Things I see in intermodal

I see this stuff weekly at the port in long beach. Just not as bad. That last one... the driver drove around for a while before it shifted lol

 

the middle one is common and who wants to fix these anyways you guys get paid per mile and dont want to sit and get it taken care of and half these guys are oo there not gunna pay to fix it

 

#2 is fixable with a big hammer and some rail tracks

 

I picked up a container from another driver that broke down last week. When I did my pre trip I noticed that only ONE of the pins to the chassis were in place! This moron drove 70 miles with it like that before he broke down.

 

I was behind a container jockey on 91 near Hartford CT and I was watching the rear of the can bouncing up off the chassis with each bump... Needless to say I didnt stick around to find out if the front pins were locked, because the back 2 sure weren't!

I notice some companies in the North East (maybe elsewhere too) using neon yellow cable ties and forcing the driver to cut them to unlock the cans, so I assume it must be fairly commonly overlooked... Seems like cans we pick up already on a chassis at any rail yards are left unlocked, the ones at seaports are usually locked. The rail yard shunter drags then around and parks them while they're unlocked, I'm too chicken for that... It's the very last thing I do.

 

Sounds like most intermodals are looking for the place a disaster will happen yet they will probably try their best to call it an accident.

 

I'm not at all an anti-union type, but I honestly believe it is a case of "it's not in my contract - I'm not doing it" whereas we, as drivers, have no contract beyond "it's our responsibility to do anything and everything to do with getting the equipment road ready"

The jockeys in the rail yards dont get their boots dirty because they don't step off the truck until lunch, for any reason other than break time.

At at the sea ports we have our own company shunters working there who, like us, don't have a specific list of duties but rather must ensure the equipment is road ready for the driver coming along.

While sometimes it seems like the intermodal guys have a good gig, most of the time I'm cognizant of just how angry they seem and how bored I would get if put in their place.

Just my 2 cents!

 

In Texas an open pin is an unsecured load and a big deal. Haulers use zip ties to hold them closed in transit.