently
• MS Office Suite medium proficiency required, specifically Outlook and Excel
• QTS or any other rail tracking system is beneficial