Intermodal Transportation

A typical domestic intermodal move starts with a truck dray from the shipper to a rail ramp, a long rail linehaul in a container on a well car, and a final dray to the consignee. Because the freight itself is never touched between origin and destination, handling damage stays low while rail economics cut linehaul cost, often 10 to 25 percent below truckload on long lanes.

Planners use intermodal for long-haul, less time-sensitive volume, typically lanes over 700 miles. The trade-offs are one to three extra days of transit versus truck, less schedule flexibility, and dependence on ramp locations and dray capacity at each end.

For example, a consumer goods company moving weekly volume from Southern California to Chicago shifts steady replenishment loads to intermodal, keeping truckload only for urgent orders, and banks the rate difference across hundreds of annual loads.