ANYONE here familiar with intermodal???

Is there anyone on here who is familiar with hauling intermodal loads on a directly contracted basis? (meaning non leased) If so, I will PAY you for your time to explain some things to me that no one will even talk to me about. I don't blame them for letting everyone fend for themselves but I am getting a little confused about a couple of things.
If anyone has any expertise please respond, thank you.

 

I have a very good freind who is paying a company to move containers from the port to his place of business (imports). He is willing to give me some of those runs so I did all I thought was needed to be able to go and retrieve the containers.
I purchased the required insurance in order to participate in the UIIA thinking that as long as you were insured and accounted for by the UIIA, that you would be able to go pick up a container and chassis, take it to the destination, and then return the empty where it came from and pick up the next loaded one. I spoke to a gentleman at one of the terminals and this is the way he explained it to me.
I recieved my first load yesterday and being the greenhorn I am wasn't even sure how to get to the yard that the container was at. I called the rail company whose yard it was at and she said that my container number,etc was all good and then she paused.
After a minute or two she says that I will need to bring my own chassis as this shipping company is not part of the "chassis pool". Then I ask if she is reffering to companies under the UIIA and she says "UIIA has nothing to do with the chassis pool". Well I was under the opposite impression.
I then her if I show up with a chassis and they load the box on my chassis, do I bring it back to them and have them download their empty box off my chassis? She says they have to wait and see where the box is needed next as it may even need to go to another port 300 mi south of here!
I asked a driver who is leased to a guy who runs 60+ trucks and he said they have none of their own chassis. Is it common for guys to have their own chassis? When using shippers chassis is there commonly a charge? Is it not common for someone to return a container/chassis right where he got it from? Is it possible for a single guy to service a single customer hauling his imports from the port/railyard (It seems that 99.9% of all the guys hauling containers down here are leased to someone).
KINKART, you don't know how much I appreciate any info, if you would PM me with a good phone# I will be glad to call you on my dime and make it worth your while. Thank you very much.

 

She said that the company was not a member of the chassis pool, but I see what you are saying, call the chassis pool and ask them to explain all the other shipments.
I honestly wasn't thinking very clearly at the time as I was stunned at what she was telling me. Yes, I have seen them loaded on a flatbed but she was trying to tell me basically I have to wait and be told where the shipping company wants the container returned to. Who has the time or the margin to return these things 300 mi from where they came from?
I also have no means of loading/unloading the box from a chassis or flatbed so whatever amount of time I am waiting to be told where the box needs to be returned ties up said flatbed/chassis.
That is one of my biggest questions: Is it not very common to return a container/chassis where it came from every time? I seem to get a different story from everyone I talk to. Either someone is filling me with BS, or this process is more difficult to fully understand than the U.S. Federal Tax Code!!

 

Cool, roughly how much does it cost to lease a chassis, or how much do they charge to lease theirs? Thanks