Truckload carrier Schneider National Inc. of Green Bay, WI is turning the tables on the railroad industry’s recent rash of truck-competitive intermodal service offerings with its own intermodal package, called TruckRail Express.
The service combines between 500 and 600 miles per day of truck-level transit with intermodal-level savings, Schneider said, with the carrier working closely with the railroads to achieve these service levels. Schneider said its TruckRail intermodal service is offered for direct routes with origins east of Kansas City, MO, and destinations in the states of California, Oregon and Washington.
TruckRail includes a national network of on-site representatives that help ensure Schneider trailers are moving quickly through rail yards. It also taps into Schneider’s fleet of more than 40,000 53-foot trailers available to move shipments, with the flexibility to load trailers for both over-the-road and intermodal shipping and around-the-clock customer service availability.
Tom Bartel, director of TruckRail, said the target market for this service is shippers who want to use intermodal for its cost savings but who choose not to because of service or transit considerations.
"Until now, truck-level service and truck-level transits have not generally been associated with intermodal business," he said. "Traditional intermodal transit is usually a day slower than over-the-road. No other broad intermodal provider offers the flexibility that comes with using a trailer."
