OmniTRAX, Inc., one of the largest privately held transportation service companies in North America and an affiliate of The Broe Group, is partnering with Georgia-Pacific to ensure efficient and cost-effective rail transportation for the company’s new plant in Albany, Ga. As part of the project, Georgia-Pacific will connect a railway track from its facility, which will produce lumber and wood chips, to the mainline of the OmniTRAX-affiliated Georgia & Florida Railway, LLC (GFRR) in the adjacent Albany-Dougherty Industrial Park.

Construction of the new subsidiary rail line and related crossing and communications upgrades is expected to begin by December and will be completed in 2019. Construction on the $150 million, 320,000 square-foot, GP facility is also scheduled to begin this year with an anticipated startup in late 2019.

“Georgia-Pacific is a great partner for OmniTRAX and the GFRR, and the new plant will allow us to show case our customer service expertise even more. We also appreciate the support of the local, state and federal governments to make this project happen in Southwest Georgia and are pleased to be a part economic growth in the region,” said Kevin Shuba, CEO of OmniTRAX.

Once in production, the new Georgia-Pacific facility expects to produce approximately 300 million board-feet of lumber a year. This translates to more than 1,250 railcars of building materials and wood chips transported on the GFRR per year.

The GFRR is a network of 222 miles of track between Albany and northwestern Florida. The railroad has interchanges with CSX in Foley, Fla. and Thomasville, Ga., and with Norfolk Southern in Adel and Albany, Ga. In addition to Georgia-Pacific, GFRR customers include Miller Brewing, Flint Hills Resources and Procter & Gamble, and transports liquid and dry bulk, pipe, plastics, construction products and more.