Let's face it, shipping via rail can be a difficult proposition for many companies. InTek has taken its rail intermodal expertise to now include all rail service options: Boxcar, Covered Hoppers, Flatcars, Gondolas, Open Top Hoppers ... and more.
Using industry-leading technology and leveraging our Class I railroad relationships, we provide many value-adds that others have not found int their logistics 3PL rail relationship.
These value adds increase service, while decreasing costs that tend to escalate on the accessorial side of the ledger.
Value Adds Rail Freight Fleet Management Services Include:
Car Ordering
What types of cars are needed? Gondolas, Box Cars, Hoppers, etc. Rail Owned or Private Owned? Does the shipper have a “Pool”? How do you manage the turn of the pool cars versus what needs to be ordered?
Rates & Routes
Many factors are involved in rating car load. Are the origin and destination locations rail sided? If they are rail sided, what rail line serves that location? Do they work with a short line?
Waybill
Who is doing your waybill? Are they doing it via EDI? Who and how this process is executed makes a difference on meeting service levels.
Tracking Rail Freight
Many still believe you don’t need to track boxcars because they are on slow boat to nowhere, so why even try. We are here to say that this is not the case. Rail traffic, outside of intermodal, is not JIT freight by any means, but the railroads do want to provide the best service possible and deliver on transit expectations for the lane. A logistics service provider takes on the management, organization and daily monitoring to get the best service level available.
Demurrage & Other Accessorial Management
It takes daily tracking and pool management to keep demurrage costs low and a logistics partner can bring these costs down significantly because this is their expertise and they have the tools to help.
Class I Railroad Relationship
The railroad business is very much a relationship business. The relationships help drive quicker responses and problem-solving management.
For more on the topic of rail freight logistics service solutions, we recommend reading "Rail Freight Logistics Service Solutions: What to Know & How-to Get the Most Value".
