7:30 AM – 8:30 AM

Enjoy a continental breakfast while networking with speakers and fellow attendees. 

8:30 AM – 8:45 AM

A quick orientation to the day and how the sessions build — from the rail demand baseline to the specific car types, to the capital and leasing decisions on your 2027 fleet plan.

Speakers: Jonathan Starks, CEO, FTR; and David Nahass, President, Railroad Financial Corporation

8:45 AM – 9:30 AM

Chemicals output relies on feedstocks, and those feedstocks have been hit hard by global disruptions in 2026. Despite the headwinds, the domestic market still has solid pockets of strength. Gain insights from economist Martha Moore on how this market has operated during the course of the last year, and how well it is positioned for growth in the future.

Speaker: Martha Gilchrist Moore, Chief Economist & Managing Director, Economics & Statistics, American Chemistry Council

Moderator: Jonathan Starks, CEO, FTR

9:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Every car you add, retire, or lease traces back to one question: how much freight the economy hands the railroads. Before you size next year’s fleet, Jonathan sets that baseline with exclusive Freight•cast forecast outputs — the key economic indicators, current and anticipated rail volumes, and what they translate into for overall rail equipment demand — teeing up the car-type deep dives that follow with the macro read that anchors your build, retirement, and lease timing for 2027.

Speaker: Jonathan Starks, CEO, FTR

10:00 AM – 10:15 AM

10:15 PM – 10:45 AM

Tank car demand is caught between trade tensions, a soft industrial economy, and thinning backlogs. If tank cars sit on your fleet or your order book, that uncertainty is your uncertainty. Joseph works through each pressure in detail — trade, industrial demand, declining backlogs, regulatory change, and equipment-specific trends in builds, retirements, and scrappage — to sharpen the picture for 2027 and beyond. He’ll dive into key Umler System data around orders, retirements, and deliveries to provide insights into FTR’s forecasts for tank cars.

Speaker: Joseph Towers, Senior Analyst, Rail, FTR

10:45 AM - 11:15 AM

Covered hoppers have carried recent new-car activity — but every cornerstone eventually gets tested. If you’re weighing how much covered-hopper capacity to commit for 2027, the run so far matters less than where it goes next. Joseph examines the recent trends in volumes, backlogs, builds, and retirements to lay out where covered hopper demand actually stands and where it’s headed. He’ll draw on key Umler System data around orders, retirements, and deliveries to ground FTR’s forecasts for covered hoppers.

Speaker: Joseph Towers, Senior Analyst, Rail, FTR

11:15 AM - 11:45 AM

Agriculture and chemicals have long been the steady floor under rail demand — and under the fleets built to serve them. Before you treat those commodities as a safe base for your 2027 plan, it’s worth asking whether that steadiness still holds. Joseph digs into where real growth opportunities remain across these flows and where the old assumptions are starting to slip, drawing on FTR’s commodity-level rail volume data to separate the demand you can still plan a fleet around from the demand you can’t.

Speaker: Joseph Towers, Senior Analyst, Rail, FTR

11:45 PM – 1:00 PM

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

The people who build the cars see the supply-and-pricing picture before it reaches your order book. If your 2027 plan depends on when cars are available and what they’ll cost, this is the seat closest to that answer. Eric Marchetto of Trinity Rail joins Will and David for an open Q&A on the railcar manufacturing and leasing market — where build capacity, pricing, and lead times are heading.

Speakers: Eric Marchetto, CFO, TrinityRail; David Nahass, President, Railroad Financial Corporation; and Will Geiger, Senior VP, Railroad Financial Corporation 

2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

For the fleet manager, the lease market is half of the fleet decision — a lever to pull when for cars that are not core to your fleet. Before you set your core, non-core and owned fleet mix for 2027, David and Will give a current read on the railcar leasing market: rates, availability, and utilization across the car types you manage. You’ll leave this session with information on how to time and price your lease commitments with the market rather than against it, in order to protect you from guessing at your next renewal.

Speakers: David Nahass, President, Railroad Financial Corporation; and Will Geiger, Senior VP, Railroad Financial Corporation

2:45 PM – 3:15 PM

3:15 PM – 4:00 PM

 Q&A with supply chain senior executives on the state of the rail economy and how it is affecting their business. 

Speakers: Scott Campbell, Global VP Supply Chain, LyondellBasell; David Nahass, President, Railroad Financial Corporation; and Will Geiger, Senior VP, Railroad Financial Corporation

4:00 - 4:45 PM

Interest rates and credit conditions quietly impact every railcar decision you make. Before you finalize your 2027 equipment moves, David and Will outline the finance track with the latest on how the finance market is shaping equipment decisions across the railcar segment. We close the day with a session providing the understanding of the financing conditions your fleet plan has to live inside, not just today’s rate.

Speakers: David Nahass, President, Railroad Financial Corporation; and Will Geiger, Senior VP, Railroad Financial Corporation

4:45 PM - 4:50 PM

Jonathan and David pull the day together — the demand baseline, the car-type calls, and the capital conditions — into the handful of takeaways that should shape your 2027 fleet plan.

Speakers: Jonathan Starks, CEO, FTR; and David Nahass, President, Railroad Financial Corporation

4:50 - 5:30 PM

5:30 - 7:00 PM

Evening reception. Details coming soon.