Pdxrailtransit Wrote:
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> GTH Wrote:
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> -----
> > Pdxrailtransit Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > . Wrote:
> > >
> >
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> >
> > > -----
> > > > Are not the drayage operators also guilty?
> > >
> > > Technically, yes. But the problem is that
> their
> > > profit margins (if any,) are not sufficient
> to
> > > allow them to upgrade their rigs. If the
> > > railroad's had to use their own truck fleet,
> > they
> > > would be in compliance.
> >
> > There would be no intermodal business if the
> > railroads did that, due to high railroad costs.
>
> So you support a status quo that exploits drivers
> and pollutes the environment all in the name of
> the mighty dollar? Maybe you should look up
> "hidden costs" in the dictionary.

Maybe you should look up "reality" in the dictionary.

Where did I say I supported anything?
Nice try at changing the subject. But you didn't.

This all goes back to deregulation. The first thing the
railroads did after Staggers was cut, cut, cut. Because
that was all they had known how to do for the previous 50-
75 years. Don't pay attention to new opportunities; after
all those might cost money to implement.

One of the things cut the most were marketing and sales
departments. The Operating people all thought those guys
never did anything anyway except go to lunch and play golf.

Intermodal marketing was arguably cut hardest and deepest
and it wasn't long before 3rd party logistics providers
began to fill that gap. The railroads were not interested in
or capable of designing service plans and selling those plans.
They did not want to buy equipment (tractors, trailers, containers,
etc.)

So along come the steamship lines, who figures out how to get
the railroads to provide locomotives and crews and transportation
while TTX and individual lessors provided trailers and containers.
Terminal operations (including drayage and chassis) were also
farmed out.

So, the difference between the rate the 3pl's charge and what they
pay the railroads for the road haul got larger. RR's thought they
were really doing something, not realizing they were leaving a LOT
of money on the table for the 3pl's to make. Essentially, the
3pls became retailers and the railroads were reduced to being
wholesalers.

So, if you want to @#$%& and whine about the drayage drivers'
plight (which is real and which I am NOT defending), you need
to improve your target selection and aim.

You might then learn that most dockside terminals are not owned and
not operated by railroads. Railroads also have little to no say in
how drayage contractors are hired or what they are paid.