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intermodal transportation providers too, including major players like Alliance Shippers, Stevens Transport and J.B. Hunt, to name a few. "It's a fairly easy conversion for [the OTR carriers] in the markets that make sense," says Howland, and it's opening up and expanding intermodal services for markets like Kansas City, Dallas, Atlanta and Memphis. Howland expects this trend will "move down from the long haul lanes to the short haul lanes just like dry freight did before." He says that just as recent as three years ago, nobody would have considered offering a refrigerated intermodal service from Chicago to Atlanta to move beef, pork and dairy products out of the upper Midwest to the Southeast, "yet now it's definitely a viable option." In general, it's the eastern railroads that are moving more aggressively to open up these tier-two markets, says Howland. "Both NS and CSX have opened a lot of new service lanes east of the Mississippi, while Kansas City Southern has opened up new market capabilities in conjunction with those rail carriers. As for the western railroads, they're still relying on their long haul transcontinental service, at least for the time being." Better equipment, better tracking It's not just new service lanes that are attracting food shippers and others to rail, more sophisticated refrigeration equipment and real time tracking and monitoring are sweetening the value proposition. Veteran rail industry executive and consultant Tom Finkbiner says technology advancements in several key areas are worth watching, starting with the refrigeration units, which will continue to become more fuel efficient. "Next are advances in telemetrics that provide information such as remote temperature monitoring and data on the fuel level in the reefer tank," he adds. Thirdly, Finkbiner sees improved GPS monitoring as another technology advancement that is helping sell refrigerated intermodal. Even packaging is playing a role in driving more food to rail, he notes. "Years ago, lettuce was shipped in full heads. But today, about one-quarter of it is shipped pre-packaged and ready to eat, just like a lot of other fruits and vegetables, which extends the shelf life and presents more options when it comes to transportation." There are also more options—and cost savings—when it comes to the refrigerated rail cars and intermodal boxes themselves, says Finkbiner. For instance, the 72-foot rail boxcar (the biggest currently available) can hold up to four truckloads of palletized food when the boxcar is double-decked inside. Union Pacific owns the largest fleet of refrigerated boxcars, says Finkbiner, most of which are 50-foot cars along with some 69-foot cars. However, earlier this year the company announced it would purchase 225 72-foot refrigerated boxcars. "It was a great move on UP's part, because railroads generally aren't investing in rail cars these days. It also signals a huge vote of confidence in the intermodal reefer business, and I think that confidence is well placed when you see what's happening with truck capacity," says Finkbiner. Ike Brown, vice chairman and president at NFI Intermodal, along with Scott Webb, senior vice president at NFI Intermodal, also credit North America's Class I railroads for enhancing rail's attractiveness to food shippers. "Union Pacific and CSX are leading the charge to offer new and innovative temperature-controlled rail solutions to food shippers. They are embracing carload solutions, such as Railex, and leveraging their highly efficient intermodal container networks to enable low cost temperature-controlled containers for customers that need more "The Business of America is Business." — Calvin Coolidge The Business of Alliance Shippers Inc. is . . . "To Manage Our Customers' Business." The Perfect Shipment ® ® Our Commitment To You. Perfect Shipment ® Performance 1 On-Time Pick-Up = 98.7% On-Time Delivery = 97.9% YTD On-Time Delivery = 98.2% For more information about all of our services, visit us at: www.alliance.com 1 Data as of 6/30/13 ® denotes a registered trademark of Alliance Shippers Inc.