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THETRUCKER.COM NATION<br />
OCTOBER 2022 • 3<br />
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Some intermodal trucking jobs are local in nature, while others are more regional, with most containers going to<br />
receivers that are within a day’s drive of the port. Depending on the carrier and the availability of work, intermodal<br />
drivers often get home multiple times during the week, sometimes daily.<br />
Intermodal trucking can<br />
offer options for drivers who<br />
want to stay closer to home<br />
Truck drivers who are looking for more<br />
local and regional work than their current<br />
carrier provides often turn to the intermodal<br />
segment of trucking for answers. Many times<br />
drivers who are trying out their skills as owneroperators<br />
also find a home in intermodal.<br />
But what is intermodal trucking, and what<br />
are some of the advantages and disadvantages<br />
of driving intermodal?<br />
As the name implies, “intermodal”<br />
means that freight-filled containers can<br />
be transported by multiple modes of<br />
transportation. Containers often arrive in<br />
the U.S. by ship, where they can be unloaded<br />
and placed on rail cars for movement across<br />
the country. Once they are delivered to a<br />
rail facility, they are placed on chassis and<br />
transported by truck to their final destination.<br />
Some containers are trucked directly from the<br />
seaport, too.<br />
Since non-trucking modes of transport are<br />
often used for longer distances, trucks usually<br />
handle the pickup and delivery functions.<br />
Some of these are local in nature, with drivers<br />
moving several containers in a day’s work.<br />
Other moves are more regional, with most<br />
containers going to receivers that are within<br />
a day’s drive of the port. Depending on the<br />
carrier and the availability of work, intermodal<br />
drivers often get home multiple times during<br />
the week, sometimes daily.<br />
For owner-operators, the equipment<br />
requirements for intermodal work can be a<br />
little easier to meet than for other segments<br />
of the industry. For example, trucks used<br />
for intermodal are often older than their<br />
over-the-road counterparts. On the West<br />
CLIFF ABBO<strong>TT</strong> | SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT<br />
Coast, particularly in California, however,<br />
strict emissions-reduction laws have been<br />
implemented, all but forcing older equipment<br />
out of the business.<br />
Another advantage of intermodal is that<br />
many loads are “drop-and-hook” on at least<br />
one end of the trip. Since the owners of the<br />
chassis generally charge carriers by the day for<br />
using them, trailer pools aren’t maintained at<br />
most customer locations, so live loading and<br />
unloading is common.<br />
At the railyard or port, however, a chassis<br />
with attached container is often dropped in<br />
a specific area or in a numbered space so it<br />
can be easily found. When picking up, drivers<br />
often find that these containers have been<br />
offloaded and placed on a chassis — ready to<br />
hook up and go. All the driver needs is a space<br />
number.<br />
Unfortunately, it isn’t always that easy.<br />
Sometimes drivers hook up to an empty<br />
chassis and then drive to a designated<br />
area where a crane or large forklift loads a<br />
container onto the chassis. Or, a driver with a<br />
loaded container may drive to an area where<br />
the box can be removed and either stacked for<br />
later use or immediately loaded onto a ship or<br />
rail car. The act of moving the container only<br />
takes a few moments, but wait times are often<br />
long when personnel can’t locate a container<br />
or the container has to be loaded on train or<br />
ship in a certain order.<br />
Ports and rail yards can be 24/7 operations<br />
or can have specific, sometimes limited,<br />
hours. Some truckers wait for hours to get<br />
SEE INTERMODAL ON PAGE 7<br />
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