From Chicago, and Railway Age's Rail Insights Conference and Expo today, June 8: William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief, Railway Age: What opportunities are seen in the international market?
Wiggie Shell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Georgetown Rail Equipment Company: We see opportunities overseas on the horizon for some of our products, particularly in India, Turkey, and Brazil.
William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief, Railway Age: What's the sense of the approach: Do they want a joint venture in their country, or will they import?
Wiggie Shell: We're finding it depends on the country. In India, we are looking at a joint venture. Seems like a better model for us in India.
Mike Mitrovich, President, MPL Innovations, Inc: We are seeing a focus on other markets that maybe we’ve been a little negligent in, that we could be putting better effort into. We have interest in Venezuela, South Africa, and India. One area of interest has been with our fueling system technology. Other countries are interested because of its anti-fuel-theft elements, because fuel theft is an issue. For example, we're talking with a Chinese representative about this. It’s paying off, to look more internationally.
Brandon Shafer, Global Commercial Marketing Leader, GE Transportation: In terms of looking internationally, China has gone to a lot of electric locomotives going forward. GE just won a large order in India, where we have a joint venture. We're looking at locomotive orders in South Africa and Brazil. The other focused international market for us is Russia; we have a good partner there. We were doing well there until the economic issues of the past couple years and the sanctions with Russia.