The intermodal traffic department is a consolidated activity with both sales and operating responsibilities, working closely with the pricing and divisions department in the development of rate structures used to attract profitable traffic.
The department is under the jurisdiction of the assistant vice president, intermodal traffic, who reports directly to the executive vice president – traffic. He/she is assisted by an assistant general manager – intermodal sales and an assistant general manager – intermodal services, along with nine area managers who are located within major intermodal facilities on the Southern Pacific and the Cotton Belt. The area managers’ scope of responsibility covers both domestic and international traffic involving TOFC, COFC, and box car. In some instances intermodal area managers have direct supervision over sales personnel, and in each case they operate their intermodal centers on a cost control and profit center basis, with particular emphasis on proper utilization of rail and trailer/container equipment, line-haul and terminal service costs – both rail and truck, and future planning of investment expenditure for facilities and equipment.
The nine major facilities are located in Oakland/San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, East St. Louis, and Memphis, and primary responsibilities generally include steamship lines, customhouse brokers, freight forwarders, truck lines, local drayers, shippers’ agents, and shippers’ associations