Intermodal question

I wouldnt say intermodal is more difficult than regional by any means. But it might depend on what company you are talking about also. Because their definition will be different than the company down the street. Alot of your "intermodal" is strictly local stuff where you might do two or three loads a day, there is also intermodal regional. Does the company you are talking about pull out of the ports also or just the rail yards. Lots of butt time waiting at the ports vs. the rails

 

Lot of additional security issues to deal with as well if it involves the PORTS , few additional for RAILYARDS also union issues at times for both.

 

I did containers for a whole 6 months and hated it. (even though I'm an O/O, there isn't much difference beetween the 2.. ) Ya have to run your tail off to make any $$. Even though containers are "local" you've got to hustle to pick them up, get to your destination, unload or drop and hook, hurry back to terminal or port to grab another before the port closes..

I did 3000 mi. in 5 days... log book?? what the heck was that?? Sleep, I think I forgot what that was.. Running heavy, shoddy equipment, (they run old bias ply, tires that blow all the time) tail light were always out..

The ports are a jungle, the top lift guys plat favorites, and some ports are union. They have 1 speed S L O W.. learning your way around the port, which chassis are transferable beetween containers, finding the right stack, fnding the right chassis area, finding a good chassis.. waiting... a lot.

I would rather be a company driver getting paid by the hour. Any milage pay would be slave labor. I think I would rather drive a dump truck than do containers.

 

I've hauled intermodal for 13 yrs, primarily railyards in Denver with the occasional port. Typically, most intermodal is drop and hook, very few are driver assist. If they are hiring as a company driver, that's decent pay, however, you'll earn more running railyards compared to ports. In a 12 hr local day, I can run 8 to 12 containers and never go outside the Denver metro area or log more than 120 miles. Ports are definetly slower, you'll do maybe 4 to 5 loads a day with the ports. If that's as a lease operator or O/O, skip, that's slave wages.

FWIW, that almost sounds like lease operator pay instead of company driver. I'm curious who the drayage company is. Oh and 42K to 52K is definetly doable. I've grossed 52K to 55K for the last 5 yrs with a mix of local and short haul, if the economy would pick up I could definetly do better.

 

I did IMOD on a strictly hourly basis: $15/hr, 5 12 hrs shifts a week (yes overtime paid). It was pretty good for the night guys (like me) until they ran out of loads. Suddenly the 60 hr week was cut to 25 hrs... When they had the loads, I made 5-7 runs a night, all within 100 miles of terminal. The railyards were extremely tight, as in a human body will not fit between the trailers (yes, this made hook ups fun). Most loads were in the 20k lbs range which was very light.

Would I do it again? Heck yeah, if the hours were guarenteed! Home nightly, driving rig, all drop/hook.