Switching to intermodal

@Concorde Lives down in that area and may have some suggestions.

 

Geez..container work is something that I know very little about.
Just thinking aloud, I don’t think there’s much container work in Orlando. If it was me I’d probably be looking around Jacksonville, FL or Savanna, GA.. and anywhere in between.

That’s where I see the most activity, being close to the ports.

It’s very rare for me to even haul van freight out of Fl.

 

Very little driving work once you go too much south of 10. The work that is available is usually low pay because so many foreigners will work for cheap.

Intermodal is the bottom of the barrel anyway even if you work from a busy rail yard or port. The biggest losers and clueless lease operators who speak no English drive reckless for little pay.

The equipment is junk because they can't afford to pay for proper maintenence and repairs. The chassis are junk and you will spend large amounts of time sitting around waiting without pay.

Don't do it. No matter where you live Intermodal is garbage and if you're moving to FL I'd be looking at some non-driving jobs if I were you.

If you stay around interstate 10 you'll have better luck finding some OTR or regional work FYI.

 

Let me just say this about that. I basically pioneered intermodal in the late 80s. Many that don't like intermodal have a gripe because it may suck business away from carriers. A lot has changed in the rail biz, and I say go for it. Changes include, tubeless tires, regular inspections, streamlined check in, and with the way trucking is going, I read intermodal is going to be big( ger) than ever. It's true, I pulled a lot of junk, but things improved, they don't have those God awful "Z" vans anymore and for someone that wants a say, 500 mile radius, it worked great for me. I think there is more money in OTR, or a company job, but for an O/O, with power only, it can work. The bad side, containers are inherently overweight and hard to pull. No less than 500hp., I've hauled some ballbusters in containers. I suggest getting your own spread axle aluminum chassis and just do live drops. Many "house" chassis don't have rear sliders and may still have tube tires. What is amazing, is those big container ships, hold between 10-20,000 containers( 20 & 40 foot only) and there are 5500 of those ships, so containers are here to stay. The 48 and 53 ft. containers are called "domestic stack" and are for trains in the US only. There are 336,500 domestic stack containers in the US, and that's a lot of freight. Good luck.

 

is there any aspect of the trucking world that doesn't suck in your opinion??

you got some serious negative vibes going on man

 

Apparently they aren't over it,,, tell you what, when pulling a RR wagon, I always checked my 5th wheel before leaving a truckstop. Or when I'd show up at a shipper, they'd say, "this is going on the rail?" Or, they, out of spite perhaps, wanted to "load the wagon", "it's just going on the rail", they'd say, and I said, yeah, but I have to get it there first.There was a time when intermodal was considered bottom of the barrel, and yes, it does attract foreign drivers and owners, but there is so much freight to haul, and the crybabies don't want to work. I say, like it or not, it's here to stay.

 

When I did intermodal years ago, in Chicago, the thing I hated most was the yards themselves.Most were in lousy neighborhoods, hard to get to, and run by people with huge attitudes. Your mileage may vary....

 

Why bother reading and thanking my posts if they bring you down? Intermodal is for the biggest losers in the industry. They're not known as, "Port Roaches" for nothing. The industry as a whole sucks but some areas are the absolute bottom and that's where container hauling comes in. Do yourself a favor and put me on ignore if you can't handle what I have to say. I'm placing you on that list now because your complaining makes me ill.

 

wow, one response and he's ill.