Post by ProgressRail on Oct 2, 2019 5:56:36 GMT -5
"Trucking company YRC Freight is banking on the rails as well as the road by expanding its fleet of company-owned domestic intermodal containers. The national less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier said Monday it will more than double the size of its container fleet by the end of the year, bringing it to 600 boxes. By the end of 2020, YRC Freight expects to own 1,000 containers".
“It’s the first time we’ve purchased intermodal containers in a very long time, if ever,” T.J. O’Connor, president of YRC Freight and chief operating officer of parent company YRC Worldwide, told JOC.com. “At one time, we used equipment provided by the railroads, but now it’s company-owned equipment. The containers are brand new, and they’re YRC-branded.”
"YRC Worldwide is no newcomer to intermodal rail. The sixth-largest US LTL operator ranked by revenue logs about 9 million intermodal miles a month, mostly between West Coast ports and Chicago, serving distribution centers and customers in the Midwest. Intermodal rail supplements YRC’s over-the-road LTL linehaul trucking, O’Connor said Monday".
"The containers will be used to move freight in linehaul lanes connecting the company’s Chicago terminal with California ports, he said. Most of the boxes will travel on the BNSF Railway. “The containers will move laden to Northern California and be repositioned by rail to Southern California, where there’s heavier outbound flow back to the Chicago area,” O’Connor said".
"YRC Worldwide has been using intermodal to supplement over-the-road linehaul LTL trucking since the 1990s, when it won the right to use intermodal in contract negotiations with the Teamsters union. The current five-year contract, ratified in April, limits YRC’s use of intermodal to 29 percent of its total miles per year. “This creates capacity for us,” O’Connor said".
“It’s really designed to supplement the over-the-road company driver employee operation,” he said. “It helps address imbalances in freight flow,” such as those caused by end-of-the-month freight surges. But it also puts YRC Freight in a better position to work with multiple railroads and intermodal providers as demand for containerized rail freight increases".
"Previously, much of YRC Freight’s intermodal business was handled using 28-foot pup trailers on flatcars. Shifting that business to containers increases the amount of freight YRC Freight can haul per flatcar, O’Connor said, especially when containers are double-stacked. Using YRC containers “reduces our carbon footprint and creates operational efficiencies,” he said".
"For BNSF, the switch from pup trailers to containers will help improve yard management in congested areas such as Southern California, said Todd Carter, vice president of domestic intermodal. “We will continue to work with our customers to transport both containers and trailers and will make adjustments that make sense to our overall logistics strategy,” he said".
“It’s the first time we’ve purchased intermodal containers in a very long time, if ever,” T.J. O’Connor, president of YRC Freight and chief operating officer of parent company YRC Worldwide, told JOC.com. “At one time, we used equipment provided by the railroads, but now it’s company-owned equipment. The containers are brand new, and they’re YRC-branded.”
"YRC Worldwide is no newcomer to intermodal rail. The sixth-largest US LTL operator ranked by revenue logs about 9 million intermodal miles a month, mostly between West Coast ports and Chicago, serving distribution centers and customers in the Midwest. Intermodal rail supplements YRC’s over-the-road LTL linehaul trucking, O’Connor said Monday".
"The containers will be used to move freight in linehaul lanes connecting the company’s Chicago terminal with California ports, he said. Most of the boxes will travel on the BNSF Railway. “The containers will move laden to Northern California and be repositioned by rail to Southern California, where there’s heavier outbound flow back to the Chicago area,” O’Connor said".
"YRC Worldwide has been using intermodal to supplement over-the-road linehaul LTL trucking since the 1990s, when it won the right to use intermodal in contract negotiations with the Teamsters union. The current five-year contract, ratified in April, limits YRC’s use of intermodal to 29 percent of its total miles per year. “This creates capacity for us,” O’Connor said".
“It’s really designed to supplement the over-the-road company driver employee operation,” he said. “It helps address imbalances in freight flow,” such as those caused by end-of-the-month freight surges. But it also puts YRC Freight in a better position to work with multiple railroads and intermodal providers as demand for containerized rail freight increases".
"Previously, much of YRC Freight’s intermodal business was handled using 28-foot pup trailers on flatcars. Shifting that business to containers increases the amount of freight YRC Freight can haul per flatcar, O’Connor said, especially when containers are double-stacked. Using YRC containers “reduces our carbon footprint and creates operational efficiencies,” he said".
"For BNSF, the switch from pup trailers to containers will help improve yard management in congested areas such as Southern California, said Todd Carter, vice president of domestic intermodal. “We will continue to work with our customers to transport both containers and trailers and will make adjustments that make sense to our overall logistics strategy,” he said".
