BY MARK B. SOLOMON, SENIOR EDITOR
INTERMODAL & TRUCKING
transportationreport
Can intermodal break out
of the “dry van” box?
Intermodal is
mainly seen as
a low-cost way
to move dry
goods. That’s
making life
tough for some
entrepreneurs
who are looking
to add fresh
fruits and
vegetables to
the mix.
CURRENT-DAY RAIL INTERMODAL
folk like their comfort zones. Unlike the
swashbucklers of prior years who took
risks to build the business, the current
crop are loath to stick their necks out for
fear of rocking the proverbial, and what
has become a profitable, boat.
Tom Finkbiner and Ted Prince can
attest to that. In late 2010, the two veterans joined with Tom Shurstad, a former
president of intermodal service
provider Pacer International, to create a
program they believed could change the
way fresh fruits and vegetables move in
the United States and expand intermodal’s minuscule share of the produce
transportation market.
Once the business plan was readied,
the group began sending out feelers to
rail and intermodal executives. More
than two years later, though, the parties
are still doing little more than talking.
The program, code-named “New Cool
Venture,” would coordinate the nation-
wide movement of produce shipments
using a mix of intermodal containers
and boxcars. Finkbiner and Prince said
the difference between their offering and
other produce-hauling rail services is
that it would be promoted as a network
solution to follow the growing seasons
in various geographies. For example,
when the season ends in California, the
service would support agricultural traf-
fic in Florida, Mexico, and elsewhere.
