• Offering convenient, reliable access to lower cost long term inter-modal services than trucking
• Reducing time/expenses due to congestion on the highways by diverting Interstate traffic to inter-modal shipping.
• Taking advantage of in-transit storage and just in time deliver to boost profits for shippers and receivers.
• Offering equipment/services to access new markets in the future e.g. to unload ore, pig iron, and related products.

Above images abstracted from A Modal Comparison of Domestic Freight Transportation Effects on the General Public, November, 2007, Texas Transportation Institute, Center for Ports and Waterways.