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by Hal Koss
Key Takeaways
- What intermodal freight shipping is and how it differs from single-mode transportation.
- The four stages of an intermodal shipment: container loading, drayage, main leg, and final delivery.
- Why shippers choose intermodal for cost control, capacity access, and supply chain flexibility.
- How ShipperGuide handles intermodal quoting, carrier selection, and tracking across rail and dray legs in a single platform.
Despite the saying to never put your eggs in one basket, many transportation managers still rely on a single mode of transportation for their shipping needs. The issue is that this limits flexibility across seasons and reduces opportunities to control costs strategically.
Intermodal accounted for 25% of major U.S. railroads' revenue in 2020, proving its growing role in freight strategies. Savvy transportation managers and supply chain directors leverage ShipperGuide TMS to manage intermodal freight alongside truckload and LTL within a single platform — quoting across modes, selecting carriers for each leg, and tracking shipments end to end without switching between systems. This post outlines what intermodal shipping is and why it belongs in your freight strategy.
What Are Intermodal Shippers?
Intermodal shippers are shippers who use more than one type of transportation, such as both trucks and trains, to move freight. Intermodal transport includes any shipment involving multiple modes of transportation, with potential modes including aircraft, cargo barges, and container ships.
Intermodal shipments are often sent in intermodal containers, which are specifically designed to transfer between transportation modes without requiring the unloading or reloading of cargo.
How Does Intermodal Shipping Work?
Intermodal shipping works by moving freight through a sequence of transportation modes using standardized containers that transfer between modes without unloading cargo, typically following a truck-rail-truck pattern from origin to destination.
1. Container Loading
The first step is preparing and loading containers onto the initial mode of transportation, usually trucks. Proper container loading ensures cargo integrity and reduces risk of delays or damage, giving leaders confidence in supply chain reliability.
2. First Leg (Truck/Drayage)
The first leg encompasses the drayage journey to the next mode of transportation. Upon arrival, the cargo is transferred. Efficient drayage keeps shipments on schedule and provides visibility into supply chain timing, allowing leaders to plan downstream operations more accurately.
3. Main Leg (Rail or Truck)
The main leg begins when freight transfers to the secondary mode of transportation, for example, a cargo train. Using intermodal containers streamlines this transfer and minimizes handling. While trains are slower than trucks, they move larger volumes more fuel-efficiently, which helps consolidate costs and reduce carbon footprint across the network.
4. Final Leg (Truck/Drayage)
Once the train arrives at the closest station, a truck completes the final leg to the delivery destination. A smooth final leg ensures on-time delivery, customer satisfaction, and helps maintain overall supply chain performance metrics.
Why Do Shippers Opt for Intermodal Transportation?
Shippers opt for intermodal transportation because of its cost efficiency, capacity advantages, and reliability. Compared to over-the-road shipping, intermodal moves large volumes at a more efficient rate, reduces costs through the fuel efficiency of rail, and lowers handling risk through containerized transfers.
Shippers also use intermodal when capacity is tight in the truckload market. Understanding intermodal options, and having the right platform and carriers in place to deploy them — helps prevent bottlenecks and keeps supply chains fluid and cost-efficient.
Managing Intermodal Freight with ShipperGuide
ShipperGuide's TMS handles intermodal freight alongside truckload and LTL in a single platform, giving transportation teams the tools to quote, select carriers, and track shipments across all legs without managing separate systems for each mode. When shippers run an intermodal move through ShipperGuide, they can compare intermodal rates against over-the-road alternatives in real time, select carriers across both the dray and rail legs, and maintain shipment visibility from first pickup through final delivery. For teams managing multi-mode networks, ShipperGuide centralizes intermodal execution within the same procurement and reporting workflows used for every other freight movement.
Start Managing Intermodal Freight in One Platform
Intermodal freight delivers cost efficiency and capacity flexibility — but only when your team has the tools to quote, book, and track across every leg without friction. ShipperGuide gives transportation managers a single place to manage intermodal alongside truckload and LTL, with real-time rate comparison and end-to-end shipment visibility built in.
Schedule a demo and see how ShipperGuide manages intermodal quoting, carrier selection, and tracking across rail and dray legs in one platform.
Frequently Asked Questions About Intermodal Freight Shipping
What Is an Example of Intermodal Transportation?
A common example of intermodal transportation is shipping electronics from New York to California using both trucks and trains. The freight is loaded into a standardized container, trucked to a rail facility, transported by train across the country, then trucked from the rail terminal to the final destination — all without unloading or reloading the cargo at any point in transit.
What Are the Main Benefits of Intermodal Freight Shipping?
The main benefits of intermodal freight shipping are cost efficiency, greater capacity access, and reduced handling risk. Rail is more fuel-efficient than over-the-road trucking for long-haul moves, which lowers cost per mile on the main leg. Intermodal also gives shippers access to rail capacity when truckload markets are tight, and standardized containers reduce the number of times cargo is touched between origin and destination — lowering both damage risk and handling costs.
When Should Shippers Use Intermodal Instead of Over-the-Road Freight?
Intermodal makes the most sense for long-haul lanes of 750 miles or more where the cost and fuel efficiency of rail outweigh the speed advantage of trucks. It is also a strong option when truckload capacity is tight or rates are elevated, when shippers want to reduce transportation carbon footprint, or when moving high-volume, non-time-critical freight where a slightly longer transit window is acceptable.
How Does ShipperGuide Support Intermodal Freight Management?
ShipperGuide manages intermodal freight within the same platform used for truckload and LTL, giving transportation teams a single workflow for quoting, carrier selection, and tracking across all legs. Teams can compare intermodal rates against over-the-road alternatives in real time, select carriers for both dray and rail legs, and maintain shipment visibility from first pickup through final delivery — without toggling between separate systems for each mode.