2020 was a year like no other. As a nation and across the globe, we faced a pandemic thatturned our daily lives upside down. In spite of the extraordinary challenges, I am extremelyproud of the men and women of BNSF who never stopped Answering the Call to fulfill ourresponsibilities to our customers, the communities we serve, our nation and the global supplychain.
From the pandemic’s start, we focused on protecting the health of our employees as well askeeping our trains moving. I’m humbled by the unwavering commitment of our team to delivercritical supplies as we kept freight flowing and distribution centers stocked.
Safety
Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our employees and the communities inwhich we operate. We have retained our industry-leading position, thanks to our commitmentto maintaining a strong infrastructure and by leveraging technology in our operations.
Unfortunately, during the first part of 2021 the BNSF family experienced the tragic loss of threeteam members in work-related incidents. Tragedies such as these are never acceptable. I knowthat our vision of operating free of accidents and injuries is possible because prior to theseheartbreaking accidents we had been achieving it. We had our longest period without loss oflife going back two and half years.
While we finished 2020 with injury-frequency and severity ratios higher than the previous year,we did make progress. Our Mechanical team achieved their best-ever frequency performancein 2020 and Engineering came close to matching theirs’. As we continue to navigate thechallenges brought on by the pandemic, we must remain focused on the well-being and safetyof our employees, and I am confident that working together we can achieve our safety vision.
Diversity & Inclusion
In our current environment, it is important that we reflect on our values as a company and toremind ourselves of the foundation upon which BNSF was built 25 years ago. Diversity andinclusion have always been a part of that foundation and core to our success. These principles,written as BNSF was created, set the tone for who we are and what we collectively believe.
Part of living our values is our commitment to continuous improvement and having an impact.Only through our actions can we sustain an inclusive, open and collaborative workplace thattruly encourages diverse perspectives. We know it’s a journey, and we are committed toensuring that every single team member has equal opportunity to develop and succeed. Wecan and will increase female and minority representation among our workforce, invest inleaders who create a diverse and inclusive culture and ensure that diversity, equality andinclusion remain a strategic priority for our company.
Sustainability
We also take great pride in moving the economy in a sustainable way. By its very nature, rail isthe most environmentally-friendly way to move goods long distances over land. The inherentefficiencies of rail generate value for our customers and communities by reducingtransportation emissions and reducing our carbon footprint.
As we look to the future, BNSF strives to reduce our impact on the environment whileimproving efficiency. Two recent examples are our battery electric locomotive pilot in SouthernCalifornia and our commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative to set a science-basedcarbon emission reduction target in 2022.
Service
At the start of 2020, we expected to see modest volume growth and continued productivityimprovements. The global pandemic quickly impacted the economy and freight environmentand within a short period we saw volumes fall swiftly. In the last half of the year business beganto return and as volumes increased, we aligned resources to meet elevated demand.
Our work and dedication paid off, and we delivered a Perfect Peak Season for the fourthstraight year. This is a crucial time of year when we coordinate closely with our parcel carriersto deliver on time during the holiday season. Working in conjunction with the largest parceldelivery companies in the world, we managed to move 80 million packages, a 30-percentincrease from the previous year!
Our consumer products segment, which benefited from consumer spending shifting fromservices to durable goods, led the improvement through the latter part of 2020. DomesticIntermodal ended the year with record volume and we also saw the U.S. West Coast ports gainshare of containerized imports as retailers sought to leverage the fastest route to replenishinventories. Our Industrial Products business experienced lower volumes due to declines in theenergy sector and a softer economic environment as a result of the pandemic. Coal’s long-termstructural decline continued as volumes decreased at a more rapid pace due to low natural gasprices, elevated customer inventories and reduced electric generation.Agricultural Productssaw strong export grain activity in the second half of the year and set a quarterly volume recordin the last quarter of 2020.
Conclusion
We finished 2020 strong and in spite of all the challenges we have significant momentum thisyear. As a company we will continue to seize the opportunities before us by remaining nimbleand adaptive. I am as confident as ever in team BNSF because I know that together we canaccomplish anything and are always at the ready -- Answering the Call to move the freight ourcustomers and communities need today and well into the future.
Katie Farmer
President and Chief Executive Officer
