Winners and Losers in the Intermodal Shipping Boom

The entire intermodal freight network in North America has been going through a period of restructuring in the past decade that has seen and will continue to see sweeping changes in the way that goods are transported across the continent. Other factors like rising fuel prices are forcing many transport companies to look for the most efficient way to transport goods. There has been significant development of the freight handling facilities along America’s Eastern seaboard in preparation for the increased flow of goods that is expected to result from the completion of the Panama Canal improvements in 2015. To complement this infrastructure development there has been a corresponding investment in the rail networks across the United States which is aimed at increasing the efficiency of the freight transport network. This development is certain to be a catalyst that changes current freight transport practices as rail transport expands into many of the traditional areas of road transport. These changes mean that there will be some companies which are set to benefit from the new demand for intermodal services but there will also be many losers who can no longer compete using their existing methods. For the most part the companies that will benefit the most are the railways that have made themselves the most compatible with intermodal transport methods. Big railroads like CSX and Union Pacific1 have traded in much of their coal-carrying rolling stock and replaced it with container cars as a long term strategy of diversification. At the same time, many of the larger trucking firms that have focused on finding a niche in the intermodal network have also benefitted from these improvements to the infrastructure. In regional parts of the country where the intermodal network is thinnest there are also opportunities for expansion and trucking giants like Con-way2 are looking for ways to expand their reach into places such as Mexico. At the other end of the continent3 the existing intermodal network is being used to bolster local economies as the main network becomes more established and delivery times have been reduced. The main losers in this raft of changes seems set to be the smaller trucking companies that do not have the resources to compete with the large intermodal freight carriers. With the pressures of rising diesel prices, increased scrutiny of truckers’ working hours and the issues of greenhouse emissions it seems that the days of the relying almost solely on truck transport may be numbered. References: 1. http://investorplace.com/2013/03/4-transports-leading-the-intermodal-boom/ 2. http://www.sdcexec.com/news/10881297/con-way-truckload-and-con-way-multimodal-launch-new-intermodal-service-for-north-america 3. http://sewardcitynews.com/2013/03/seward-freight-boom-to-help-save-arrc/