Intermodal

Moving a container from a port in Long Beach to a warehouse in Des Plaines, Illinois, gives you two basic options. You can put it on a truck and drive it 2,000 miles, or you can put it on a train for most of the distance and use trucks for the short legs at each end. That second option is intermodal transport: using two or more modes of transportation (typically rail and truck) to move cargo in the same container or trailer without handling the freight itself when changing modes.

How Intermodal Actually Works

The process starts at the port or origin point. A drayage truck picks up the container and hauls it to a nearby rail terminal, called a ramp. The container gets lifted onto a rail car (usually a well car or stack train that can carry containers double-stacked). The train carries it across the country to a destination rail ramp. Another drayage truck picks it up and delivers it to the final destination, whether that’s a warehouse, distribution center, or prep facility.

The container stays sealed through the entire trip. Nobody opens it, unloads it, or reloads it at the rail terminal. The cargo inside doesn’t get touched. This is what separates intermodal from transloading, where goods are physically transferred between vehicles or container types.

Cost Comparison: Rail vs. Over-the-Road

Intermodal pricing depends heavily on lane (origin-destination pair) and distance. For moves under 500 miles, trucking is almost always cheaper and faster. The overhead of drayage at both ends, plus rail terminal handling, doesn’t justify the savings on a short haul. But once you cross the 700-mile threshold, intermodal starts winning on price.

On a Long Beach to Chicago lane, a common intermodal route, the rail portion might cost $1,800 to $2,400 for a 40-foot container. Add $400 to $600 for drayage on each end, and you’re at $2,600 to $3,600 total. That same move by truck (over-the-road) typically runs $3,500 to $5,000 depending on market conditions, fuel prices, and carrier availability. The savings range from 20% to 40%.

Cross-country lanes show even bigger gaps. Los Angeles to New Jersey by intermodal might save $1,500 to $2,500 per container compared to trucking. For sellers importing 10 to 20 containers per year, that’s $15,000 to $50,000 in annual freight savings.

The Tradeoff: Time

Intermodal is slower. A truck drives Long Beach to Chicago in about 3 days. Rail takes 5 to 7 days for the same lane, sometimes longer if there’s congestion at the rail terminal or the train gets deprioritized for passenger rail traffic. East Coast moves can take 8 to 12 days by intermodal versus 4 to 5 by truck.

For ecommerce sellers, this transit time gap matters most during Q4 replenishment season when Amazon’s receiving windows are tight and every day of delay means lost sales. During the rest of the year, if you’re planning your inventory replenishment with adequate lead time, the extra 3 to 5 days rarely causes stockouts.

When Ecommerce Sellers Should Use Intermodal

Intermodal makes the most sense for sellers with predictable, recurring shipments. If you import monthly from Asia and send containers to a Midwest or East Coast prep center, building 5 to 7 extra days into your supply chain timeline can save tens of thousands per year. It’s less suitable for rush shipments, time-sensitive seasonal inventory, or small LTL loads.

A 3PL like MeisterPrep, with warehouses in Long Beach, Des Plaines, Houston, and Charleston, can receive intermodal containers at any of those locations. Because these cities sit on major rail corridors (BNSF and UP for Long Beach, all Class I railroads for Chicago, and CSX/Norfolk Southern for Charleston and Houston), intermodal service is frequent and competitively priced. The prep team handles drayage coordination, container unloading, and inspection so the transition from rail to warehouse processing is handled in a single workflow.