Canadian-U.S. Intermodal Transportation: Full Steam Ahead

 ameiusi      Apr 27, 2017 @ 12:05 pm MDT      Apr 27, 2017 @ 12:08 pm MDT    


As trade between Canada and the United States continues to grow, trucking companies are partnering with railroads to provide additional transportation solutions to ship freight across the U.S.-Canadian  borders.
 
Shippers continue to shift from over the road service to intermodal to help lower costs and capacity issues within the trucking industry. Truckload carriers have teamed up  with railroads to take advantage of this growing trend. While length of hauls under 1200 miles remain a mainstay for over the road carriers, longer hauls of 1200+  miles are becoming the norm for cross-border Intermodal shipping.

Improvements of Intermodal services today are allowing for pre-clearance of loads, priority placement on trains and a single point of contact for visibility of shipments. Some of these changes are making vast improvements to transit times and helping bridge the gap against road service.

At FBI, we have been helping many customers reduce their overall truckload costs by up to 40% by making the switch from Road to Intermodal. With pre-booking containers, we are able to beat capacity issues and give our shippers accurate pick up ETA’s. One of the best areas of opportunity for Intermodal is from the U.S. midwest to Western Canada, due to the lack of road equipment available and surging fuel pricing.

When using Intermodal, its the shippers responsibility to ensure the load is properly braced in the container. This becomes important when the load is not full capacity, as shifting will occur during transit.  Not all shippers are capable or willing to brace loads, so its a good idea to communicate with your vendor before booking a container.

Many of the Intermodal providers shipping cross border offer a variety of container sizes including 40′, 45′ & 53′ units.

In today’s challenge of reducing landed costs and remaining competitive in the North America Market, Intermodal is a great option to include in your supply chain network.

Contact us today to find out about our Intermodal Freight options. 1-800-419-8486






© Copyright 2017 Freight Brokers International Corp.  All rights reserved.

The FBI Group