This is a very informative set of forums with very knowledgeable people! I’ve got a lot of information already but I’m having trouble piecing it all together.
Im looking to change my shipping operations now that I’m growing. I’m looking for a end to end “how to“ for a small business of getting shipping containers from either Houston or Chicago to Idaho Falls, Idaho.
1. how do I coordinating getting a shipping container (1-10 at a time, maybe more) on a flatbed rail car.
2. Figuring out the cost
3. After it arrives at the destination, coordinating pickup.
BTW - I do this already but via long-haul trucking a few times a month but I’m getting busier and it’s getting very expensive and extremely difficult to manage a whole bunch of single-truck shipment. Also, Iunderstand via theses forums, I’m throwing a lot of money away by using standard long-haul semi trucking.
This may all sound easy to you all, but unless you use a 3rd party “expensive” logistics company, it’s really difficult for a small company to figure out to do this on the rails for the first time.
thanks in advance for all your wisdom!
Lance
Lance,
Go to the UP website and look under intermodal to find the ramp nearest Idaho Falls. You origins can both be UP, so you are only dealing with one rail carrier. There is also either a marketing contact or a question box you can use to contact UP directly.
In theory you could establish credit with UP, order boxes from origin ramps, arrange and pay for origin drayage, email UP a B/L, and arrange and pay for destination drayage.
In practice, UP may not deal with you as a relatively small volume customer AND you probably do not want to handle drayage on both ends. That means you need to deal with an Intermodal Marketing Company, a list of which is also on UP website. They have a master rate agreemen with UP, so they pay UP, and perhaps at lower than public rates. They also arrange the drayage, and take your money. Of course they have a margin between their costs and the rate they will quote you. Talk to 3 or 4. I suspect their rates will be similar since they are all playing the same game with the same physical providers.
It is my opinion, based on NO experience, that the 3PL guys will try to snow you with the wonders of their service and tend to offer a higher rate.
Do some shopping.
Mac
Lance:
Mac(PNWRMNM) Has some very sound advice: "...It is my opinion, based on NO experience, that the 3PL guys will try to snow you with the wonders of their service and tend to offer a higher rate..."
"Do some shopping." !
Another sugestion might be check in the area for a business professional organization. My bet would be that you are not the only one who has faced this type of dilemma, in that area.
UPRR, I would think has agents to contact in your area {some can be pretty good, and some are just 'birdseed' salesmen.} Just one of the little minefields in finding a solution to your problem.
Best of Luck. Let us know if you are able to get a resolution.
Birdseed salesmen? Huh?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Thanks Mac - I have been trying to get UPRR sales reps to call me back since the middle of last week. I finally talked to UP Customer Services and they gave me the following email address (icscmgr@up.com) and told me explain my situation and that someone would be calling me back from Omaha within a week. Since I already have a business license and sales tax certificate, I should be able to set up my own UP account in a relatively short time (about a month or two is fast to them).
All that said, I think I am going to take your advise and use a go-between 3rd party to get things kicked off until I get more familiar with rail shipping. Once I get the process down, then I'll start to take over peices of the process from the 3rd party as I learn so that I can reduce my overhead.
Sam -
Ditto above.
Great advise!
Thanks!
Lance, please do return to this Forum, let us knwo the kind of service you are geting and how costs compae with trucking. Thanks in advance.
Murphy Siding "...Birdseed salesmen?" Huh? Norris(Murphy Siding) You Betcha! You, probably deal withsimilar types who want you to Buy from them...Lumber(on the phone),etc., occasionaly, in person(?) You'd use an appropriate discriptor as well. Lance_Romance: said the followng: "...I finally talked to UP Customer Services and they gave me the following email address (icscmgr@up.com) and told me explain my situation and that someone would be calling me back from Omaha within a week..." Bearing in mind that another individual's['B.S.' Salesman's priorities, are not necessarily your own. Just an observation!
"...Birdseed salesmen?" Huh?
Norris(Murphy Siding) You Betcha! You, probably deal withsimilar types who want you to Buy from them...Lumber(on the phone),etc., occasionaly, in person(?) You'd use an appropriate discriptor as well.
Lance_Romance: said the followng: "...I finally talked to UP Customer Services and they gave me the following email address (icscmgr@up.com) and told me explain my situation and that someone would be calling me back from Omaha within a week..."
Bearing in mind that another individual's['B.S.' Salesman's priorities, are not necessarily your own. Just an observation!
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