YEARS AGO, I FREQUENTLY WROTE STORIES ABOUT INTERmodal transportation. The gist of those stories often was that domestic
intermodal held out lots of promise, but those promises would remain
unfulfilled until providers drastically improved service reliability.
The service providers—brokers, intermodal marketing companies, the
railroads themselves—all knew what the issues were. But the answers
were never simple, and often the parties had competing interests, making
progress difficult.
We have come a long way. Mark Solomon reports this month on the
big gains intermodal players have made in providing predictable and
broader services and converting much over-the-road linehaul traffic
to the railroads. In many respects, big motor carriers
like J.B. Hunt and Schneider National have been their
allies in this. Intermodal service can help the over-the-road carriers grapple with some intransigent problems
like the ever-present driver shortage, high fuel costs,
and increasing highway congestion. Today, Solomon
reports, the railroads carry more than 19,000 intermodal containers per calendar day, and more shippers
than ever are giving intermodal serious consideration.
It is not, of course, freight transportation nirvana. The
longer the dray, the less attractive intermodal becomes.
Shifting freight to intermodal, which is more often than
not a slower option than door-to-door trucking, may
require adjustments to network or inventory strategies.
But if you have not looked at intermodal service in a
while, it might be worth a second look. At the very least, read Solomon’s
story this month for insight on how the business has evolved.
Elsewhere in DC VELOCITY: A large part of intermodal’s success has
come through improved technology. And technology, as we all know, is
critical across supply chains. Have we reached the era where “big data”
will drive supply chain decisions? In an article that has remained one of
the best read on our website, Senior Editor James Cooke wrote that the
time may be at hand when the next person you hire for your logistics
team might have to be a data scientist. Manipulating and managing data
for competitive advantage has long been crucial to business, but we are
just at the dawn of efforts to sift through the massive amounts of data
that today’s systems produce. Data tools are likely to become intrinsic to
every part of business, particularly logistics. Are you prepared for that?
There are a few other pieces I want to highlight this month: updates on
batteries and chargers, our continuing series on site selection (next up:
Illinois), a look at how voice tools fit into omnichannel operations, and
some new tips on reducing warehouse costs. OK, maybe not beach reads,
but good reading nonetheless.
bigpicture
Editorial Director
Peter Bradley
Editorial Director
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Executive Editor
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Toby Gooley
Senior Editor
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David Maloney
Senior Editor, Special Projects & eContent
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Mark Solomon
Senior Editor
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Associate Managing Editor
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Editor at Large
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Assistant Editor
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Columnists:
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Art van Bodegraven
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Publisher
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Group Editorial Director
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Group Publisher
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