Peoria Station

New ADM bulk commodities warehouse at Creve Coeur, Illinois

Archer Daniels Midland Co’s new bulk commodities warehouse, located on Wesley Road in Creve Coeur, is operational.

Looking closely at the photo above, you can see two Bell Grain Co. trucks unloading or waiting to be unloaded. When this facility began taking shape last fall, I began to wonder if it was being built for road salt storage. Now it appears to be for grain. Which is no surprise, I guess.

But why a separate facility for grain when there is already an large ADM grain terminal (complete with barge, rail and truck access) nearby? This may offer a clue. Note that ADM is the buyer for Genetically-Modified (GMO) soybeans.

Deer Creek, Illinois-based Bell Enterprises operates four locations (Congerville, Deer Creek, Goodfield and Mackinaw), and is a partner with AgRail LLC, which opened a rail loading facility at Bloomington in 1999. Based on limited information available, I’m starting to believe that this new facility is for commodities that must be kept separate – specialty grains.

While Bell Enterprises has no rail-served facilities of its own, it is involved with rail-to-truck transloading. Bell tank trucks have been seen unloading tank cars on TZPR’s Creve Coeur Team Track (probably calcium chloride shipped by and consigned to Scotwood Industries).

This facility has no rail access, though transloading at nearby facilities is available. But ADM is supposed to reveal additional details of a Creve Ceour port project this spring, one that will hopefully result in expanded rail business.

- David P. Jordan