Bigger role for stack trains: government study tells railroads, ocean carriers and ports how to compete with motor carriers for domestic business.

Bigger Role for Stack Trains

Domestic containerization is here to stay and ocean carriers, along with their intermodal affiliates, railroads, and ports, can take several measures that will enable them to effectively compete with motor carriers for double-stack business on the domestic front, according to a joint study sponsored within the Department of Transportation by the Federal Railroad Administration and the Maritime Administration.

Overall, the study predicts good news for the big U.S.-flag ocean carriers and their intermodal affiliates, which, in the cases of American President Lines and Sea-Land, have been working as team units on the double-stack front over the past few years.

Without directly saying so, the study indicates that the large U.S.-flag container operators with well-run intermodal affiliates (American President Lines and Sea-Land Service) may indeed become the major "managers" of total …