“Intermodal,” in the broad sense, includes virtually all forms of transportation, but shipping by rail is one mode that offers the most benefits when time and “touch” are not essential requirements for your delivery. Touch, meaning how many times your shipment is physically handled en route.

What’s the difference?

With over-the-road trucks, your truckload shipment has fewer “moving parts” – less touch.  Typically, you count on having one driver who drives from start to finish, who probably loads and unloads your goods (or at least assists or oversees the loading/unloading). This is also the same individual who serves as yours and your logistics service provider’s single point of contact.

When you ship by rail, a trucker (called a drayman) picks up the load, then in-gates the load to an intermodal facility where the container is separated from the Chassis (the under carriage, wheels, etc.) and then picked up by crane and mounted on a flat car.

The railroad then organizes, schedules, and sends your load to a destination facility. When the destination is reached, the container is again hoisted and re-mounted on a chassis, and the container is delivered by a trucker (another drayman).

There are lots of “touch points” or “moving parts” along the way. If one operating part breaks or fails to perform, all the other points/parts are affected.

Be aware that while railroad schedules are not always on time, they are generally consistent within a framework of given hour periods. To be safe in estimating delivery time, it’s usually best on the average to figure a day longer in transit than you might for an over-the-road truck.

The bottom line is:

1)      Depending on your required points of origin and ultimate destination, shipping by rail is more economical in almost every instance.

2)      Carbon emissions involved with rail transit are far fewer than those of over-the-road trucks, which means that rail shipping is a far greener and more environmentally sustainable method of shipping.

Trinity Logistics provides shippers with fully-informed, highly-experienced input on the details of whether intermodal shipping is in your best interests. They will help you analyze cost, time , and appropriateness for rail shipping options.

You will also get experienced guidance for gaining best pricing and delivery time arrangements with over-the-road trucks, or with a combination of the two methods. Contact our intermodal team today to learn more.