03x01 - Cargo

[bunniefuu]

- Before it became

your property,

every single thing in

your house was cargo,

from the sofa you're sitting on

to the dishes in your sink

to the TV you're

watching right now.

None of it would be

in your possession,

but for vast network

of trucks and trains

and ships and planes.

I'm no different.

This desk, that "How

America Works" poster,

that cool American

flag, this Emmy award

that absolutely

nobody cares about,

this Mike Rowe

Works trailer hitch,

my grandfather's whiskey,

my mom's latest,

best-selling book,

and this one-legged

Mike Rowe action figure,

none of it would've come to me

but for a working supply chain.

This episode is a shout-out

to the two million Americans

who make that supply chain work,

hardworking men and

women who labor 24/7

to make sure all of our stuff,

from the sublime

to the ridiculous,

makes it from

point A to point B.

They know, better than most

I think, how America works,

(energetic rock music)

Whether it's imports or exports,

commodities or

shipping containers,

nobody can move cargo

like these United States,

which is why we're also the

world's largest trading nation,

shipping more than $5

trillion worth of cargo

each and every year.

So, with that said,

what's with all the

shortages here of late?

Where'd all the canned goods go?

And when did buying

a refrigerator

become barely easier than

catching a leprechaun?

(ominous music)

Well, in a word, or

an acronym: COVID,

which, through

widespread shutdowns,

bucked America's

supply chains so hard,

they're still reeling.

(ominous music continues)

(bright orchestral music)

But that doesn't

mean the 500+ ports

and shipping hubs of our nation

are throwing in the towel.

In fact, they're just

starting to catch up.

Take the Port of

Houston for example,

one of the largest and

busiest in the world,

where it's up to

companies like Watco

to keep all that

traffic in motion.

Back before the pandemic,

this 800-acre facility

would happily move about

40,000 tons of cargo every day.

But as manufacturers race

to make up for lost ground,

they're now charged

with moving 70,000 tons,

be it by truck, train, or barge.

And heading up the

ladder of those methods

are crew leaders

like Johnny Rankin.

- I am over 13 years

here with Watco,

seven years here on this dock,

been playing with

heavy equipment

for the majority of my life.

(Johnny grunts)

I love what I do. That's

why I'm here every day.

(dramatic music)

- [Mike] But to

hit today's quota,

Johnny and his fellow staff

will have their work

cut out for them,

because, among other tasks,

that means moving some 250

truckloads worth of product,

200 tons worth of

industrial windmills,

500 rail cars, and,

in Johnny's case

- We have a barge with

somewhere in the neighborhood

of 1,700 tons of

high carbon chrome,

which is a steel alloy

that we're gonna unload

and get it to our storage

pile inside our warehouse

in the center of the park.

- [Mike From there, this

particular load of Chrome

will be headed to Arkansas,

where it'll be used to create

a variety of essential items

from stainless steel

to brick molds.

But before he can

start offloading,

Johnny will first need

to remove the lids

from the 30-by-200-foot barge.

And for that, he'll be working

with one of his

favorite heavy haulers.

(hauler beeping)

(dramatic music)

- [Johnny] During this

operation, I will be in Fiona,

our material handler.

She's big, she's green,

and she's pretty.

Fiona serves the same

purpose as a crane,

only it's easier to

work with than a crane,

as I can control the bucket.

And you see my finger

twitching right here?

That's what's

spinning the bucket

so I can set things down

just as they need to be set.

- [Mike] And with the last of

the lids carefully laid aside,

it's time to start

moving material

from the barge to a hopper,

which will then

dispense it into trucks.

(tense music)

But on eyeing over

said hopper

- [Johnny] Hold

on just a minute.

- [Mike] There seems to

be something missing.

- Where y'all

hiding a compressor?

I need an air compressor.

(radio chirps)

There's supposed to be a

compressor down here somewhere.

- [Mike] As usual,

Johnny's right,

because without

an air compressor,

the doors on this hopper

can't be opened or closed.

- [Johnny] So right now,

it's basically a

(censored) paperweight.

(upbeat music)

- [Mike] It takes

a lot of machinery

to keep our cargo moving,

and here at Watco, that

comes to about 400 of them,

from cranes to forklifts

to trucks to trains.

And if any of those

machines should fail,

it could cause delays

that would ripple

down the entire supply chain.

So to keep that from happening,

there are guys like

heavy equipment

manager Anthony Rogers,

who will inspect, fix,

or otherwise service

up to seven units per day.

- There's really no

sense of normalcy

on what we're gonna do

from one day to the next.

It varies from changing a

wire, changing a filter,

to rebuilding engines.

They throw anything

at us, we attack it.

- [Mike] To start.

Anthony's attacking

what's known as a skid steer

which will be needed to

finish Johnny's chrome offload

in just a few short hours.

First though, Anthony

will need to conduct

some critical maintenance

on its business end.

- We are gonna be

changing the blade.

This is the blade down

here. These are the bolts.

We're gonna try with

impact to get 'em off.

I highly doubt

it's gonna happen.

(upbeat music)

- [Mike] Anthony

knows from experience

that bolts like

these are notorious

for wearing down so much

(wrench rattling)

no wrench can grip them.

Still

- Hey! (laughing)

- You got it.

- [Mike] It's nice to

be wrong sometimes

(wrench clunking)

even if it's not all the time.

- That one don't wanna come off.

If you look real

close right here,

product has eaten the bolt

up, so there's no thread,

so it's just hanging

up right there.

- [Mike] For the

more stubborn bolts,

Anthony will have to

use a cutting torch,

but first he'll need to see

just how many he's up against.

- So, we got all of

'em except three out.

So it looks like

we're gonna wind up

having to get the

torch out on these.

- [Mike] While Anthony

heads for the nearest torch,

back outside

(dramatic music)

(train whistle blows)

another of Watco's departments

is already hard at work,

because a full 50% of the cargo

that moves through this

facility does so via rail car,

and keeping those cars moving

is the job of rail

conductor Troy Vacala.

- We haul it all

on the railroad,

and we keep this country going,

we provide what it needs,

and it's a long

time-honored tradition.

I'm really proud

to be a part of it.

- [Mike] This morning,

Troy and his partner, Jose,

will be working on what's

known as an inbound manifest,

which is just a

fancy way of saying

a string of 63 rail cars

that need to be sorted.

- We have animal tallow;

it's basically fat.

We have pipe, we have

steel, we have lumber.

And we're gonna have

to separate that

between all these tracks.

- [Mike] It's a lot to

wrap one's head around,

so here are the broad strokes.

(intense rock music)

First, Troy will identify

a group of rail cars

that need to be

separated from the train.

Then, he'll pull the train

over what's called the switch

and disconnect them

group by group.

That's what's known in the

industry as making a switch.

From there, it's just a

matter of rinse and repeat

until every last

car is squared away.

Sounds simple enough,

but in a place where

one missed deadline

can derail dozens

of other schedules,

Troy will also need to keep

sharp eye on the clock.

- All these trains are

designated to be at locations

well, well in advance to

when they leave this yard,

so if one train is behind,

it could cause delays

for multiple trains.

- [Mike] Not if

Troy can help it.

(energetic music)

And with Jose now in position

(Train whistle blows)

it's time to switch some cars.

(radio chirps)

- Hi there, 101.

Start dragging on.

About 17 cars,

one-seven, on a stud.

(energetic rock music)

(radio chirps)

And that will do.

(train car clanking)

So I'm gonna tie three brakes

on this rear portion

that we're leaving

(brake ratcheting)

make sure there's no

undesired movement.

And then, this black tank car

I'll cut away from

this gray hopper,

and I'm gonna drag it

up over the switch,

and I'm gonna bring

it back down here

to this freight

track where it goes.

I'm gonna put it away.

(energetic rock music)

101, three step is clear.

When you can, drag it out.

(train car clanking)

(air blasts)

Communication out here

is extremely important.

My job as a conductor

on the ground

is to paint the picture

for that engineer up there

so he knows exactly what he's

doing and where he's going.

And that'll do.

- [Mike] When he's

not giving directions.

Troy's also in charge

of throwing the switch,

which will divert these

cars to their proper track;

that is, if done properly.

(tense music)

(rail clacking)

- Make sure it's locked,

and also, very important,

make sure it's tight.

If it wasn't tight and

there was a gap in there,

one car could

possibly go this way,

another car could possibly go

that way and cause a derail.

Got one more switch to get.

(tense music)

(switch clacking)

(Troy grunting)

- Somethin' up with this one.

(tense music)

(lever clacking)

(upbeat music)

- [Mike] Supply

chain issues or not,

there's no denying that

the U.S. still moves

an impressive amount of cargo.

Take our railroads alone.

In a typical year,

just those will haul a combined

1.7 billion tons of freight,

or enough to fill a train

that would wrap around

the Earth six times.

That's the kind of

tonnage it takes

to keep the American

machine in motion.

And as the manufacturers

of our country

race to catch up with

post-COVID demand,

so, too, is the cargo industry

cranking like never before.

(intense rock music)

Take Watco's facility

in the Port of Houston,

one of the largest and

busiest of its kind,

where the mission today is

to move a full 70,000 tons

of product before quitting time.

But down at the rail yard,

conductor Troy Vacala

is having trouble

moving a single switch,

something he'll

need to figure out

if he's gonna get his

string of cars sorted.

- You can't halfway

close the switch.

It needs to be tight. It needs

to be perfect every time.

You can't reach down in there,

either. It's a big no-no.

Let me grab something here.

(rocks scraping)

I don't have a whole lot of

time to mess around here.

We got people that are

expecting all their product.

(rail clacks)

Looks good to me.

Cap looks tight. I think

we're ready to roll.

- [Mike] With everything

back on track, so to speak,

Troy can finally get these

17 cars where they're going.

(radio chirps)

- Three, two, one.

And that'll do.

(train cars clanking)

(bright music)

Being able to do my job

out here in the elements,

to adapt and overcome,

and that's one of the big

jobs of being a railroader.

- [Mike] Speaking of adapting

- [Mike] It seems that's

just what Troy's supervisor

has in mind at the moment.

(radio chirps)

- All right, yeah, let

me tie these motors down,

and we'll head that way.

- [Supervisor] Copy that.

- [Troy] I guess

we got a fuel train

that needs to get

outta here ASAP,

so I gotta kinda stop

what I'm doing here

and head on over

to the West yard

and start putting that

fuel train together.

It's pretty normal

for us out here.

It's a fluid operation, and

we gotta go with the flow,

and that's where the flow is.

(intense music)

- [Mike] Back on the docks,

crew leader Johnny Rankin

has also decided to

go with the flow,

because, with 1,700 tons

of chrome to offload

before the next barge arrives,

and an air compressor

needed for that still MIA,

All he can do now is

move as much product

as he can without it.

(energetic rock music)

- [Johnny] Until we can get

the rest of our equipment

for the hopper, I'll run

'em directly through.

for the time being, this

will get us at least started.

(energetic rock music)

- [Mike] It's a way

to keep moving chrome,

albeit a slower one,

but Johnny's accustomed

to doing what he can

with what he's got.

- All right, James,

one more coming in.

This is number four.

- [Driver On Radio]

I'm still good.

(energetic rock music)

I had the driver on the phone.

He has gauges in his truck

so we know how much weight

we're putting on him

and where to put it.

- [Driver] Yeah. That

looks about right there.

- Gotcha. Thank you.

- [Mike] Fortunately for Johnny,

it seems that just the one truck

is all he'll have to

load the hard way.

(energetic rock music)

- Our compressor just showed up.

We're gonna hook the hopper up.

Now, while I'm waiting

for a truck to back in,

gonna keep loading the hopper,

keep digging the barge,

get the barge emptied out.

The only time I'll have

to stop using the hopper

is when the hopper fills up,

and that's the only time we'll

be stopping from here on out.

- [Mike] That's the hope anyway.

But to complete this job,

Johnny's still going

to need a skid steer

to scoop up the

last of the chrome.

(energetic music)

And down at the machine shop,

that particular

piece of equipment is

still out of service

until Anthony Rogers here

can rotate its blade.

Unfortunately for him, he's

come up against three bolts

that refuse to budge.

But again, he doesn't

keep a cutting torch

around for nothing.

(energetic rock music)

(torch crackling)

- We gotta be very careful

not to cut into the bucket.

We don't want to

damage the bucket.

We just want to

cut the nuts off.

Now we've got it cut off,

we need to clean up

the slag around it.

(chisel scraping)

Cleaned right up.

So we'll be able to get

the other bolt in there.

(energetic rock music)

(torch crackling)

(chisel hammering)

- [Mike] With the last

of the bolts cut free,

Anthony can finally get

down to rotating the blade.

(energetic rock music)

- We're gonna take this blade,

and we're gonna flop it around.

(blade scraping)

- [Mike] But since that blade

weighs about 150 pounds

- Hey, Steve! Got a second?

- [Mike] He's gonna need a hand.

- Come on, we're gonna put

this blade on real quick.

- [Steve] Uh-huh.

- [Anthony] Let's do it!

(blade clanking)

(wrench whirring)

- [Mike] And after

a little tag teaming

with an impact wrench

(skid steer creaking)

this skid steer should

be back in business.

- All right, man, take it out.

- [Mike] And just in time too.

(dramatic music)

(phone ringing)

- [Anthony] Hey. Ooh.

- [Mike] Because it seems

another of Watco's machines

is in need of some TLC.

- Can you get it

over here for us?

All right, thanks.

All right, buh-bye.

Pssh. No breaks at

all man, no break.

(dramatic music)

(upbeat music)

- [Mike] It takes a

lot of moving parts

to keep cargo flowing

across the country.

And people, too.

Nearly two million of them

working docks, rail yards,

and trucking hubs

from coast to coast.

These are the men

and women to thank

for the many necessities

and indulgences

that we as Americans have

come to take for granted.

And in the wake of COVID-19,

those items are

just now starting

to catch back up with demand,

leaving the cargo

workers of our country

in a race to keep up,

workers like the

500+ men and women

of Watco's port

in Houston, Texas,

whose mission today is to move

an uncanny 70,000 tons of cargo

before the night shift starts.

But to make that deadline,

crew leader Johnny Rankin here

will need to scoop

another 700 tons of chrome

from this barge before the

next inbound ship arrives.

And to do that, he'll

require one skid steer

fresh from the shop,

and one brave soul

by the name of Gomez.

- [Johnny] Everything

that I couldn't reach,

our final clean up on that end,

he will push it down here

into the main piles here,

and I will keep digging.

- [Mike] First though,

Johnny will need to get Gomez

and the skid steer

into position.

And for that he turns once

again to his trustee Fiona.

- So I have a man basket,

Gomez will get in,

and I will set him

down in the man basket.

(tense music)

When I come back out, they

will unhook the man basket,

hook up the skid steer,

and then it will go

in down with Gomez.

(tense music)

12,500-pound machine,

and Fiona does it like

it's nothing touchdown.

(tense music)

Touchdown!

- [Mike] With Gomez

working the skid steer,

Johnny can now set

about the business

of finishing this offload

with no chrome left behind.

- Instead of me being down here

picking up little by little

half buckets or quarter buckets,

he rolls it all down

here into the big piles

where I can grab full

buckets each time,

and it will save

us time in the end.

(dramatic music)

Everything's going good

right now, going smooth.

- [Mike] But as Johnny's

about to find out

- [Mike] His troubles with

the hopper aren't over yet.

(dramatic music)

- Go ahead.

- [Johnny] You're

kiddin', right?

(dramatic music)

- [Mike] While Johnny deals

with his latest hopper issue,

back at the machine shop,

equipment manager Anthony Rogers

is kicking off yet another

time-sensitive project,

because, within the

hour, this heavy hauler

will be needed for offloading

some windmill components.

But at the moment it's

not exactly in top form.

- As you can see the

check engine light is on.

We're gonna raise the cab,

we're gonna go do a once over

and see what's wrong with it.

(light music)

All the hoses look pretty good.

Connections on the wiring

harness look pretty good.

I don't see no leaks on a

control valve in the back.

All that looks good.

- [Mike] But

- [Anthony] Oh no.

- [Mike] It appears

there's one component

that doesn't look so good.

- This is a cab lock cylinder.

Pin is not even in there,

so this is not a good

scenario for a driver,

'cause it could allow this cab

to go up a foot to two foot

if they hit a pothole,

and we have plenty of

potholes around here,

so we're gonna change it out.

If not, we got a problem.

(soft music)

- [Mike] Fortunately

for his colleagues,

Anthony keeps just about

every spare part imaginable

under the shop's roof,

including cab lock cylinders.

- Now if you'll take

a look right here,

you can see this one's

missing this pin.

This is why where

we replacing this,

'cause this is what locks it.

So let's get busy on

taking this apart.

(tools whirring)

(energetic rock music)

- [Mike] With over 30

years of experience,

Anthony makes short work of

removing the faulty cylinder,

but installing the new one,

that's a little trickier.

- This is the hard

part of this job,

getting these bolts to go in

the hole with my fat fingers.

(tense music)

And there we go.

(upbeat music)

(tool whirring)

Those are all tight.

(energetic music)

(tool whirring)

All right, let's give it a test.

When I hit the hydraulics

for it to go up,

you're gonna see this pin

pop out to about here,

and this is gonna open up.

So here we go.

(pin clicks)

All right, y'all see

how that popped out?

It's working like

it's supposed to.

So this truck is ready to go.

That's instant gratification.

It came in with a problem,

it went out perfect.

- [Mike] And just

in the nick of time,

because, back out

on the docks

(upbeat music)

another of Watco's team

will be needing this truck

for that aforementioned

windmill job,

which basically boils

down to offloading

all 18 of these blades

bound for North Dakota.

And the man in charge

of making that happen

will be Vessel

Superintendent Ruben Powell.

- The goal for today

by the end of our shift

is to have all 18

blades discharged.

We have a certain way that

we have to take 'em out,

the way that they overlap,

so you have to take 'em

off in order, in pairs.

(radio chirps)

Let's go ahead and bring

that first one off.

- [Mike] Offloading

a 150-foot-long blade

weighing 13 tons

requires two cranes

working in tandem

and a crew of 26 on the ground.

So Ruben's role

here will be mainly

keeping an eye on everything

and calling the shots.

(tense music)

(radio chirps)

- Nice and easy. Nice and easy.

We're not in a rush.

Do it the right

way. No shortcuts.

It might take us a little

longer to do so, but so be it.

(dramatic music)

- [Mike] He's right, you know,

because, since each of these

blades is worth $400,000

and is incredibly fragile,

it pays to take one's time.

- Once you get the the

blades over on the side,

Lalo, my foreman there,

he flags the truck

back into position,

and once he's in position,

then we're lowered onto

the bed of the truck.

- [Ruben] What's wrong

Lalo? What's the problem?

(upbeat music)

- [Mike] We may not

put too much thought

into how our cargo moves in,

out, and around the country.

I mean it's kind

of an out-of-sight,

out-of-mind operation.

But if that system

were to stop working,

trust me, you'd feel it.

Because there is nothing

like a post-apocalyptic lack

of everyday essential items

to put a damper on one's day.

Seriously, almost all of

the items in your home

had to be barged, trained,

and/or trucked into

your community.

And without those

means of transit,

every American would

be in a bad way.

But not if the people at ports

like Watco in Houston, Texas

have anything to say about it.

Here, at one of the greatest

shipping hubs in the country,

they're working double time

to move a staggering 70,000

tons of cargo by day's end

in an attempt to keep

up with record demand.

But while offloading the

first of 18 windmill blades

- [Ruben] What's the problem?

- [Mike] Ruben Powell's team

seems to have hit

a bit of a snag.

(crew members chattering)

- Oh, okay.

(tense music)

Right now the issue is

the blade is about to touch

the bed of the trailer,

which we don't want, so

we're gonna have to readjust.

We need to get a

crosstie in there

to go up under the frame

so that the the blade

don't touch the bed.

(intense rock music)

- Being fiberglass, just

the weight of this blade

can cause cracks or dents

when resting on steel.

Wood, however, should be soft

enough to use as a cushion,

which is why Ruben

always keeps some handy.

- This is a

36,000-pound forklift.

We're gonna use it to

put these crossties

up under the frame of that blade

so that the blade itself

is not rubbing the trailer.

Good?

- [Mike] With the

crossties in place

(dramatic music)

- [Ruben] Watch your fingers.

- [Mike] Ruben and

the boys waste no time

loading their first

blade onto a semi.

But with 17 more still to go,

they'll need to pick up

the pace from here on out.

- Time is money, and we

need to get back on track

so we can finish

these blades ASAP.

- [Mike] While Ruben

puts some spurs

to the offloading effort,

not far away, another

of Watco's teams

is working with cargo

of a different kind;

actually, the most common

kind: container cargo.

And since all the containers

that come through Watco

look pretty much the same,

it's up to Vessel Supervisors

like Danielle Turner

to track what they are

and where they're going.

- Our job is to make sure

that all of this cargo

that's scheduled

to load the vessel

is gonna get loaded today

so it can go to Colombia.

Easy Peasy.

- [Mike] But before any of

these containers can be moved,

they'll first need the

sign off from Danielle,

which, when working

with 30 units total,

can take a little time.

- Very important to make sure

that we have all the

cargo accounted for,

all the marks are right.

So I'm gonna try to get through

this as quickly as possible,

but I still need to make sure

that all my work is accurate.

- [Mike] And with the

boat bound for Colombia

already pulling into port,

Danielle has just a

half hour to ensure

that all this cargo is

present, accounted for,

and free of any defects.

- We have to make sure

that all the cargo we

ship out is seaworthy,

seaworthy meaning it's intact,

the crating is intact, the

material inside is not exposed.

Then we just wanna make sure

that our customer's cargo

is secure and and in good shape.

- [Mike] But despite

Danielle's best efforts,

the occasional container

can still show up

in less than good shape.

(tense music)

- Who left this here?

This is obviously torn to

pieces, and no one said nothing?

This has to load

in like 30 minutes,

and it is not ready at all.

(tense music)

- [Mike] While Danielle

deals with the busted crate,

over on the docks, crew

leader Johnny Rankin's

come up against an

issue of his own;

specifically, an air compressor

that showed up late for work

and now has quit on the job.

Fortunately for his team, what

with 13 years of experience,

Johnny has grown accustomed

to fixing problems on the fly.

- There we go.

Just a rubber O-ring

had a little rip in it.

They call it a gladhand rubber,

just like on the

tractor trailers.

They have these in the air lines

between the truck

and the trailer.

It wasn't allowing

the air pressure

to get the cylinders on the

hopper to open the doors,

and rather than call a mechanic

that might take 30

minutes to get here,

I'm just gonna steal one

outta the other side.

That one looks good.

There we go.

New seal in, hook up, fire up.

(tense music)

(cargo rattling)

(truck horn honks)

All good. Go back to work.

(energetic music)

(truck horn honks)

- [Mike] And right on time,

because with his partner, Gomez,

rounding up the

last of the chrome,

Johnny has finally hit the

home stretch of this offload.

- What we're doing now, set

the bucket on the floor,

and Gomez is picking up the

last little bit of scoop,

and he'll dump it into my

bucket, and we'll be done.

All clear. Here we go.

(energetic music)

(soft music)

Final number was 1,638 tons.

All done. My team is safe.

It's been an amazing day.

Now that I'm done

here, I will go home

and get ready to start

my vacation tomorrow.

Truth be known,

it's my honeymoon.

Tomorrow starts my honeymoon.

- [Mike] We've already

talked about how much cargo

America moves by rail,

but since they ferry

about 80% of all goods,

how 'bout waterways?

Well, if you were to take

the 39 million containers

that move through our

sea ports each year

and stack them on

top of each other,

you could build a

wall 400 feet high

that would stretch from

sea to shining sea.

And mind you, that's just

the stuff in containers.

For the cargo workers

of our nation,

that's what I'd

call job security.

And with demand

reaching record highs

in the post-COVID climate,

those jobs are more secure

than they've ever been.

Take the employees

of Watco's port

in Houston, Texas for example,

who are grinding it out

to move a whopping 70,000 tons

of cargo by quitting time.

To pull it off, conductor

Troy Vacala here

will need to line out

another 10,000 or so tons

of what's called liquid bulk.

(dramatic music)

- And we've got about

110-car fuel train

that we're gonna go

outbound down to Mexico.

We gotta get that put together,

and kinda running short on time,

'cause I only got about

two hours left on my shift,

and that's gonna be

cutting it close.

- [Mike] And there is much

to do in those two hours,

because, in that time,

Troy will need to take

three separate groups of cars

from three different tracks

and link them all up into

a mile-long mega train.

(tense music)

Better get started.

- Easy, easy.

And then stop

(train cars clacking)

(radio chirps)

All right there, 101,

three step is all clear,

everybody's clear.

When you can, start

dragging it out

and get this party started.

(energetic rock music)

- [Mike] After his engineer

pulls the string of cars clear,

Troy once again mans the switch

needed to divert them

to the proper track.

- So right now we've got a

cut of 15 loaded fuel cars.

I'm gonna make a join

on this seven track,

which is another 15

loaded fuel cars.

(train cars clack)

And that'll be our train.

(radio chirps)

All right there, 101,

three step clear.

Let's drag it out.

(train rattling)

- [Mike] But midway

through the move,

Troy's engineer pipes

up with the one word

no conductor wants to hear.

(tense music)

(radio chirps)

- You all right? What was that?

(tense music)

(upbeat music)

- [Mike] Meanwhile,

back on the docks,

things are going a

little more smoothly

for Vessel Superintendent

Ruben Powell,

who, having moved 14

massive turbine blades

onto semi trucks, now

has just four left to go.

But for the last of them,

he and his team will need

to tweak their rigging.

- We're on the last

one, on the second tier,

We're gonna make an

adjustment to the chains

so that we can get

the last tiers off.

I'm gonna get in the man basket

and make an adjustment

to the chain.

Let me have that.

Come over here!

- [Mike] This being such

a time-sensitive offload,

you may be wondering why

Ruben would stop everything

to mess with the chains now.

He has his reasons.

- When the blades are

stacked three high or more,

then that's when we

shorten the chains.

But as we get

down, tier by tier,

we can let the

chains out as we go.

- [Mike] Translation: longer

chains means less time wasted

lifting and lowering.

And with ease let out

another four feet or so,

it's time to get back to it.

(radio chirps)

- Hey, come back, team.

Bennecourt, let's go

ahead and get it hooked up

so when the truck gets here,

we're ready to rock and roll.

(dramatic music)

- [Mike] Well, Ruben winds

down his turbine offload,

not far away, Vessel

Supervisor Danielle Turner

is just getting fired up,

because even though she

has just under a half hour

to ready a shipment to Colombia,

the state of this crate is

not something she can abide.

- Top's all took off.

The damages.

The markings are all torn.

We have to get it

fixed immediately,

because we need to

load this cargo.

So let me grab my tools.

- [Mike] While she's at it,

Danielle also grabs a

second set of hands,

a vessel checker by

the name of Tiarius.

- We wanna make sure

that all the cargo

that's inside of

the crate is intact,

so when it gets over

to the other side,

everything is good.

- Okay.

- [Danielle]

Seaworthy, ready to go.

- Ready to go.

- [Danielle] Ready to go.

(dramatic music)

(hammering)

- All right, we're

doing pretty good here.

Get this box patched

up just enough,

we can get it on the boat.

Seaworthy now. Ready

to load on the ship.

Thanks for your help.

- [Mike] Patch job complete,

all that remains is for

Danielle to move this crate

to its final staging point.

(dramatic music)

- [Danielle] We have shippers

waiting on their cargo.

We have customers waiting

on all their good packages.

So it just don't stop.

- And with the last of

her shipment in place,

Danielle's day is finally

over, the Watco part anyway.

- So here's the end of my shift.

I have a cute little

seven-year-old boy

who loves his mommy.

I'm gonna go pick him up.

We're gonna have Lunchables,

and we're gonna get juice

wasted and watch "Paw Patrol".

End of my day.

(bright music)

- It's been one heck of a day

for the men and women of Watco,

with 70,000 tons

of cargo to process

and hurdles to

clear at every turn.

But despite the setbacks,

they're finally starting

to close in on their quota.

(dramatic music)

Well, most of them anyway.

Because down at the rail yard

(radio chirps)

- What was that?

(dramatic music)

- [Mike] Conductor Troy

Vacala's fuel train

has stopped dead in its tracks.

- That's not supposed to happen.

If you look on these pistons,

all the brakes are now engaged,

and this train ain't moving

till we figure out

what's going on with it.

- [Mike] Mercifully for Troy,

it doesn't take long to

hone in on the issue.

(air hissing)

- Can you guys

hear that hissing?

I hear air hissing

out somewhere,

so there's a problem, and

it's gotta be right here.

(air hissing)

(dramatic music)

I don't know what's going on.

Maybe we're missing

a gasket or something

or a gasket's blown out.

(tense music)

Oh yeah.

Yeah, look at this

guy. He is ripped up.

This is a brand new

gasket right here.

This one right here

is obviously tore up,

and if you don't

have a tight seal,

you can't get any of the

airflow that you need

to properly operate

these brakes.

You could have a runaway

train on your hands.

So now this thing can

operate the way it should.

All the brakes

are gonna release,

and he'll have his pressure

that he needs up there

to properly drag this thing

out and finish this train off.

(radio chirps)

Hi, 101. When you can,

let's drag it out.

- [Mike] With the train

once again mobile

- [Troy] And that will do you.

- [Mike] Troy and his engineer

can finally finish

what they started.

- So that's our

110-car fuel train.

So right now, a

class one railroad

will jump on this bad boy.

That's it for us.

(bright music)

(energetic rock music)

- [Mike] Meanwhile,

down at the docks,

Vessel Superintendent

Ruben Powell and his team

still have two more

turbine blades to offload

before they can call it quits.

Unfortunately for them,

afternoons in Houston

usually means thunderstorms,

and already a stiff breeze

is starting to

hinder their efforts.

- The wind is an

issue right now.

I think they're at 20 to

25 mile an hour winds,

which could be a factor.

- [Mike] High winds always

make for difficult conditions,

especially when

hoisting something

that's specifically

designed to catch them.

But Ruben knows all too well

that these blades have to

come off the boat today.

- All we have to do is take

it easy, nice and slow,

safety first, and get her done.

Hey Bennecourt, I would

cheat up a little bit,

because on that last lift,

the wind took the blade

into the other blade.

So let's just take our time

and get it off safely, okay?

(tense music)

- [Mike] It can be a

little nerve-wracking

to know that one

strong gust of wind

could cost your

company $400,000.

Even so, Ruben tries

to keep things upbeat.

(radio chirps)

- [Ruben] Bennecourt,

that's a beautiful lift.

That's the way to

do it. Thank you.

(bright music)

- [Mike] And with this blade

safely placed on a semi

- [Ruben] Cut it loose.

(energetic rock music)

- [Mike] Ruben and

his team are quick,

as they can be anyway,

to get the last

one off the boat.

(energetic rock music)

- All right team, she's loaded.

Go ahead and take her away.

We're gonna call it 15:30,

completion on the blades.

I'm really proud of the team,

the effort that they put

out to make this happen.

Everybody is in one

piece, nobody was hurt.

Job well done.

(upbeat music)

- And so, as the last of

the blades rolls away,

the day shift here at Watco

can finally punch out,

having moved an incredible

70,000 tons of cargo

in just 12 short hours.

And while it's

probably safe to assume

they won't be getting

any thank you cards

from final destinations,

their collective

efforts are no doubt

worth a pat on the

proverbial back.

After all, these are the people

who keep gas in our tanks,

roofs over our heads, and

just about anything else

an American could need

one shipment away.

So the next time you

come across someone

in our nation's cargo industry,

you might wanna thank 'em

for their essential service,

because they are

truly the literal hubs

of how America works.

(upbeat music)

So I did a little

research during that

last commercial break

and I learned that my Emmy award

that absolutely

nobody cares about

was, in fact,

shipped on a barge,

and my one of-a-kind,

one-legged Mike Rowe

Works action figure

was, in fact, delivered to my

office by a guy on a bicycle.

Point being, it's not

just trucks and trains

and ships and planes that

handle all of our cargo;

it's anything with wheels

or wings or rudders,

and a couple million people

who make it all work.

Companies like Watco

are hiring all the time.

Opportunities in the cargo

industry are exploding.

You can check 'em out

at mikeroweworks.org,

along with a few

million other great jobs

waiting to be filled.

That's mikeroweworks.org.