Transportation Investment Decisions for Country Elevators

US Transportation Collection1989PDFTech ReportWilson, Wesley W.Dooley, Frank JNorth Dakota State UniversityUpper Great Plains Transportation InstituteUpper Great Plains Transportation InstituteUnited StatesDecision makingGrain elevatorsInvestmentsLogitsRailroad transportationUGPTI Staff Paper No. 95Trainload shipments of grain by elevators substantially reduce their transportation costs. However, many elevators must make investments upgrading their plant before they can ship in trainload movements. In this report, a logit model is developed which considers the investment decision for particular elevators in terms of the physical characteristics of the facility and firm attributes. The results suggest there are considerable differences across elevators in the likelihood of being targeted for investment and shipping grain in trainload movements.125