Quote:
Originally Posted by FizzyWater
I am not a trucking expert, nor have I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express™. But I may once have read an article or news story that said shipping companies were finding it less expensive to ship the trailer via railway long-distance, then let a short-haul trucker take it from the train depot to the end destination.
For some reason, I'm thinking it was an article on ways the railroad companies were trying to stay relevant.
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I'm not a trucking expert, either. But, I do think that I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express a time or two.
Maybe what you had in mind was a cargo container, rather than a truck trailer. They sit perfectly on the standard-length semi trailer, and can easily be placed on the trailer and taken off. They're the same ones that you may see in a photograph stacked on cargo ships.
Some things don't need fast transportation and, generally, the slower the means of transportation the cheaper that it is. When I was in business school back in the Dark Ages, railroads were considered the second slowest means of shipment. They probably still are. Can anyone guess which one was first (no, this is not a joke this time. ha). If you said "ships" (barges really drag down the figures for ships) you would be correct.
Shipment by rail is inexpensive, and I think that railroads will stay relevant for a long, long time to come. I'm in good company, the billionaire investor Warren Buffett has a huge "position" in one of the railroads. Buffett very, very rarely invests in losers.