Railroad shuts many Florida terminals ahead of Hurricane Milton

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Railroad company CSX is suspending operations at several of its intermodal and TRANSFLO terminals in Florida ahead of Milton, which has shifted its path away from Tampa, a major fertilizer hub.

If Milton maintains its latest forecasted path, it could spare Tampa of the worst damage, according to CoreLogic, an insurance data company.

Milton’s maximum sustained winds are nearly 145 miles/h (230 km/h), making it a Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Milton is expected to weaken to a Category 3 hurricane and make landfall later on Wednesday south of Tampa near Sarasota, Florida, CoreLogic said.

Milton will then pass over central Florida.

RAIL DISRUPTIONS
Rail shipments through the Tampa area will likely face delays until Milton passes, CSX said. It expects multiple downed trees and power outages in the Wildwood, Lakeland and surrounding Tampa subdivisions.

Lakeland and nearby Kathleen are near Tampa and are home to some thermoset resin plants.

CSX has taken the following actions:

• Closed the Central Florida ILC intermodal gate.
• Closed the Tampa, FL intermodal gate.
• Closed the TRANSFLO terminals at Tampa and Tampa Port.
• Will close the Sanford TRANSFLO terminal midday on Wednesday.

Another railroad company, Norfolk Southern, has not updated its notice from 7 October, when it said that it is monitoring and preparing for Hurricane Milton.

MORE PORTS CLOSE
Some of Florida’s ports on the Atlantic coast have set conditions to Zulu, meaning that they are closed to inbound and outbound vessels.

The following table summarizes the port conditions along the eastern and western coasts of Florida.

Port	Status	Condition
Port of Pensacola	Open
Port Panama City	Open	X-Ray
Port St Joe	Open	X-Ray
Port Tampa Bay	Closed	Zulu
SeaPort Manatee	Closed	Zulu
PortMiami	Open	Yankee
Port Everglades	Open	Yankee
Port of Palm Beach	Closed	Zulu
Fort Pierce	Closed	Zulu
Port Canaveral	Closed	Zulu
Jaxport	Closed	Zulu
Port of Fernandina	Closed	Zulu

Source: ports, US Coast Guard

IMPACT ON FERTILIZERS, PHOSPHATES, CHEMS
For chemicals, there is some epoxy resin, phenolic resin and unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) production in Lakeland and Kathleen, Florida.

Milton will make landfall far from Pensacola, Florida, which has plants that make nylon and thermoset resins.

Tampa is an important hub for the US fertilizer industry, hosting corporate offices, trading, product storage, shipping and other logistical operations.

Fertilizer producer Mosaic has its headquarters in Tampa. The company has not issued any statements regarding its corporate operations.

A source at the fertilizer company Yara said it was shutting down its Tampa offices to comply with the evacuation orders.

Near Tampa is Florida’s phosphate mining operations in Bone Valley, which covers parts of Hardee, Hillsborough, Manatee and Polk counties.

In all, Florida has 27 phosphate mines, of which nine are active, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien has yet to restart its White Springs phosphate operations following Helene, an earlier hurricane that made landfall farther north in Florida’s Big Bend region.

On 30 September, Mosaic said its Riverview operations were offline following water intrusion from a storm surge caused by Hurricane Helene.

POSSIBLE DAMAGE
Hurricane Milton could be extremely destructive because of its winds, rainfall and storm surge.

It will pass over the following metropolitan statistical areas.

Region	Population
Tampa	3,342,963
Orlando	2,817,933
Jacksonville	1,713,240
Sarasota	910,108

Source: US Census Bureau

The following map shows the expected path of Milton.

Source: National Hurricane Center

CoreLogic, the insurance data company, said Milton’s shift to the south of Tampa could limit the magnitude of insured losses.

The following map compares three insured loss scenarios based on Milton’s path.

Source: CoreLogic

The following map shows Milton’s expected storm surges.

Source: National Hurricane Center.

The following map shows three-day rain totals.

Source: CoreLogic

CHEMS AND RECONSTRUCTION
For hurricanes in general, reconstruction can translate to increased demand for many chemicals and polymers.

The white pigment titanium dioxide (TiO2) is used in paints.

Solvents used in paints and coatings include butyl acetate (butac), butyl acrylate (butyl-A), ethyl acetate (etac), glycol ethers, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and isopropanol (IPA).

Blends of aliphatic and aromatic solvents are also used to make paints and coatings.

For polymers, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PU) foam are used in insulation.

Polyurethanes are made of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and polyols.

High density polyethylene (HDPE) is used in pipe. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is used to make cladding, window frames, wires and cables, flooring and roofing membranes.

Unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) are used to make coatings and composites.

Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) is used to make paints and adhesives.

Thumbnail shows an image of Hurricane Milton. Image by the National Hurricane Center.