Glossary

The status of merchandise admitted provisionally to a country without payment of duties either for storage in a bonded warehouse or for transshipment to another point where duties will eventually be imposed and paid.

Term applied to units arriving at a railroad terminal over the road, from a trucking company.

The exchange of rail cars between connecting railroads.

Agreement between a railroad and a drayage company that allows a specific drayage company to drop off or pick up railroad or private intermodal equipment at the said railroad's facilities. Also known as an Equipment Interchange Agreement.

An industry trade association representing the combined interests of intermodal freight transportation companies.

IMCs purchase rail and truck transportation services, utilize equipment from multiple sources, and provide other value-added services under a single freight bill to the ultimate shipper. Examples are: ship-rail, rail-truck. Various types of IMC’s.

• Bi-Modal — Own COFC boxes; and do the majority of their own dray work with company drivers and equipment. Have a direct relationship with the railroads.
• Asset-Light — Own COFC boxes; do a portion of the dray with company drivers; tap into the railroad assets to augment capacity; and outsource some of the dray to handle the peaks. Have a direct relationship with the railroads.
• Non-Asset — Tap into the railroads’ container capacity, as well as, into bi-modal and asset-light providers for container and dray capacity. Have a direct relationship with the railroads.
• Broker — Tap into all IMC segments, but do not have a direct relationship with the railroads.

A railroad facility designed for the loading and unloading of containers and trailers to and from flat cars for movement on the railroad and subsequent movement on the street or highway.

Imported traffic movement from an origin port to an inland point on an ocean bill of lading.