Railroad Intermodal

If this is your first time hearing the word "intermodal" you might be wondering what it has to do with rail transportation. Generally speaking, intermodal is defined as transporting freight through a combination of multiple modes of transportation such as trucks, ocean vessels, railroads, and air. In the United States, it's usually used to refer to transportation via truck and railroad. 

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The United States has the largest railroad network in the world at approximately 140,000 route miles. The cities of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Long Beach are the top cities for intermodal volume, transporting hundreds of thousands of products that arrive in containers that consumers can find on the shelves of their local retailers. 

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In the Los Angeles/Long Beach area alone, there are 3 rail intermodal rail yards that allow us to deliver your containers across the country safely and reliably. ICTF in Long Beach, BNSF Hobart in Commerce, and UP East Los Angeles. 

 

Railroad Transport Advantages

Depending on your container's delivery location, transporting your import and export containers via railroad and drayage truck for last-mile delivery would be an ideal option if you're located at least 500 miles from the nearest major port, and within 100 miles of an intermodal ramp.

 

This can provide you with considerable savings, however, transportation times via railroad can be much slower when compared to drayage truck only. You will also be subject to railroad capacity which can push delivery times back.

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1) Exports: Utilizing the U.S.'s extensive rail network, we can coordinate  and personalize export shipping solutions across the country from your door to port of departure. For example, we assist a local San Diego based company export their containers through the ICTF railway to the port of Houston, with a final destination of Morocco.

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2) Imports: Transporting import containers via rail is highly recommend if the containers destination is outside a 1-2 day roundtrip drive from the nearest major port. If you're on the East, Gulf, or Southern areas of the country, we can coordinate your imports from Asia through the Los Angeles rail networks to your door. Accordingly, if you're a West Coast importer, we can route your imports from Africa, Europe, or South America through East and Gulf coast ports via rail and drayage truck to your door.

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3) Overweight Containers: Via our intermodal solution, we can ship your overweight container through a combination of drayage truck and railroad. Railroad weight limits for 20ft containers is 52,900 lbs., and 67,200 lbs. for 40ft - 53ft container. ​This is ideal if the delivery location for your container is more than 500 miles from a major port, across multiple states, or within 100 miles of an intermodal ramp. This option avoids the need for overweight permits for multiple states if transporting via drayage trucks only.

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