Rail and Intermodal Equipment and Supplies Key Terms

Learn rail and intermodal key terms before you ship goods by truck and train

By J. Simonetta

When shipping goods great distances, it's often most practical to transport loads part of the way by train and part of the way by truck. Other times, a load of goods may use trucks, trains, ships and planes. This process of using more than one mode of transport, known as intermodal transportation, is popular worldwide. Like most industries, both rail and intermodal transportation has unique vocabularies, so it pays to know some rail and intermodal equipment and supplies key terms.

Dunnage

When you're shipping goods across the country or across the world, the last thing you want is for everything to be rattling around getting broken inside containers. Dunnage is any kind of material that prevents goods from damage during transportation. Common dunnage includes tarps, padding, ropes and strapping.
Try: Transportation Information Services has a great description of the different types and functions of dunnage.

Shipping container

A standard shipping container, sometimes just called a container, measures 20x40 feet and is widely used in intermodal and international shipping. If a company ships intermodally or internationally, it's often much cheaper and easier to ship goods in containers. For international or intermodal travel, the containers are typically loaded at the company's factory, transported to a train yard or port, loaded on a train or ship, loaded back on a truck and delivered to their final destination.
Try: Shipping International offers illustrations and other information about shipping containers.

Piggyback

When an over-the-road truck is placed on a flatbed train car for transportation, it's riding piggyback, or piggybacking. This occurs when it makes more sense to drive part of the way, load the entire truck onto a flatbed rail car, then drive the remainder of the distance to the final destination.
Try: See a piggyback train in motion at YouTube.

Less-than-truckload or less-than-containerload

Small freight shipments of less than a truckload or container load are known as less-than-truckload (LTT) or less-than-containe rload (LTC) shipments. These shipments are often bundled together and shipped in a full-size truck, then delivered individually in smaller vehicles.
Try: wiseGEEK has an excellent description of less-than-truckload shipping.

ISO pallets

When shipping overseas, it's particularly important to note international standards. International Organization for Standardization or ISO (yes, the acronym doesn't match the letter placement in the name) pallets, for example, meet certain requirements so that they can be easily and safely handled by loading and unloading equipment such as forklifts. When shipping intermodally or internationally it's critical to use standard pallets.
Try: The International Organization for Standardization lists all the particulars regarding ISO pallets.

Double-stack rail

Double-stack rail is when two containers are stacked on top of each other and carried on a single rail car. This configuration is much more efficient than the traditional one container per rail car configuration.
Try: Yenra provides an excellent discussion of double-stack rail advantages.