Pallets for intermodal and rail freight in the Mid-South

BOX 01Where the yards and lines are

Union Pacific operates a 600-acre intermodal facility west of Marion, Arkansas, and BNSF has a yard in the city (Wikipedia). An intermodal facility southwest of Rossville, Tennessee, opened in 2012 on the Norfolk Southern line. Byhalia, Mississippi, sits on the BNSF Railway.

BOX 02The mixed load

A container may be floor-loaded with no pallets, loaded with the shipper's pallets or packed on a plant's own skids. After unloading, the receiver has whatever came. Look for the stamp, measure the size and count each.

BOX 03Places

See Marion, Rossville and Byhalia. A request should name the road the building is on and the count.

BOX 04Drayage and the pallet

Between the ramp and the warehouse there is a short truck trip, called drayage. Containers go from the rail yard to a building, are unloaded and go back. Every unload produces a pile of whatever pallets were inside.

A building near a ramp therefore sees a steady flow of imported pallets. A good request describes the flow: containers a week, pallets per container and the share that carry the mark. A weekly count is the single most useful number.

BOX 05What a rail car does differently

Boxcars and covered hoppers have their own habits. Boxcar loads are often palletized by the shipper and unloaded by forklift; pallet damage from rail handling tends to be heavier than from truck handling. Bulk cars carry no pallets at all.

If your freight arrives by rail, say so. A buyer with rail experience will read the damage differently.

BOX 06Asking the right question about a container

If you manage a dock that unloads containers, ask three things. What did the pallets look like on the last ten containers? What share carried the mark? What did you do with them? The answers become the request.

BOX 07Rail yards and neighbors

Marion and Rossville have intermodal yards, and Byhalia sits on the BNSF line, in two different states. The pattern is the same: rail attracts warehouses, and the warehouses attract trucks. A request from any of them can say which yard or line is closest.

BOX 08What a ramp looks like from the road

A ramp is a large paved yard with stacks of containers and rows of trailers. From the road you see cranes or lifts, gates and many trucks. Warehouses nearby are the ones that receive the containers. A request from one of them can use the ramp as a landmark.

FAQStraight answers