Articles

Intermodal

Bob Tuchek
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Rail Transportation: What Shippers Need to Focus On

Q: How have the recent rail mergers changed the rail landscape for shippers? A: Shippers have been averse to rail mergers due to concerns of a reduction in competition, imposed routing limitations, and an increase in service disruptions. The two most recent mergers between the CSXT-Pan Am Railway and Canadian National-Kansas City Southern are still […]

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Intermodal Bounces Back
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Intermodal Bounces Back

Strong intermodal volumes will continue as retailers replenish their inventories, says CSX Transportation and Canadian National Railway (CN). Intermodal traffic, which halted with the rest of rail volume when the pandemic began, bounced back faster than carload volumes and is surpassing 2019 levels. U.S. intermodal volume was up 10% and CN’s intermodal business was up […]

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Chad Storlie
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10 Ways to Leverage Intermodal

Intermodal, the movement of containers and trailers, has been a boon to the supply chain for decades. It embraces standardization—standard container sizes and rail schedules, and standard trucking from ports and terminals to customers—which has reduced transport costs and mistakes, and improved freight service across the globe.

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Mike Wychocki
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Automating Short-Haul Intermodal with Electrified Overhead Rail

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, container shipping was hit as hard as any industry. In the best of times, this vast, labor-intensive network is prone to worker and truck driver shortages, unbalanced hand-offs between distribution nodes, and traffic gridlock and movement lockdowns. In the worst of times, like the pandemic, they face additional delays caused by customs clearance inspections, ports and crew refusals to address certain vessels, and operational shutdowns for decontamination.

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Michelle Comerford
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Inland Ports: An Efficient Alternative

Coastal seaports remain pivotal components of many supply chains. Yet, for U.S. manufacturers and distributors scouting new locations, nearby real estate options are pricey, scarce, and/or stuck in a web of congested roadways. One viable solution is inland ports—intermodal terminals directly connected to seaports by rail or road.

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Intermodal’s High Five
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Intermodal’s High Five

Full-year results for intermodal freight are the strongest in five years, finds the Intermodal Association of North America’s (IANA) Q4 and year-end Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report. Intermodal freight volumes posted a fourth-quarter growth rate of 4.2 percent year-over-year, while quarterly international intermodal volume increased by 5.5 percent and domestic containers grew by 3.4 […]

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NS Makes Tracks to Atlanta
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NS Makes Tracks to Atlanta

Norfolk Southern Corporation plans to move its headquarters from Virginia to Fulton County, Atlanta, joining other transportation heavyweights such as Delta Air Lines and UPS in leveraging Atlanta’s major transportation hub. NS is investing $575 million in the move, which it says will create 850 new jobs. In addition to its headquarters, the new campus […]

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Bye, a la Mode

As part of a business plan to centralize operations and move away from independent owner-operator networks, Hub Group sold its Mode Transportation subsidiary to an affiliate of York Capital Management, a diversified investment manager, for approximately $238.5 million, with about $20 billion under management. Hub’s primary focus is intermodal, and it has sold a 3PL […]

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Intermodal Delivers in 2017
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Intermodal Delivers in 2017

Intermodal freight volumes posted a fourth-quarter growth rate of 5.8 percent year-over-year, according to the Intermodal Association of North America’s (IANA) fourth quarter and year-end Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report. International volume increased by 7.7 percent; domestic containers grew by a modest 2.5 percent; while trailer loads increased by 12.2 percent. "The imbalance between […]

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