{"id":1724,"date":"2018-03-23T07:54:07","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T12:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev-mhisolutionsmag.officialdirectory.com\/?p=1724"},"modified":"2018-06-14T14:33:23","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T19:33:23","slug":"industry-focus-intermodal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/23\/industry-focus-intermodal\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry Focus: Intermodal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Transportation trends are reflective of what\u2019s happening throughout the supply chain.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Sandy Smith<\/em>\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

Intermodal hasn\u2019t escaped the larger trends that affect all of industry, including material handling. Higher demands, faster shipments, tighter margins and disruptive technologies all are at play. But because of the unique nature of intermodal\u2014with each form of transport enduring its own challenges and opportunities\u2014getting a handle on where intermodal is, and where it\u2019s going, isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s clear to see, intermodal transport is being broadly impacted by some of the recent trends in the supply chain.<\/p>\n

The demands are high and the challenges, perhaps even higher. e-commerce has touched virtually every corner of consumer purchase and delivery is expected to be faster and cheaper. Roads are clogged with traffic and most positions throughout the supply chain are faced with worker shortages. Pricing pressures are paramount.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Internet culture and the demand for faster everything puts stresses on intermodal,\u201d said Bryan Jensen, chairman and executive vice president for MHI member St. Onge. \u201cThe cycle time needs to go down. We see more use of an air leg in transportation than ever before. When intermodal first became a buzzword, everyone meant stack trains. Now you see companies like Amazon experimenting with using small, local airfields to air freight into a distribution center and do the last leg from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trucking and rail both continue to be important legs of intermodal. Rail is about 80 percent of capacity, said Frank Harder, principal at The Tioga Group. \u201cThey are also looking at a scenario where the economy is good and trucking capacity is short and, as a result, we\u2019re seeing that railroads are expecting to take in market share from the over-the-road truckers in the next few months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trucking has its own challenges, too. Federal regulation that took effect in December required electronic trucking logs; many industry analysts feared this would drive mom-and-pop operations out of business. \u201cA lot of those companies are barely subsistence companies and unable to make that kind of investment,\u201d said Steve Sashihara, CEO of Princeton Consultants. \u201cIt\u2019s going to exacerbate problems of trucking, including a driver shortage.\u201d That shortage will only get worse, with many drivers in their late 40s and early 50s.<\/p>\n

While rail may have capacity, more demand could drive up prices for both rail and trucking, Harder said, because of a \u201cshortage of available transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transportation trends are reflective of what\u2019s happening throughout the supply chain. By Sandy Smith\u2014 Intermodal hasn\u2019t escaped the larger trends that affect all of industry, including material handling. Higher demands, faster shipments, tighter margins and disruptive technologies all are at play. But because of the unique nature of intermodal\u2014with each form of transport enduring its …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":1725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-trends"],"yoast_head":"\nIndustry Focus: Intermodal - MHI Solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/23\/industry-focus-intermodal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Industry Focus: Intermodal - MHI Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Transportation trends are reflective of what\u2019s happening throughout the supply chain. By Sandy Smith\u2014 Intermodal hasn\u2019t escaped the larger trends that affect all of industry, including material handling. Higher demands, faster shipments, tighter margins and disruptive technologies all are at play. 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