The IMC Makes or Breaks the Experience

Here's something we've learned after nearly two decades in intermodal:

The difference between a shipper who loves intermodal and one who swears it off forever usually isn't the mode itself. It's the IMC.

Two shippers can move freight on the exact same railroad, over the exact same lane, during the exact same week and have completely different experiences. One gets reliable service, proactive communication, and controlled costs. The other gets missed deliveries, finger-pointing, and accessorial surprises.

Same rail. Same lane. Different IMC. Different outcome.

That's because intermodal is a three-part service: origin dray, rail linehaul, and destination dray. The railroad handles the middle portion. But the IMC orchestrates everything else ... and everything else is where most failures happen.

According to our data, drayage is responsible for approximately 95% of intermodal service failures. Not the railroad. The first and last mile. Which means the IMC you choose and how they manage those touchpoints determines whether intermodal works for you or doesn't.

This article is a comprehensive guide to evaluating intermodal providers. We'll cover what great IMCs do differently, the questions you should ask, the red flags to watch for, and a practical checklist you can use when making your decision.

What the Data Says About IMC Performance

Before diving into specifics, let's look at what shippers actually say matters.

The Journal of Commerce (JOC) publishes an Intermodal Service Scorecard that surveys shippers and IMCs on provider performance. The findings are instructive.

Key insights from recent JOC surveys:

• Shippers rated mid-market IMCs and J.B. Hunt at the top in four of six key performance indicators.
• Shippers said customer service was most important and price competitiveness was second.
• Mid-market IMCs tend to excel in customer service because they can deliver a personalized approach that may not always occur with larger companies.
• Nearly 88% of shippers were satisfied with their IMCs.
• One shipper wrote: "Our IMC communicates well and is a great long-term partner, so while their rates may be a little higher, their service is excellent."

The message is clear: service quality and customer experience matter more than size or asset ownership.

A well-run mid-market IMC often outperforms a larger provider on the metrics shippers care about most. That doesn't mean large providers are bad. J.B. Hunt is the 800-pound gorilla in the space that consistently receives strong marks. We have a tremndous amount of respect for them.

But it does mean shippers shouldn't default to the biggest name without evaluating what actually drives their experience they require for their customers. And what we find is many of our customers use both J.B. Hunt and InTek Logistics, as their customers may require different communication, pricing or looking to diversify their intermodal needs across different railroads.

Before leaving this section, we also can't resist tooting our own horn - or letting a customer who responded to the latest survey do it for us:

“Extremely proactive and always available to hop on a call. It’s pretty rare when you can pick up the phone and be able to speak with the president of any company, but this is commonplace with InTek. We value long-term relationships with our vendors, and with InTek, it goes beyond a partnership; we feel like they are an extension of our transportation department.”

Part 1: The Ownership Mentality

What Great IMCs Do

Great IMCs operate with an ownership mentality. They treat your shipment as if it were their own reputation on the line because it is. With the mid-market IMCs, all we have is service so they need to perform above the largest intermodal providers in the space to continue to excel in their space.

This shows up in how they handle problems. When something goes wrong (and in freight, something always goes wrong eventually), a great IMC doesn't point fingers. They don't blame the railroad, the dray carrier, the chassis pool, or the terminal. They own the problem and work to solve it.

From your perspective, you shouldn't care whether the delay was caused by a dray carrier missing a cut-time or a train running late. You care that your freight didn't arrive when expected and you want someone accountable for fixing it. In other words, you care about outcomes only.

Signs of ownership mentality:

• Single point of contact who owns your shipment end-to-end
• No finger-pointing when issues arise
• Proactive communication before you have to ask
• Taking responsibility for accessorial charges caused by their coordination failures
• Treating your service standards as their service standards

What Average IMCs Do

Average IMCs behave more like brokers of disconnected touchpoints. They coordinate the pieces but don't truly own the outcome.

When problems occur, the explanation sounds like: "The railroad was late" or "The dray carrier missed the appointment" or "The terminal was congested." The subtext: not our fault.

This creates a frustrating experience where the shipper becomes the project manager, chasing updates across multiple parties and trying to figure out who's responsible for what.

Red flags:

• Multiple contacts for different legs of the move
• Explanations that shift blame to other parties
• Reactive communication (you learn about problems after they've already impacted you)
• Accessorial charges passed through without any effort to prevent or contest them
• "We're just the middleman" attitude

Questions to Ask

1. "When something goes wrong, who owns resolving it?"
2. "Walk me through your escalation process when a shipment is at risk."
3. "How do you handle accessorial charges, meaning do you pass them through automatically, or do you work to prevent and contest them?"
4. "Can you give me an example of a recent service failure and how you handled it?"

Part 2: Drayage Management

Why This Matters Most

Remember that statistic: drayage causes approximately 95% of intermodal service failures.

The railroad portion of an intermodal move is actually quite reliable. Trains run on schedules. Terminals operate predictably. The rail linehaul is the most consistent part of the service.

The complexity and the risk lie in the first and last mile:

• Getting a container to the origin ramp on time to meet the cut-off
• Picking up a container from the destination ramp before storage charges begin
• Coordinating with your facilities' receiving schedules
• Managing appointments, detention, and driver availability

A great IMC excels at drayage management. An average one treats it as an afterthought.

What Great IMCs Do

Deep dray carrier relationships: Great IMCs cultivate strong, long-term relationships with drayage carriers in every market they serve. These aren't transactional arrangements. They're partnerships built on mutual reliability and consistent volume.

When capacity tightens or a problem arises, a great IMC's dray carriers answer the phone. They prioritize loads from IMCs who treat them well. That relationship advantage shows up as better service for you.

Proactive container management: Great IMCs monitor container positions constantly. They know when a container arrives at the destination ramp. They track free time windows. They coordinate pickup appointments before charges accrue.

They don't wait for you to ask "Where's my container?" They tell you before you need to know.

Backup capacity: Great IMCs maintain relationships with multiple dray carriers in each market. When the primary carrier has a problem. whether a driver illness, equipment breakdown, scheduling conflict, they have alternatives ready.

Cut-time discipline: Great IMCs build buffer into their planning. They don't schedule origin drays to arrive at the ramp 30 minutes before cut-off. They plan for contingencies so a minor delay doesn't cascade into a missed train.

What Average IMCs Do

Transactional dray relationships: Average IMCs post loads to spot markets and take whoever's cheapest. The dray carrier has no loyalty, no relationship, and no incentive to prioritize service when things get complicated.

Reactive container tracking: Average IMCs don't know where your container is until you ask. Then they make some calls and get back to you. By then, the problem has already occurred.

Single point of failure: Average IMCs have one dray option per market. When that carrier fails, your shipment fails.

Tight scheduling: Average IMCs cut it close. Everything works when everything goes perfectly. But freight doesn't always go perfectly.

Questions to Ask

1. "How many dray carriers do you work with in [my key markets]?"
2. "What's your backup plan when your primary dray carrier can't cover a load?"
3. "How do you monitor container arrivals and departures at terminals?"
4. "What's your on-time pickup rate from destination ramps?"
5. "Can you show me how you track free time and prevent storage charges?"

Part 3: Visibility and Communication

The Visibility Standard Has Changed

Shippers today expect real-time, map-based visibility. They've experienced it with parcel networks and premium truckload carriers. That's the benchmark.

Intermodal visibility has historically lagged because of too many handoffs, too many parties, fragmented data. But technology has caught up. Great IMCs have invested in visibility platforms that aggregate data across dray, rail, and terminal events into a single view.

If your IMC can't show you where your container is right now, in one dashboard, they're behind.

What Great IMCs Do

Unified visibility platform: Great IMCs provide a single interface that shows your shipment's status across all legs - origin dray, rail, destination dray. No logging into multiple systems. No calling different people for different updates.

Predictive ETAs: Beyond "where is it now," great IMCs provide intelligent ETA predictions that account for rail schedules, terminal conditions, and dray capacity. They tell you when it will arrive, not just where it is.

Exception-driven alerts: Great IMCs don't wait for you to check status. They push alerts when something deviates from plan ... a train delay, a missed dray appointment, a terminal closure. You find out about problems when there's still time to react.

Proactive communication: Great IMCs communicate before you have to ask. They reach out when a shipment is at risk. They provide status updates at key milestones. They treat communication as part of the service, not an inconvenience.

What Average IMCs Do

Fragmented visibility: Average IMCs give you tracking numbers for different legs. Want to know where it is on rail? Check this system. Want to know about dray? Call this person. The burden of stitching together status falls on you.

Lagging updates: Average IMCs provide status that's hours or days old. "Last we heard, it was at the ramp yesterday." That's not visibility; that's archaeology.

Reactive communication: Average IMCs communicate when you complain. Until then, silence. You find out about problems when you're calling to ask why your freight didn't show up.

Questions to Ask

1. "Can you show me your visibility platform?"
2. "How do you aggregate tracking across dray, rail, and terminal?"
3. "What kind of alerts do you provide proactively?"
4. "When a shipment is at risk, how and when do you notify me?"
5. "Can this integrate with my TMS?"

Part 4: Accessorial Control

The Hidden Cost That Ruins Intermodal

Intermodal accessorials are the number one reason shippers abandon the mode.

It's not that intermodal service failed them. It's that the invoice came back $200 higher than the quote because of detention, demurrage, storage, chassis fees, or per diem charges they weren't expecting.

One bad experience with accessorial surprises can blacklist intermodal for years ... even when the issue was entirely preventable with proper management.

The Types of Accessorials

Demurrage: Charges for cargo left at the terminal beyond free time. The clock starts when the container arrives. If you don't pick it up within the allotted days, charges accrue ... often $75-200 per day, escalating over time.

Detention: Charges for holding equipment beyond free time during loading or unloading. Typically 2 hours free, then $50-100 per hour after that.

Storage: Charges for keeping containers at terminal facilities beyond the free period.

Per diem: Daily charges for extended use of containers or chassis beyond the contracted period.

Chassis fees: Charges for using chassis pools when not included in the base rate.

Lift fees: Charges for lifting containers onto or off railcars, although the great IMCs include that in their total linehaul cost.

What Great IMCs Do

Proactive prevention: Great IMCs track free time windows religiously. They schedule pickups and deliveries to avoid charges before they start. They alert you when your container is approaching the end of free time so you can adjust.

Bundled pricing options: Great IMCs offer all-in pricing structures that include or cap accessorials within defined parameters. This gives you cost predictability instead of surprise invoices.

Dispute and mitigation: When accessorial charges occur due to railroad or terminal issues (not shipper delays), great IMCs fight to dispute and reduce those charges. They don't just pass them through automatically.

Root cause analysis: Great IMCs track accessorial trends and work with you to address root causes. If your facility consistently causes detention, they'll help you optimize scheduling. They treat accessorials as a problem to solve, not a revenue stream.

What Average IMCs Do

Pass-through billing: Average IMCs treat accessorials as cost-plus. Whatever charges accrue, they pass through to you with minimal scrutiny.

No prevention effort: Average IMCs don't actively track free time or coordinate to avoid charges. They let issues happen and bill you afterward.

No dispute support: Average IMCs accept terminal and railroad charges at face value. They don't fight on your behalf.

Accessorial revenue: Some average IMCs actually benefit from accessorials — marking them up or viewing them as incremental revenue. Their incentives aren't aligned with yours.

Questions to Ask

1. "How do you monitor and prevent accessorial charges?"
2. "Can you provide bundled or all-in pricing that caps my accessorial exposure?"
3. "When accessorials occur, do you automatically pass them through or do you review and dispute?"
4. "What percentage of your shipments incur accessorial charges?"
5. "Can you show me a sample invoice breakdown?"

For more on accessorial management we recommend reading: Demurrage, Detention, Per Diem & Storage - Definitions & How to Avoid.

Part 5: Railroad Access and Relationships

Why This Matters

Every IMC uses the same railroads. There are only six U.S. Class 1 freight railroads (potentially soon to be five), plus two Canadian carriers with U.S. trackage. Whether you use a large asset IMC or a mid-market non-asset provider, your container rides the same trains.

But not every IMC has the same access or relationships.

What Great IMCs Do

Direct contractual relationships: Great IMCs have direct contracts with the Class I railroads — UP, NS, CSX, BNSF, CN, CPKC. They purchase capacity directly from the railroads, not through intermediaries. This gives them access to railroad-owned equipment, contracted rates, and year-round capacity commitments.

Multi-railroad access: Great IMCs work with all major railroads, not just one or two. This matters because no single railroad covers all of North America. Different lanes require different railroads. Having relationships across all carriers means they can serve any lane in your network and shift to alternatives when one railroad has service issues.

Equipment access: Great IMCs have access to multiple equipment pools, meaning railroad-owned containers, privately-owned containers, and in some cases their own equipment. This flexibility ensures capacity availability even when one source is tight.

What Average IMCs Do

Limited railroad relationships: Average IMCs may only have relationships with certain railroads, limiting the lanes they can competitively serve.

Broker model: Some providers that call themselves IMCs are actually brokers working through other IMCs. They don't have direct railroad contracts. This adds a layer between you and the railroad, often without the intermodal expertise that dedicated IMCs provide.

Single equipment source: Average IMCs may be limited to one equipment pool, reducing their flexibility when capacity tightens.

Questions to Ask

1. "Which Class I railroads do you have direct contractual relationships with?"
2. "Do you purchase rail service directly, or do you work through another IMC?"
3. "What equipment sources do you have access to - railroad-owned, private, owned?"
4. "If my primary railroad has service issues, what alternatives can you offer?"

Part 6: The Truck-Like Experience

The Standard You Should Expect

When shippers say they want intermodal to work "like truckload," they mean:

• One provider to call
• One invoice
• Clear accountability
• Predictable service
• Proactive communication
• No finger-pointing

This is entirely achievable with the right IMC. It's also entirely unachievable with the wrong one.

What Great IMCs Do

Single point of contact: Great IMCs assign you a dedicated team or representative who handles your freight end-to-end. You don't call different people for different legs. You call one number, and they own it.

Single invoice: Great IMCs consolidate everything, with linehaul, dray, fuel, and any accessorials assembled into one invoice - and then invoice their customer once on a single freight document.

Door-to-door service model: Great IMCs quote and execute door-to-door. They don't quote linehaul separately from dray and expect you to assemble the pieces. You get a pickup address, a delivery address, and a rate. Done.

Exception ownership: When issues occur, great IMCs handle them without requiring you to coordinate between parties. They manage the railroad, the dray carrier, and the terminal. You get updates and solutions, not excuses.

What Average IMCs Do

Fragmented contacts: Average IMCs have different people for different functions. Call this person for pricing, that person for dispatch, another for tracking, someone else for billing. The burden of coordination falls on you.

Multiple invoices: Average IMCs may bill multiple times for the same shipment, making cost tracking and reconciliation a headache.

Ramp-to-ramp thinking: Average IMCs operate with a ramp-to-ramp mentality versus a door-to-door solution that looks truck-like.

Questions to Ask

1. "Who is my single point of contact for all shipments?"
2. "Do you provide one consolidated invoice for door-to-door service?"
3. "If I have a problem at 7 PM, who do I call and what happens?"
4. "How do you handle exceptions without requiring me to coordinate between parties?"

Part 7: Technology Investment

The Technology That Matters

Great IMCs invest in technology because they don't have capital tied up in containers and trucks. Their competitive advantage comes from systems that deliver better service, not asset ownership.

Key technology capabilities:

• TMS integration: Ability to integrate with your transportation management system via EDI or API for automated booking, tracking, and invoicing
• Real-time visibility platform: Unified tracking across all modes and carriers
• Predictive analytics: ETA predictions, delay forecasting, and exception identification
• Reporting and analytics: Data on your shipping patterns, costs, and performance metrics
• Mobile access: Status and communication available on mobile devices

What Great IMCs Do

Great IMCs provide technology that makes your job easier:

• Easily understood quotes can be quickly and easily obtained
• Shipments book automatically through TMS integration
• Tracking updates flow into your systems in real-time
• Reports and analytics help you optimize your network
• Dashboards show performance metrics at a glance

What Average IMCs Do

Average IMCs operate on legacy systems:

• Quotes require phone calls and manual processing
• Booking is done via email or fax
• Tracking requires logging into separate systems
• Reporting is manual and ad-hoc
• Integration is difficult or impossible

Questions to Ask

1. "Can you integrate with my TMS? What formats do you support?"
2. "Can I get quotes quickly, and how is that done?"
3. "How does tracking data flow into my systems?"
4. "What reporting and analytics do you provide?"
5. "Can you show me a demo of your technology platform?"

Part 8: Honesty About Fit

The Most Underrated Quality

This might seem counterintuitive, but one of the best indicators of a great IMC is their willingness to tell you when intermodal isn't the right choice.

An IMC who oversells intermodal and pushes the solution onto lanes where it doesn't fit, overpromises on service, or downplays the trade-offs isn't your partner. They're setting you up for disappointment.

A great IMC tells you the truth:

• "This lane isn't a good fit for intermodal. Here's why."
• "You can save money, but you need to accept 1-2 additional transit days. Can your operation handle that?"
• "Your delivery requirements are too tight for intermodal on this lane. Let's talk about truckload options."
• "Intermodal will work well on these 5 lanes. These 3 lanes should stay on truck."

This honesty protects you from service failures. It also protects intermodal's reputation where a shipper has a bad experience on a lane that never should have been intermodal creates negative perception that extends to lanes where it would work perfectly.

Questions to Ask

1. "Based on what you know about my freight, where should I NOT use intermodal?"
2. "What are the realistic trade-offs I should expect on my lanes?"
3. "Are there any red flags in my requirements that make intermodal risky?"
4. "Have you ever told a shipper not to use intermodal? Why?"

Part 9: Track Record and References

How to Validate Performance

Everything an IMC tells you in a sales conversation is marketing. The real test is performance.

What to Look For

JOC Intermodal Service Scorecard: Does this IMC appear in industry surveys? How do they rank?

Customer references: Will they provide references from shippers with similar freight profiles to yours? A great IMC shares references quickly and confidently. An average one hedges.

Performance data: Can they share actual performance metrics: on-time delivery percentage, accessorial rates, claim ratios? Great IMCs track this data and use it for continuous improvement.

Longevity: How long have they been in business? How long have their customers stayed with them? Retention is a proxy for satisfaction.

Industry reputation: What do others in the industry say? Talk to your peers. Ask your truckload brokers. Check LinkedIn.

Questions to Ask

• "Can you provide 3-5 references from shippers with similar freight profiles?"
• "What's your on-time delivery percentage over the past 12 months?"
• "What percentage of your shipments incur accessorial charges?"
• "How long has your average customer been with you?"

The Complete Evaluation Checklist

Use this checklist when evaluating intermodal providers:

Ownership & Accountability

Drayage Management

Visibility & Communication

Accessorial Control

Railroad Access

Truck-Like Experience

Technology

Honesty & Fit

Track Record

The IMC Decision Is the Intermodal Decision

Choosing an IMC isn't a procurement checkbox. It's a strategic decision that determines whether intermodal works for your organization.

The wrong IMC turns intermodal into a frustrating experience of missed deliveries, surprise charges, and finger-pointing.

The right IMC makes intermodal feel like truckload where it is simple, reliable, and cost-effective.

The criteria that matter most:

1. Service quality — not asset ownership, not company size
2. Communication — proactive, transparent, accountable
3. Drayage management — because that's where most failures happen
4. Accessorial control — prevention, not just pass-through
5. Honesty — about where intermodal fits and where it doesn't

Use the checklist in this article. Ask the hard questions. Check references. Evaluate based on what actually drives your experience.

And remember: nearly 88% of shippers are satisfied with their IMCs. The ones who aren't usually made a choice based on the wrong criteria.

Make the right choice, and intermodal becomes one of the best decisions you make for your supply chain.

Related Reading

This article is part of a comprehensive series on intermodal decision-making:

• How to Know Which Lanes Are a Perfect Fit for Intermodal — The criteria that make a lane ideal
• When Intermodal Is the Wrong Choice — And What to Use Instead — The 10 situations where other modes win
• Intermodal vs. Truckload: A True Apples-to-Apples Comparison — How to fairly compare the modes
• The Hidden Cost Advantages of Intermodal — Why the savings are bigger than the rate sheet shows

Ready to Evaluate Your IMC Options?

At InTek Logistics, we're happy to answer every question on this checklist — and we'll give you straight answers, including telling you when intermodal isn't the right fit.

We've earned consistently high marks in JOC shipper surveys because we focus on the things that actually matter: service quality, communication, drayage management, and treating your freight like our reputation depends on it — because it does.

Contact us for a conversation or visit our home page to learn more.