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Ozinga and CHS are expanding rail-served industrial capacity in the Midwest, but at different stages: Ozinga has opened a low-carbon slag-cement mill in East Chicago, Indiana, while CHS has begun development of a soybean-processing plant in Evansville, Wisconsin. Indiana Harbor Belt will serve Ozinga’s facility; Union Pacific will serve CHS’s. Both projects pair rail with water and highway connections to move bulk commodities through more than one transportation mode.
Two rail-served projects at a glance
| Project | Status and location | Commodity | Rail connection | Published annual capacity | Other modes | Primary rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ozinga mill | Opened October 13, 2026, in East Chicago, Indiana | Slag cement and proprietary low-carbon cement blends | Indiana Harbor Belt (IHB) | 1 million tons of cement annually | Great Lakes and inland waterways, plus highway | Domestic lower-carbon construction materials |
| CHS facility | Groundbreaking October 7, 2026; Evansville, Wisconsin; completion expected in 2028 after permitting | Soybean oil and soybean meal | Union Pacific (UP) | 80 million bushels of soybeans annually | Rail, river and road | Additional farmer market access and stronger domestic food, feed and renewable-fuel supply chains |
Ozinga’s East Chicago low-carbon cement mill
What the facility produces
The mill is designed to make up to 1 million tons of slag cement each year. Its products include ASTM C989-compliant slag cement and Ozinga’s CarbonSense blends, which the company says meet ASTM C1157 performance standards. Ozinga says those blends can reduce embodied carbon by up to 80% compared with traditional Portland-cement mixes. The 80% figure is a company claim for the specified blends and comparison, not a universal reduction for every cement shipment or application.
How rail fits the plant
The East Chicago site has its own rail infrastructure and is served by IHB. IHB’s network connects with all Class I railroads, giving the mill interchange access beyond a single carrier. Great Lakes and inland-waterway access lets finished cement move by barge, while highways provide truck distribution for destinations that are not practical by rail or water.
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Ozinga states that one railcar carries more material than four semi-trucks. It also says one barge carries the equivalent of 17 railcars, or 75 semi-trucks. Those comparisons describe the company’s stated carrying-capacity equivalents; actual loads vary with equipment, commodity density, route and operating limits.
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Emissions and employment claims
Once fully operational, Ozinga projects that the mill will offset more than 700,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions each year. The company compares that amount with removing more than 150,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for one year. These are projected annual benefits, not measured results from a completed operating year.
Ozinga expects approximately 50 permanent union steelworker jobs across the East Chicago mill and its Burns Harbor operation, where slag is initially processed. CEO Marty Ozinga said the company chose the Midwest because it considers the region central to producing American-made materials for future U.S. infrastructure.
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CHS’s planned Evansville soybean facility
Processing scale and products
CHS estimates the Evansville project will cost approximately $700 million. The planned plant is expected to process 80 million bushels of soybeans annually and produce approximately 1 billion pounds of soybean oil and 2 million tons of soybean meal each year. The oil can serve food and industrial markets, while meal is a major feed ingredient; the project’s stated supply-chain rationale also includes demand for U.S.-produced renewable-fuel inputs.
Track layout and truck operations
The design calls for an in-plant loop track with three separate loops connecting to UP. On the truck side, CHS specifies 40 soybean-truck dumps per hour and 17 meal trucks per hour for load-out. Using rail, river and road together is intended to reduce dependence on any one mode when grain arrives or processed products leave the site.
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Timeline, jobs and farmer access
CHS held a ceremonial groundbreaking on October 7, 2026. Completion is expected in 2028, subject to required permitting, so the announced capacity is a development target rather than operating output. The company expects about 80 full-time jobs at the finished facility, in addition to hundreds of construction and skilled-trade positions during development.
CHS President and CEO Jay Debertin described the plant as an investment that gives farmers another reliable soybean market while supporting domestic agricultural supply chains. The project therefore differs from Ozinga’s construction-material focus: its central commercial effect is adding regional oilseed-processing demand and outlets for soybean co-products.
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Why the multimodal design matters
Rail adds high-volume, long-distance capacity
Bulk commodities move most efficiently when transportation matches shipment size and distance. Rail can handle large, scheduled flows from inland origins to industrial customers, ports and processing sites, while trucks provide collection and final delivery. Water transport can move very large volumes where terminals and navigable routes are available, but it depends on waterway access and seasonal or operating conditions.
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Each project uses a different network advantage
Ozinga’s location near Lake Michigan and inland waterways supports barge distribution of cement, with IHB providing connections into the broader North American rail system. Its Burns Harbor slag-processing operation is part of the production chain rather than a separate end market.
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CHS is designing a dedicated loop-track system at Evansville so trains can circulate within the plant instead of relying only on public loading tracks. The UP connection is paired with river and road access. CHS’s existing Cahokia, Illinois, grain facility illustrates the company’s broader rail strategy: it has more than seven miles of private track, direct connections to all six North American Class I railroads and capacity to handle four 110-car trains simultaneously. Cahokia is a separate facility, but its infrastructure shows how CHS uses rail connectivity as part of a wider supply-chain model.
What the projects signal for Midwest industry
Taken together, the announcements show two ways rail-served development can support domestic production. Ozinga is commissioning an operating plant that substitutes slag-based cement capacity for some traditional Portland-cement demand and links industrial production with Great Lakes logistics. CHS is building new processing capacity that will connect farm supply to oil, meal and renewable-fuel markets.
The projects also illustrate why “rail-served” does not mean rail-only. Both are being designed around a choice of rail, water and highway routes, allowing operators to match each shipment to destination, volume and available infrastructure. Ozinga’s environmental and employment figures remain company projections, while CHS’s output and job figures remain targets until construction, permitting and commissioning are complete.
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