Intermodal
Intermodal shipping uses a standard container moved by two or more transport modes — typically ship, rail, and truck — without unloading the cargo at the transfer points. The container is the persistent unit of movement.
The economics of intermodal come from the container itself. By keeping the cargo inside one sealed box from origin to destination, the system avoids the slow, error-prone, and damage-prone step of handling individual pieces at each mode change.
Typical intermodal flow: factory → trucker → rail yard → train → rail yard → trucker → destination. The container is loaded once, sealed, and not opened again until it arrives. Rail handles the long, cheap inland leg; truckers handle the short, more expensive last-mile legs.
Intermodal containers carry a unique ISO container number (four-letter prefix plus seven digits, ending in a check digit) that follows the box through every mode. This is a different identifier from a boxcar's reporting mark or a trailer's licence plate.
Related terms
- BoxcarA boxcar is an enclosed railway freight car used for general merchandise: paper rolls, packaged goods, lumber, machinery. A modern boxcar typically holds 200,000 lb or more of payload.
- DrayageDrayage is short-haul trucking of containers, typically from a port or rail yard to a nearby warehouse or vice versa. It is one of the most expensive per-mile legs in a container's journey.
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