Intermodal Equipment Glossary

For general Intermodal terms, see the Intermodal Glossary

A-C

A

Advanced Booking
A request to make a reservation a certain number of days in advance of the pick-up date and takes priority over a standby request. 

Agent Railroad
A railroad moving a container or providing terminal services as an agent for an EMP participating railroad. Containers in the care or custody of an agent railroad are treated as though they are in the care and custody of an EMP participating railroad.

Assigned Units
IMCs can acquire an assignment of units. The purpose of taking units under assignment is so that the units will not be returned empty to the ramp and will constantly be re-loaded and shipped in a high volume lane on the rail. In return, the customer typically receives a lower per diem rate.

B

Bad Ordered
A unit that is loaded improperly, mechanically defective, or has safety violations is considered "bad ordered."

Bill Of Lading
A document issued by an IMC to the railroad specifying shipment instructions. Bill of Lading is commonly referred to as "EDI 404," "shipping instructions" or "billing."

Billable Time
Any time that a unit is not under control by a railroad and is under a particular IMC's control.

Billing Cycle
A bi-weekly process of invoicing by Blume Global, which is run as follows: Reservations that complete between the 1st and 15th of each month are invoiced around the 17th of the month. Reservations that are complete between the 16th and the end of the month are invoiced around the 3rd of the following month.

Billing Dispute
A discrepancy, electronically filed with Blume Global, with any portion of a statement; Billing disputes must be initiated with Blume Global.

Blume Global (formerly REZ-1)
Company that manages the containers/trailers in the EMP and UMAX program and controls the equipment reservations.

Booking/Reservation Number
A three part series of characters given out by Blume Global to an IMC who, in turn, will give it to a drayage provider so that they can use it at a ramp to pick up an empty unit for loading and shipment.

  • The first four characters indicate the units program and size (e.g., EU48. E means EMP. U means standard. 48 means 48 feet long).
  • The next character is the reservation type (e.g., G means general).
  • The last 5 characters are a series of randomly chosen numbers (e.g., 34772).

After a reservation's shipment has been delivered and the reservation has moved into billing by Blume Global, the booking/reservation number can be "recycled" and applied to some future reservation.

C

Chassis
A rubber-tired under-frame on which a container is mounted for street or highway transport.

CLM
Car Location Message, a railroad generated message that reports the location of moving rail cars, including flatbeds carrying intermodal units.

Combination Rate
A rate made by combining two or more local rates. In metro areas where there are multiple terminals, Combination Rates may not be utilized if there is a through rate from any terminal in the metro area. Customers may not use a Combination Rate for a shipment in an EMP or UMAX container when a through rate is published. This includes local Union Pacific shipments and interline shipments. Customers that move in violation will be charged through Blume Global. 

Container
A large, reusable receptacle that resembles a truck trailer without wheels (chassis), that is lifted onto flatcars. Containers are designed for all modes of intermodal transport, and can accommodate smaller cartons or cases in a single shipment, designed for efficient handling of cargo.

Crossover Charge
Crossover charges occur when a unit is taken from one ramp and returned to a different railroad in the same or different metro area. In specific cities, the railroads may impose crossover charges.

Cross-town
When a unit is moving from one railroad to another, at the point of exchange, it will be trucked from the first railroad's yard, to the second railroad's yard. This time on the road is called "cross-town."

D-F

D

Demurrage
Compensation for the use of a container during loading or unloading; also known as per diem. 

Destination Dwell
Demurrage time after a unit has reached its destination by railroad. Destination ramp dwell is dwell time from arrival to outgate at destination. Destination street dwell is time from outgate to closing event. 

Destination Ramp
The railroad terminal that a unit will go to, to be picked up by truck for delivery.

Draft
The process of electronically collecting funds from an IMC's bank account by Blume Global via the Automatic Clearing House (ACH) process.

Drayage Provider
A trucking company.

Drayman
Term used that refers to a trucking company or an individual trucker.

Drop Charges
The railroads may impose drop charges at certain ramps to units that return to the ramp empty. Drop charges are used to prevent congestion.

Dwell
Same as demurrage; used more in rail industry communications than in legal contracts; also known as per diem.

E

EDI
Electronic Data Interchange, the protocol used by companies to send and receive electronic messages concerning container reservations, movements and invoices.

EMP
A domestic interline container service offered by Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. EMP provides a fleet of more than 40,000 53' domestic containers and chassis that move throughout a nationwide intermodal network. 

Empty/Empty
A charge applied when a container is outgated empty from a terminal and returned empty to a terminal. 

F

Flatcar
A freight car having a floor without any housing or body above. Frequently used to carry containers and/or trailers or oversized/odd-shaped commodities.

Freerunning Unit
A unit that is not assigned and can be used by any IMC; equipment in the EMP and UMAX programs; also known as a rail container. 

Free Time
The period allowed the owner to accept delivery before storage or demurrage charges begin to accrue.

G-L

G

General Move
A shipment in which the railroad receives revenue for its services.

I

IMC
Intermodal Marketing Company. This company is a broker or "middleman" who reserves containers (through Blume Global) for their customers, who are in turn, companies that want to ship truckloads of their goods from manufacturing plants to wholesalers, or from wholesalers to retailers.

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

Ingate Load or Load/Load
Term applied to a unit re-loaded while away from the railroad. A trucker takes the loaded unit from a railroad terminal and unloads its cargo, then loads the same unit with a new shipment and returns the unit to the terminal for further hauling by the railroad.

Intermodal
Interchange of equipment between differing modes of transportation, which include: rail, truck or ocean.

Invoice
The written recap of an IMC's reservation from Blume Global, to include, but not limited to, cancellation, expiration, origin and destination dwell times.

J

J-1
A report completed during the ingate and outgate process. The J-1 details damage to the unit, container information, shipping information, drayman involved and time of ingate/outgate.

L

Lane
The pre-described course a unit follows from origin to destination on the railroad, also known as a valid origin/destination pair. Valid "lanes" are determined by participating railroads.

Lane Incentive
A lane incentive is applied when a unit ships as a load from a specific origin ramp to a specific destination ramp. (Other restrictions may apply.)

Line Haul
The movement of a unit on the railroad from origin to destination.

Line Haul Rate
The amount charged by the railroad (to an IMC) for a shipment, dependent on the actual origin and destination.

M-O

M

Metro Code
A code assigned to a particular region indicating its location in or near a large city. All intermodal ramps have an assigned Metro Code. Several of them may be included in the same Metro Code. 

Mexico Direct
The rail option to move units to and from Mexico. Units move on the rail from origin ramp to destination ramp via Union Pacific and either KCSM or FXE railroads while in Mexico. 

Misuse Charge

A penalty imposed by the railroads for taking a unit out of one metro area and returning the unit to another metro area empty or loaded. For example, if a unit outgates in Los Angeles and ingates empty or loaded to Lathrop, a misuse charge will occur. These charges are determined by participating railroads and can be changed at any time. 

Mutual Commitment Program (MCP)
A program offered where Union Pacific commits to a rate. Union Pacific and the IMC then commit to weekly container capacity and the BCO commits to ship year-round volume. 

N

Notify
The process whereby the railroad will inform the drayage provider or IMC that a unit is available for pick-up. The Notify will place the move in a destination dwell status.

O

Off-Route
A unit is considered Off-Route when it travels in an invalid lane (such as Las Vegas to Allentown) or when it travels on a non-participatory railroad (such as BNSF Railway). An IMC will be charged off-route charges by Blume Global until that unit is brought back to a valid terminal.

Origin Dwell
The demurrage time before a unit is brought to a railroad terminal to be shipped.

Origin Incentive
Origin Incentives apply when units are returned to the specified origin ramp as a load for shipment. (Other restrictions may apply.)

Origin Ramp
The railroad terminal that a unit is brought to after being loaded for shipment.

Outgate
Defines the event of a unit being taken from a railroad terminal by a trucking company.

P-R

P

Paper Ramp
A rail-truck or truck-rail movement in which a participating railroad has combined the rail and truck movements into a single transportation package for freerunning units. Units are shipped via rail from one terminal to another. After that, a contracted drayage provider trucks the unit to the paper ramp operator's lot for customer pick-up. The process also works in reverse. A shipment can originate with the truck movement and then move to the rail portion of the movement.

Passport Service
An option that allows customers to ship door-to-door, to and from Mexico via Union Pacific and its subsidiary, Streamline. Units moving to Mexico are taken off train in Laredo, TX, or Tucson, AZ, and trucked to destination in Mexico by Streamline. 

Per Diem
Compensation for the use of a container during loading or unloading; also known as demurrage. 

Pick-Up Incentive
Pick-up incentives credit customers when a unit is picked up empty from the specified reservation ramp(s).

R

Rail Container
A unit that is not assigned and can be used by any IMC, equipment in the EMP and UMAX programs; also known as a freerunning unit. 

Rail User Number

An ID number given to an IMC by Blume Global. An IMC will use this number when they make reservations to prove that they are a valid member of the EMP and/or UMAX  reservation program.

Ramp
Railroad facility designed for the loading and unloading of containers and trailers to and from flatcars for movement on the railroad and subsequent movement over-the-road via truck. Also known as an intermodal terminal. 

Repo
A shipment generated by the railroad for repositioning empty units from one location, to another location in which they can be better utilized or to a location that is deficient.

Reservation Ramp
Term used by Blume Global to describe a railroad terminal, where an empty unit is picked up with a valid booking/reservation number.

Return Ramp
A railroad terminal that a unit is brought back to after dropping off its shipment. This drop-off will complete the original move. It will also start a new move if it's brought back with another shipment.

"Road Worthy" Unit
Any unit that is mounted to a good order chassis and is not in a bad order status. 

S-W

S

SCAC
Standard Carrier Alpha Code, used for identifying truckers, railroads and other conveyors.

Shared Incentive
A Shared Incentive occurs when two railroads join together to share in the cost of a lane incentive.

SPLC
Standard Point Location Code, used by railroads to identify their ramps (terminals) and other (intermediate) locations.

Storage
The amount of time between the notification of a load and the outgate after the allotted free time has expired. Charges for storage are based on this amount of time. Storage free time begins at notification, and charges begin to accrue once free time has expired. 

Street Interchange
A street interchange transfers financial responsibility of a unit from one IMC to another on a date and time that is specified by the drayage firm in control of that container or by an IMC that has financial responsibility for that particular container.

T

Terminal
Railroad facility designed for the loading and unloading of containers and trailers to and from flatcars for movement on the railroad and subsequent movement over-the-road via truck. Also known as an intermodal ramp. 

Trailer
A unit that has its own rear wheels, and therefore cannot be stacked on one another.

Transit
The time that a unit is on the railroad. Transit starts from the ingate load at origin and goes until the notify at destination. Transit calculates the amount of time a railroad was in possession of a unit and how long it took to ship that unit from point A to point B.

U

UMAX
A domestic interline container service offered by Union Pacific and CSX Intermodal. UMAX provides access to a fleet of more than 40,000, 53-foot domestic containers and demonstrates both carriers' commitment to maximize customers' shipping options, while featuring truck-competitive services.

W

Waybill
A document giving details and instructions relating to a shipment of goods. A waybill is issued by the railroad after receipt of the Bill Of Lading.