POCATELLO — Exporting containers filled with locally grown oilseeds to China and other Asian markets will soon be a shorter, simpler and cheaper process for Bill Meadows.

Meadows, owner of American Falls-based Mountain States Oilseeds, anticipates saving at least $45,000 in annual shipping costs once the Utah transportation and logistics company Savage opens a planned intermodal rail terminal in Pocatello.

At the moment, empty 20-foot and 40-foot shipping containers are hauled on trucks from Salt Lake City to his business. Meadows has two hours upon receiving a container to fill it with a commodity, such as oriental mustard, and send it back to Utah. The cargo is then sent by rail to the Port of Los Angeles or the Port of San Francisco to be shipped abroad.

By the middle of this year, however, Savage plans to open Idaho’s first intermodal rail terminal at the Pocatello rail yard. Once that happens, area shippers of agricultural goods, such as Meadows, will access containers close to home and quickly get them on a direct rail line to the Port of Seattle or the Port of Tacoma in Washington.

“The big cost of the container is transporting it from Salt Lake to here and back to Salt Lake,” Meadows said. “I think by having a container yard in Pocatello that cost will be cut in half.”

Meadows now ships more than 180 containers to Asia per year, and he said the market is rapidly growing. Meadows has tripled his business in Asia during the past three years, and he anticipates his annual shipments will further increase to between 400 and 500 containers within the next two years.

“We have roughly 65% of our business goes overseas in the mustard market,” Meadows said.

Officials say the region’s hay growers will be the primary beneficiaries of the facility, which is planned in partnership with Union Pacific Railroad.

“You can’t drive to Salt Lake City without seeing 30 to 40 (trucks hauling containers of hay),” Meadows said. “Those will all be switched over to Pocatello. There’s enough business here to make it work.”

Driscoll TopHay, located on the grounds of the Pocatello Regional Airport, is expected to be a major user of the intermodal facility.

Will Ricks, president of the Idaho Hay & Forage Association, believes the facility will also benefit his Hamer-based business, Highland Hay. About 75% of his hay crop is shipped abroad — currently out of Salt Lake City. Ricks said the facility should even benefit growers who sell domestically by moving more hay out of the country, thereby reducing domestic supply and improving prices.

“It sounds like it’s going to be something that’s really going to be good for Eastern Idaho,” Ricks said.

Idaho grain growers are also optimistic about the facility’s potential to boost their bottom lines. Laura Wilder, executive director of the Idaho Barley Commission, said about a quarter of the state’s barley crop is now exported to foreign markets — mainly sold as malt to Mexico. Wilder said her organization receives constant inquiries about Idaho barley for export.

“If this opens up new channels and new opportunities for companies and individuals not currently taking advantage of the export market it would definitely be a good thing for the Idaho barley industry,” Wilder said.

Wilder sees potential for the facility to make food barley a viable crop for growers in Eastern Idaho. Food barley is popular in Japan and Korea as a rice extender, but it has primarily been grown by farmers in Northern Idaho, who are much closer to Washington ports and have a freight advantage in reaching Asian markets.

Initially, Savage spokesman Jeff Hymas said the facility will load about 150 containers per week on 75 rail cars. By the year’s end, Hymas said Savage hopes to be shipping up to 250 containers per week on 125 rail cars from the Pocatello facility.

Hymas said the facility may eventually handle refrigerated commodities, such as potatoes or dairy. For the time being, he said dehydrated milk and potato flakes can be moved.

Oakley farmer Randy Hardy, who is chairman of Sun Valley Potatoes, believes potato growers will benefit indirectly if the facility helps them ship other crops in their rotations.

“I think it can definitely be a boost to our area,” Hardy said.

Hardy’s hope is that Union Pacific will start a refrigerated unit train serving Idaho with direct service to the state’s major domestic export markets in New York and Florida.

Shawn Boyle, president and general counsel with the Idaho Grower Shippers Association, has been communicating with Savage about its plans for a few years, and he believes it may eventually open the door for Idaho fresh potato growers to tap a new market — at least once Savage can offer refrigerated service.

“It really puts us five to 10 days closer to Asia than we were before,” Boyle said.

Boyle also believes the project helps to get the railroad’s attention, further establishing Southeast Idaho as a major rail hub.

Idaho Potato Commission President and CEO Frank Muir believes the popularity of Idaho potatoes in foreign markets will fuel demand for exports of all classes of potatoes and potato products from the Gem State.

“When we first started this effort to ship internationally, the first thing I was told is, ‘You can’t do it because you’re nowhere near a port,’” Muir recalled. “I said, ‘If we were a commodity that would be an issue, but we’re not a commodity. We’re a brand.’”

Kristen South, a public relations official with Union Pacific, said it would be premature for the railroad to discuss additional future services, such as an eastbound refrigerated unit train or the addition of refrigerated cars to the forthcoming intermodal facility.

South said trains from the Pocatello intermodal facility will take 2.5 days to reach a Washington port and will make a single stop to change crews.

“Union Pacific is providing Savage access to property and track along with a service product that allows Savage to ramp up volume,” South said via email. “...What’s great about the partnership is that instead of moving empty containers, we can fill them, primarily with hay exports going back to Asia.”