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Perishables Return to Rail

New regulations may spell opportunity for intermodal transportation
EyeOnEconomics

For this and other reasons, perishables shippers should take a fresh look at intermodal.

History has shown that intermodal conversion is beneficial in the long term, but challenging in transition, as it requires changes in established business methods. The chart on the previous page demonstrates how intermodal drayage will be impacted by ELDs and any delays during pickup, hauling, and delivery.

Reducing Deadtime
Due to the vagaries of handling produce, pickup is often problematic as product must be picked and chilled before loading. Deliveries are also challenging in congested distribution centers operating on a first-come first-served basis. Long-haul providers tolerate this deadtime because it represented ‘only’ a 5 to 10 percent penalty of their total transit time.

For drayage providers, this deadtime penalty approaches 50 percent; this is not economically sustainable and could result in a dearth of drivers willing to handle these loads.

To maximize cargo weight, drayage providers will also need to use ultralight day cabs, which do not have the accoutrements of a sleeper.

In addition to minimizing driver dwell times, there are other issues that need to be resolved. First, intermodal can carry the same legal loads as highway trailers, but requires a different pallet configuration (especially for containers).

To prevent shifting enroute, void fillers (less expensive than traditional airbags) can help ensure cargo arrives undisturbed. Another important consideration is scheduling—missed train cutoffs can result in 24 to 72-hour delays if a load must wait for the next day’s train.

Concluding Thoughts
A win-win rapprochement between intermodal providers and produce shippers seems inevitable. The market already has intermodal providers with both trailer and container transportation.

Going forward, the issue is not the hardware, but rather how well and how quickly providers and purchasers of cold chain transport can develop integrated door-to-door solutions to offer an alternative to current truckload dependency.

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Ted Prince is a cofounder and chief operating officer of Tiger Cool Express LLC, a venture dedicated to rail intermodal transportation of temperature-controlled freight. He has spent over 35 years working in companies that provide ocean, rail, and highway solutions.