Chapter 8
Intermodal And Special Carriers
Intermodal Transportation
 Involves the use of two or more modes of
transportation in moving a shipment from
origin to destination, primarily through
the use of the “container.”
The development of a standard container
that could be interchanged among all
modes made modern intermodalism
possible.
Intermodal Transportation
Standardization of dimensions, hold down
devices, and related items allowed the
service providers to design ships,
railcars, and highway chassis knowing
the container or “box” would fit.
The intermodal service combines the
advantages (and disadvantages) of each
mode used.
Ex: Air speed,expensive; motor 
accessibility, cheaper but slower.
Intermodal Transportation
The growth of intermodal transportation
has been aided by the deregulation of
U.S. transportation, the growth in global
business, and the changes in the business
environment.
Substantial growth in global business,
particularly in the off-shore sourcing of
goods in the Pacific Rim countries by the
U.S., led to the increased use of waterrail-truck intermodal service.
Intermodal Transportation
Lastly, the economic reality of higher
operating costs and driver shortages
caused numerous motor carriers to divert
long-haul traffic from all truck to
piggyback in order to save costs and
remain competitive.
A mode common to most forms of
intermodal transportation is the motor
carrier because of the high degree of
accessibility.
Piggyback
Piggyback transportation includes the
movement of motor-carrier trailers on
flatcars (TOFC) plus containers in
flatcars (COFC)
A new innovation is the RoadRailer,
which provides a railroad wit the ability
to haul trailers on special wheel sets and
avoid the use of flatcars.(Figure 8.2)
Piggyback
RoadRailers are available in 48’ and 53’
lengths, and refrigeration units have been
introduced.
Increased use is being made of piggyback
(COFC) for the domestic portion of product
movements between the U.S. and foreign
countries. In such moves, the container is
commonly used because of its easy
transferability from on mode to another and
minimal additions to handling costs and total
transit times.
Piggyback
Nowadays, service providers, whether
they are motor carriers, intermodal
service companies, or railroads, can offer
any type of service combination that the
customer desires. Current offerings range
from intermodal service offered through
motor carriers to transporting shipperowned trailers with the customer
providing the highway portion of the
service.
Containerization
As noted above, the container, which is
nothing more than a big box into which
the freight is loaded, improves the
efficiency of interchange among modes.
The container also reduces the potential
for damage and theft because the actual
freight is not rehandled after it is loaded
at the shipper’s facility.
Containerization
Trailer comes in various sizes, ranging in
length from 28 to 53 feet.
Railroad flatcar is capable of handling various
sizes of trailers, but longer trailers preclude
loading two trailers on one flatcar, thereby
increasing the cost per freight unit hauled.
The trailer is loaded onto the flatcar by a
variety of methods including driving, hoisting
with a crane or lifting by means of a forklifttype device.
Containerization
The most recent trend in rail-ocean transfer has
been to load or unload the containers from the
rail cars directly at shipside. The”on-dock”
transfer saves both time and money by
eliminating the drayage between the pier and
the rail yard.
The container used in intermodal air shipments
is not the standard rectangular. Rather, it is
smaller, narrower and typically rounded at the
top to fit the contours of the aircraft.
Third-Party Transportation
This trend towards the use of outside
firms to provide logistics support grew
out of many companies’ desire to
concentrate their resources on what they
do and leave other, non-income
producing tasks to these specialists.
Many of these third-party firms enjoy
economies of scale that allow them to
provide a manufacturer with logistics
services for fewer costs than the firm
could do themselves.
Third-Party Transportation
GPS & tracking
Another recent development has been for
third-party firms to place their own
personnel at the manufacturer’s plant or
the consignee’s warehouse to handle the
details of outsourced services. This frees
the client’s staff to devote their attention
to those areas which are beyond the day
to day details.
Special Carrier Forms
Surface freight Forwarders hold a unique
place among carriers.
A forwarder is a “person” that offers
itself to the general public (other than a
railroad, motor, or water carrier) to
provide transportation of property for
compensation in the ordinary course of
its business.
Operations
Historically, forwarders consolidated
small shipments into truckloads or
carloads.
In most cases, the forwarder provided
local pickup and delivery but historically
used boxcars to provide linehaul service.
Air Freight Forwarders
The air freight forwarder serves the
shipping public with similar pickup, a
single bill of lading and freight bill, onefirm tracing, and delivery service, as does
the surface forwarder.
The air freight forwarder, though, is
generally used by shippers of goods
having high-product-dollar value or timesensitivity value, or both.
Characteristics
These firms have concentrated upon
offering door-to-door service from
shipper to consignee. This service
relieves a significant traffic arrangement
burden from shippers and consignees.
It also fills a void because airlines tend to
emphasize terminal-to terminal services
and have been involved only to a limited
degree in surface pickup and delivery
services.
Service Benefits
Presents some major transportation
service benefits
For one, speed of service is vital for many
movements such as spare parts, emergency
replenishment goods, medical components,
and business documents.
Further, this industry represents a singlecarrier, full door-to-door service.
Its main disadvantage lies in its high rates,
but these are usually considered by shippers
in light of the service benefit received
relative to the product’s value and timesensitivity.
Air Forwarder Future
In the international arena, air freight
forwarders provide the shipping public
with transportation movement and the
handling and processing of many
international documents. Thus, in this
sector, the air forwarders provide a
value-added service in addition to simple
movement.
Freight Brokers
The definition of a broker is as a
“person” other than a motor carrier, and
agent, or an employee that, as a principal
or agent, sells, offers for sale, negotiates
for, or holds itself out by
solicitation,advertisement, or otherwise
selling, providing, or arranging for
transportation by motor carrier.
Freight Brokers
Most truckload motor carriers cannot afford to
maintain a nationwide sales force, but their
trucks operate throughout the U.S. The broker
normally represents the carrier and seeks
freight on their behalf to avoid moving empty
equipment.
They may also represent the shipper and will
provide trucks for loading.
Brokers can provide intermodal services as well
as other logistics offerings, such as
warehousing and cross docking.
Freight Brokers
Brokers do not have to file any price
schedules with the federal government.
A broker does not issue a bill of lading
and they are not required to maintain
cargo liability insurance since they are
not considered to be a carrier.
These two factors are the primary
difference between a broker and a freight
forwarder.
Roles
Basic shipper services include the
arrangement of service, the verification
of the trucker’s insurance and safety
rating, verification of equipment
condition, and the negotiation of a freight
transportation price.
Brokers also are involved in LTL and
warehouse consolidation for shippers, as
well as insurance acquisition for
Shippers’ Agents and
Consolidators
Shippers’ agents are also referred to as
intermodal marketing companies (IMC),
as well as consolidators or agents.
Agents play a cost-savings role for both
the shipper and the railroad.
Most IMCs have volume, wholesale
contracts with the railroads. They can
offer lower prices than most shippers
could obtain on their own.
Characteristics
A disadvantage associated with agents is in the
area of liability. The shipper usually pays the
freight agent who, in turn, pays the rail carrier.
There is the possibility, and it has occurred
occasionally, that the agent will retain the
freight charges and cease operations, leaving
the shippers with, in effect, a second freight bill.
Therefore, before hiring any agent, the shipper
should investigate the agent’s reputation and
stature.
Owner-Operators
The term owner-operator was
traditionally applied to a person who
owned or leased a truck and often a
trailer and made his or her equipment
and driving service available to for-hire
carriers.
Owner-operators were confined to
serving regular for-hire carrier firms that
needed the service on an overflow basis
when carrier equipment and labor were
not available
Owner-Operators
They also commonly worked for special
commodity carriers that did not have the
equipment but booked freight and used owneroperators to carry it from origin to destination.
Owner-operators are playing a key role for
some newly evolving for-hire carriers. Some
now carriers do not have employee drivers or
company-owned equipment. That is, long-haul
movement as well as regular pickup and
delivery operations are often performed under
an arrangement between the carrier and the
terminals and owner-operators.
Express Services and Courier
Services
This carrier group started by offering fast
service, usually door-to door, for small, highvalue goods and documents.
These package and express carriers provide
both air and surface transportation and offer a
variety of pricing and service plans designed to
offer the customer a range of options.
Express firms operate with large networks of
terminals, pickup and delivery vehicles, and
line-haul service. UPS is most notable in this
regard.