CRST International of Cedar Rapids is getting into the drayage business under a deal announced Monday with intermodal shipper Pacer International.

Drayage is the movement of cargo in shipping containers, often between customers and rail ramps or ocean ports.

The new CRST IMX (Inter-Modal Express) unit began serving Pacer International in the Chicago market about six weeks ago, CRST President and CEO Dave Rusch said. The service uses a fleet of dedicated trucks that are lightweight and fuel efficient for the short-haul runs.

CRST IMX expects to begin serving Pacer International in the Salt Lake City market soon, and by the end of the year will have 200-300 trucks dedicated to the drayage service.

Rusch said the agreement is an effort to bring the efficiencies of a large and experienced trucking operator to the drayage market, which has traditionally relied on independent owner-operators and small trucking companies.

CRST IMX will have on-site management in each city it serves, and will work to market the service to fill backhaul capacity on the Pacer deliveries.

The agreement between CRST and Pacer is for a seven-year term. Rusch said the relationship could result in CRST IMX entering Mexico, which is served by Pacer’s intermodal services. It could also result in CRST’s other divisions offering more intermodal transportation through Pacer.

Intermodal shipping uses containers that can be transferred from ships for transoceanic voyages to rail or barges for inland voyages. The container-load shipments must begin with drayage services that rely on trucks to get the container to and from the customer for the first leg of the journey.

The short-haul business is a departure from CRST’s best-known business, expedited long-distance shipments using tandem-team drivers.

“I think we can grow this significantly over the next few years,” Rusch said.

Pacer International Chairman and CEO Dan Avramovich said the deal allows his company to expand its dray capacity while tightly integrating dispatch management processes, street route planning and other processes.