When most shippers compare intermodal and truckload, they look at one number: the linehaul rate. It's understandable. The linehaul rate is easy to compare. It's the number on the quote. It's what shows up in bid responses and rate confirmations. And it's easily sorted on an Excel spreadsheet from low to high.
But focusing solely on linehaul is a mistake many shippers make in determining their freight buys. Looking at the linehaul rate alone ignores the underlying cost structure that makes intermodal significantly more cost-efficient, more predictable, and more stable over the long term (I'd argue checking the freight provider's insurance coverage and D&B are more important in today's market).
Intermodal's value isn't just "cheaper rail vs. expensive truck." It's the system-wide reduction of volatility, risk, and cost exposure throughout your freight network.
If you've already read our companion articles - How to Know Which Lanes Are a Perfect Fit for Intermodal, When Intermodal Is the Wrong Choice, and Intermodal vs. Truckload: A True Apples-to-Apples Comparison - you know where intermodal fits and how to compare the modes fairly.
This article goes deeper on the cost side. It's for shippers who want to understand why intermodal's advantage is bigger than it appears on paper.
A truckload linehaul rate is simple:
Clean. Easy to compare.
Intermodal's cost structure is different. It has more components:
This multi-touch structure can make intermodal feel more complex. When an IMC presents pricing this way, shippers may conclude that the all-in intermodal rate is not meaningfully different from truckload.
Here's what they're missing: Looking only at intermodal's linehaul number understates its actual cost advantage.
When you factor in fuel economics, volatility exposure, capacity cycles, accessorial behavior, and long-term rate trends, intermodal often delivers double-digit savings that don't show up on a rate sheet.
The real comparison isn't linehaul to linehaul. It's total landed cost over time.
Let's dig into the real economics.
Fuel is one of the biggest drivers of truckload costs. And it's one of the most volatile.
When diesel prices spike, truckload rates spike immediately because trucks burn far more fuel per mile than trains. There's no escaping the physics.
Truck vs. Rail Fuel Efficiency:
| Mode | Fuel Consumption |
|---|---|
| Truck | ~1 gallon per 6-7 miles |
| Rail | ~1 gallon per 450+ ton-miles |
That's a 25-30x efficiency difference.
What does this mean in practice?
The Hidden Advantage:
Shippers who move more freight by rail decouple themselves from diesel volatility - one of the biggest drivers of transportation cost inflation.
Over the past five years, diesel prices have swung from under $2.50 to over $5.00 per gallon. Every spike hit truckload shippers hard. Intermodal shippers felt it less.
This isn't a one-time savings. It's a structural advantage that compounds over time.
One of the most common concerns shippers raise about intermodal is accessorials:
"I've heard intermodal accessorials can eat up all your savings," shippers tell us.
It's a fair concern. Poorly managed intermodal programs can generate accessorial surprises. But here's the part that rarely gets discussed:
Truckload Accessorials Are Increasing Faster
The truckload market has become significantly more aggressive about accessorial charges:
Carriers that previously absorbed modest delays are now billing detention more consistently, which has reduced the practical “free time” shippers once relied on.
Meanwhile, Intermodal Accessorials Are Becoming More Predictable
Strong IMCs increasingly offer:
The key difference: Intermodal accessorials are largely controllable when you work with an experienced IMC.
The Hidden Advantage:
A well-managed intermodal program often has more predictable accessorial costs than truckload, especially when capacity tightens and carriers become aggressive about protecting their time.
The shippers who fear intermodal accessorials often don't realize how much they're already paying in truckload detention and layover charges.
If you've been in transportation for more than a few years, you know: truckload is extremely cyclical.
Rates behave like a roller coaster:
This volatility creates headaches across the organization:
How do you set prices for your customers when your transportation costs can swing double digits in a single quarter?
Intermodal Operates Differently
Intermodal rates are significantly more stable than truckload.
Because railroads operate structured networks with fixed infrastructure and scheduled trains, intermodal pricing:
When truckload spot rates spike, intermodal contract rates typically hold steady.
This scenario played out for many InTek customers during the pandemic.
Current Market Context:
We've been in a freight recession since July 2022. Truckload spot rates have bounced along the bottom for over two years now. During this period, intermodal spot rates (excluding fuel) have been flat since Week 19 of 2024, sitting at December 2019 lows since Week 11 of 2025.
Here's something we track closely: the statistical correlation between truckload spot rates and intermodal spot rates is extremely tight with an r-value around 0.90.
What does that tell us?
Truckload spot rates signal a turn. Intermodal determines whether that turn has real momentum.
When truckload spikes but intermodal doesn't follow, the spike is usually temporary - driven by weather, a holiday, or a short-term demand blip. When intermodal follows truckload up, the market is genuinely tightening.
As we begin 2026, truckload has seen brief pops without intermodal confirming any sustained recovery. That tells us the market remains soft and any truckload rate pressure has been short-lived.
The Hidden Advantage:
Intermodal reduces exposure to truckload spot spikes, creating:
Shippers who use intermodal intentionally see fewer surprises in their transportation budgets.
That predictability has real value, even if it doesn't show up in a linehaul comparison.
Truckload capacity is governed by highly variable factors:
Any one of these can flip a market from loose to tight in days.
Intermodal Capacity Is Governed by More Stable Factors:
Truckload can "flip" fast. Intermodal rarely does.
What Happens When Truckload Tightens:
What Happens With Intermodal During the Same Period:
The Hidden Advantage:
Intermodal removes shippers from the "capacity lottery" of truckload peaks, especially around:
Even more important: rail capacity can absorb sudden volume spikes better than a fragmented truckload market. Railroads can add cars to trains. Trucking companies can't instantly hire and train new drivers and buy new equipment.
Why This Matters Now:
Shippers who maintained intermodal programs during this soft truck market will be better positioned when capacity tightens - and it always does, eventually. Those who abandoned intermodal when truck got cheap will scramble to get back on rail, often finding equipment unavailable and rates higher than if they'd stayed.
We saw this exact pattern play out in 2019-2021. History tends to repeat.
Take a 5-10 year view of transportation costs, and truckload and intermodal diverge significantly.
Truckload Pricing Drifts Higher Faster
The structural cost pressures on trucking are relentless:
All of these push truckload rates higher over time regardless of where we are in the cycle.
Intermodal Pricing Grows More Slowly
Rail has different cost dynamics:
The result: intermodal's cost curve rises more slowly than truckload's.
The Hidden Advantage:
Intermodal becomes more cost-competitive every year, especially on long-haul corridors. The savings you capture by switching to intermodal today will likely grow over time, not shrink.
Your intermodal advantage compounds as truckload's structural costs continue to climb.
Truckload efficiency depends heavily on human factors:
A truck can only move as fast as its driver can legally and safely operate. And the truck sits idle while the driver sleeps.
Intermodal Assets Are Utilized More Efficiently:
The Hidden Advantage:
Better asset utilization reduces your per-mile cost, which is something truckload can't replicate at scale.
When a container moves from Los Angeles to Chicago, it doesn't care about driver hours, rest stops, or fuel station locations. It just keeps moving.
Sustainability used to be a "nice to have." Now it's becoming a financial imperative.
Shippers increasingly face:
Intermodal's Emissions Advantage Is Significant:
Rail produces approximately 75% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than trucking on a ton-mile basis.
A single intermodal shipment from Los Angeles to Chicago generates a fraction of the carbon footprint of the same move by truck.
The Hidden Financial Link:
Carbon reduction is increasingly linked to cost and competitiveness:
The Hidden Advantage:
Intermodal future-proofs your supply chain against emerging carbon costs and positions you as a preferred supplier to your own customers.
Shippers who build sustainable logistics networks now will have a competitive advantage when carbon costs become mandatory. Those who wait will face sudden cost increases and scramble to catch up.
When disruptions - hurricanes, snowstorms, port congestion, labor shortages, regional surges - hit, the cost of truckload spikes quickly.
Why? Because truckload capacity is fragmented across thousands of carriers, each making independent decisions about where to deploy trucks. When demand surges in one region, capacity floods there, while leaving other regions short.
Intermodal's Structured Network Absorbs Disruption Differently:
The Hidden Advantage:
Avoiding disruption cost is often worth far more than a linehaul rate difference.
A single week of emergency spot freight during a capacity crunch can cost more than a year's worth of intermodal savings. Shippers who build resilient networks with intermodal avoid those spikes entirely.
When you evaluate only linehaul, intermodal looks like 10-15% savings on qualifying lanes.
When you evaluate total landed cost over time, the savings jump dramatically.
Intermodal's Real Savings Come From:
| Cost Factor | Intermodal Advantage |
|---|---|
| Fuel exposure | 25-30x more efficient than truck |
| Accessorial predictability | Controllable with right IMC |
| Rate volatility | Stable vs. cyclical swings |
| Capacity stability | Insulated from truckload crunches |
| Long-term inflation | Slower cost curve growth |
| Asset utilization | Continuous movement, no HOS |
| Emissions cost | 75% lower carbon footprint |
| Disruption resilience | Structured network absorbs shocks |
The True Total Cost Advantage: Often 25% and greater
Most shippers who analyze total landed cost, not just linehaul, find intermodal delivers far more savings than they ever realized.
The linehaul comparison might show 12-15% savings. The total landed cost analysis, factoring in all the hidden advantages, often shows 25% or more in total value.
Truckload pricing is loud, volatile, and visible. Every spike makes headlines. Every capacity crunch creates panic.
Intermodal pricing is stable, predictable, and structurally efficient. It doesn't make headlines because it doesn't swing wildly.
Once you go deeper than the linehaul number, the hidden advantages become clear:
Intermodal is not just a cheaper long-haul mode.
It's a smarter financial strategy for shippers looking to reduce cost, risk, and uncertainty across their supply chain.
This article focuses on the cost advantages of intermodal. For a complete picture of when and how to use intermodal, see our companion articles:
Together, these articles give you a complete framework for making smart mode decisions by maximizing savings where intermodal fits while avoiding the lanes where it doesn't.
At InTek Logistics, we help shippers analyze their networks and quantify the total cost advantage of intermodal — not just the linehaul savings.
We provide:
For more about InTek Logistics - and the industry in general, go to our Resources or visit the highlighted pages below. If you're interested in working with us, fill in our brief form and we'll be happy to get in touch to discuss your freight needs.
Domestic Freight Services: