The company planning a logistics center in Burbank that’s set to feature the region’s only privatized, state-of-the-art intermodal ramp has gone “dormant” amid a challenging market, however the local project may still move forward with a new investor, said a source with knowledge of the situation.

Tiger Cool Express, the Kansas-based transportation company behind Tiger Tri-Cities Logistics Center in Burbank, hasn’t provided an official statement following news reports in mid-June that it had abruptly shut down. But the source – who declined to be quoted by name – told the Journal of Business that the company is “continuing to look for a path forward” for the intermodal ramp project.

The company is owned by the private equity firm Tiger Infrastructure Partners and describes itself as “the nation’s leading provider of temperature-controlled intermodal transportation.”

It’s not in bankruptcy or being liquidated, the source said.

But it has seen a sharp decline in business as shipping volumes dropped, according to reports, and at the moment “it’s more profitable to park the equipment and not handle loads than it is to handle loads where an immense amount of money is lost,” the source said.

A “significant number” of employees have been laid off, the source said.

What’s an intermodal ramp?

The Tiger Tri-Cities Logistics Center was once on track to open in September.

If it comes to fruition, it will include an “intermodal ramp” where agricultural and manufactured goods can be transferred between trucks and trains. It also will include refrigerated storage.

The facility on Railex Road off Highway 12 will position the area to become a major transportation hub, opening up routes to Seattle and Tacoma docks and as far east as Chicago, company officials have said. Service could eventually expand to markets such as the I-5 corridor and Mexico, they’ve said.

Tiger Cool Express touted the intermodal ramp at a media day in the spring. Scores of reporters and others toured the in-progress facility, watching demonstrations of how containers would be moved between trucks and trains, and hearing more about the potential benefits.

The company said the logistics center would create about 100 direct jobs, plus inspire many more.

No one is working at the facility now.

Along with the intermodal ramp, the facility is to include a 200,000-square-foot former Union Pacific Railroad Cold Connect warehouse. Union Pacific pulled the plug on its Cold Connect refrigerated railcar service in 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Tiger Cool Express announced in fall 2021 that it was acquiring the warehouse and planned to develop the intermodal ramp at the site.

The source expressed optimism about the future of the Tiger Tri-Cities Logistics Center.

“You can’t keep a good idea down. It’s a good idea that’s been embraced by everybody. It’s a matter of overcoming this bump and moving on,” the source said.