Insights - January/February 2018 - 9

Erik Bo Hansen, vice president of
intermodal at Kansas City Southern,
offered a broader assessment, which
also was upbeat.
"The expanding U.S. freight and
distribution market will see impacts
from various economic and capacity
factors, including but not limited to ELDs
and other regulatory capacity effects,
continued driver shortages, higher fuel
costs, as well as highway and general
Hansen
road congestion," the rail official said.
"What we hear across the board is that service consistency and
reliability is paramount for cargo owners to feel confident that they
can meet the demands of their customers, typically the consumer."
Peter Keller, executive vice president of TOTE, Inc., also
focused on business relationships. "Innovative approaches to
supply chain problems coupled with real partnerships will again
be key," he told Insights. "New ideas that generate solutions to
real problems we all see in the intermodal markets will need to be
considered. Where we see bottlenecks and excess costs we need
to work together across the intermodal supply chain for solutions
that benefit all."

Continued Investment Needed
Keller said the key to capitalize on opportunities will be
continued investment to meet demand as well as meeting
the increasingly demanding door-to-door delivery schedule
requirements.

He particularly cited the role of railroads, indicating the
need for them "to continue providing adequate capacity and
sustainable and ever-improving operational processes, leading
to a higher consistency and predictability of service, as well as
sufficient numbers of intermodal rail cars."
Anthony Hatch, who heads ABH Consulting, highlighted the
link between service and investment and the need for long-term
commitment. "Service is a function of capacity," he said.
"Railroads have to focus on service, as they reduce capital
expenditures from extra high to just high. It can take time to
work capacity additions through the system. Railroads need to
be sure there is not a capacity shortage if they expect to return
to normalized 5 to 7 percent growth rates that are above GDP
growth." He also made this prediction: "The economy will tilt in
the railroads' favor in 2018, assuming they provide capacity and
service reliability."
Keller noted that an industrywide attention to service
improvement is hardly a new issue. "That introspective
approach allows for constant improvements in process and
technology which is and continues to be critical. The intermodal
marketplace is all about servicing the cargo and ensuring it
moves to the ultimate user efficiently and undamaged. That is
a simple premise, but given the complexities of modern supply
chains, that requires attention to detail and real service-oriented
organizations."
Other steps are needed as well, he added. "We need to be
more effective with our community partners so that regulators,
political leaders and citizens at large truly understand the
importance of the international supply chain and intermodal

ORANGE MOVES YOU FORWARD

We Are on the Move Again Expanding Our Orange Footprint Into New Markets
The North American Chassis Pool Cooperative (NACPC), and
FlexiVan have established a new cooperative chassis pool for the
Port of New York and New Jersey. The Open Choice Equipment
Agreement - Northeast (OCEA-N), is a port-wide gray chassis pool
servicing cargo, freight and equipment handling facilities in the
port complexes of New York and New Jersey. As we move forward
with establishing a modern chassis supply network supporting the
US intermodal container network, we say thank you for all your
support and look forward to continued growth in the Northeast.

R E Q U E ST I N F O R M AT I O N

EXPERIENCE NACPC.ORG | CALL 1.877. 66 . NACPC

January/February 2018 | Intermodal Insights

9
http://www.NACPC.ORG
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - January/February 2018
