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Are you interested in moving intermodal freight and expanding your owner operator business? Download the free DrayNow app from the App Store or Google Play store, or click the button below.

In the past, we’ve looked at how intermodal trucking translates to greater fuel savings and an increase in a trucker’s bottom line. Perhaps the most obvious benefit of staying local and driving less miles is the fact that truck drivers are spending less time on the road for each intermodal power only load that they take, and therefore can get home at the end of each day.

Compared to over-the-road freight, intermodal loads are all local, usually staying under 500 miles for a round-trip, with most staying way below that mileage. Truck drivers can be assured that they will be able to head back home because of the way intermodal loads work. Why is that? With these local, power only loads, drivers haul containers under their own authority from the rail yard that they must return to complete the load. Because of this, an intermodal trucking carrier doesn’t have to worry about completing an order hundreds of miles away, and then running up their fuel costs just to make it back home.

On the DrayNow load board app, carriers can pick up the local freight right from the intermodal load board that works best for their operation. This makes it easy to determine how many miles you are willing to go for each intermodal load and guarantee yourself the ability to get home at the end of the day.

Because there are less miles to travel while doing intermodal loads, the time spent on each trip will also be much lower. Truck drivers across our network that pull DrayNow intermodal trucking loads spend an overall average of 3 hours and 41 minutes on each trip, and that time starts the moment a driver shows up at the equipment location and ends right when they leave the termination location. This leaves the option for drivers to take multiple trips in one day while staying in their preferred region. With so many moves to choose from in a wide range of distances, drayage carriers will encounter trips that take even less time while getting paid well for their work.

Since drivers can come back to their starting point (home) at the end of each day, it can present an opportunity to further save money on diesel costs. A DrayNow carrier we spoke to likes to buy fuel in bulk at a discount, so that when his trucks are back at the end of the day, he can efficiently refuel each one. If a driver is staying over-the-road, their only option would be to pay the full retail price of diesel.

In looking at how intermodal power only loads operate, the key issues with over-the-road trips come to light. This is the case when it comes to the mileage a driver has to take on, the time spent on each trip and diesel costs. OTR commands more mileage on each load, bringing drivers further away from their starting point, with the only efficient option being to find freight that brings them home. All these miles increase the time spent on each trip, with most of that being spent on the road.

Counter to the pitfalls of over-the-road, it’s clear that intermodal loads decreases the mileage, time spent on each trip and fuel expenses a carrier must take on, all while staying close to home.