Industry may upgrade crude tank cars early

摘要

Houston—US refiner Tesoro is the first crudeby- rail participant to pledge to replace its older railcars ahead of potential tighter safety standards, and its peers may take similar proactive steps, analysts said Friday. Mulling Tesoro’s decision, the analysts said that its motive to upgrade early could be three-fold: a way to send a message to regulators about the importance of rail movements, book out maintenance time in busy shops ahead of the competition, and mitigate the risk associated with potential derailments. Tesoro said Thursday in a statement that it will shift its entire crude-by-rail fleet to only newer DOT-111 tank cars, making it the first US refiner to make such plans following several accidents, including last July’s derailment in the town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec, which resulted in 47 deaths.