Intermodal transportation offers genuine cost savings over truckload on long-haul lanes. The savings are real — and so are the accessorial charges that can quietly erase them.
Accessorials are charges beyond the base rate that cover exceptions in the shipping process — per diem when containers sit too long, detention for driver wait time, redelivery for missed deliveries, and chassis splits when equipment is stored separately.
A load that quotes well at $1.39 per mile can arrive with an invoice that looks nothing like the original number — because three accessorial events added $400 to $800 in charges that nobody planned for. Understanding what triggers each charge, and what prevents it, is the most direct path to keeping your intermodal invoice consistent with your intermodal quote.
Ramp Storage: The Clock That Starts Before You Know It
Ramp storage is assessed by the intermodal ramp when cargo is left beyond the allotted free time. The charge escalates as the number of days increases.
Free time at the intermodal ramp varies by provider — typically two to four days for domestic intermodal containers after the container is available for pickup. Once free time expires, storage charges begin accumulating daily. They do not pause for weekends. They do not pause for holidays. And congestion or a location being closed is not a free pass — the clock continues to run regardless of why pickup has not happened.
What Triggers Ramp Storage
The most common triggers are chassis unavailability — no chassis means no pickup, but the storage clock still runs — appointment delays at the receiving facility, and drayage capacity shortages during peak periods when every available driver is already committed.
How to Prevent It
Coordinate your drayage provider, warehouse, and consignee schedules before the container is discharged — not after. The moment you receive vessel arrival notification or rail arrival confirmation, initiate the pickup scheduling process. Waiting until the container is available to start scheduling is waiting until the free time has already begun.
Use off-peak pickup windows where possible. Schedule pre-pulls — moving the container from the ramp to an off-site location — when ramp storage is imminent and same-day pickup cannot be guaranteed. Pulling the container to off-site storage is significantly less expensive than on-ramp storage fees that escalate day over day.
Chassis Split Fees: The Cost of Mismatched Equipment
A chassis split occurs when the container and the chassis are at different locations — requiring additional moves to pair them before the container can be transported. Fees typically run between $75 and $100 per occurrence.
This happens more than most shippers realize. When a drayage driver arrives at a terminal for a container pickup, the container may be at one location and the nearest available chassis may be at another — a different terminal, a different yard, or a different section of the same facility. The driver must make a separate trip to retrieve the chassis before they can pick up the container.
What Triggers a Chassis Split
The primary cause is chassis availability fragmentation — the structural mismatch between where containers arrive and where chassis are positioned. As chassis pool restructuring continues at major ports following provider departures in 2025 and 2026, split fees have become more common at facilities where pool inventory is thinner.
How to Prevent It
Confirm chassis availability with your drayage carrier before booking — not as an afterthought after the container has arrived. Brokers moving containerized freight through intermodal facilities should confirm chassis availability and split charges with the drayage carrier before booking.
Work with carriers who maintain their own chassis pools or have priority access to established pool equipment at your key ramps. A carrier who must chase chassis from the spot market on every move will generate split fees more frequently than one with dedicated equipment positioned at your origin ramps.
Detention: The Two-Hour Window That Closes Fast
Detention charges occur when a truck is held up longer than the allotted free time during loading or unloading. Typically, there are two free hours at origin and two free hours at destination before charges begin. These charges range from $50 to $100 per hour depending on the carrier and circumstances.
Across just five shipments with three hours of detention each, costs can pass $2,500. If you move 50 loads a month and each takes a $100 detention hit, that is $5,000 a month in entirely avoidable cost.
What Triggers Detention
Slow loading or unloading operations are the primary cause — a dock that is not ready when the driver arrives, a warehouse team that is working multiple trucks simultaneously, or a receiving process that takes longer than the two-hour window allows.
It is important to note that the clock continues to run even when congestion is outside the shipper’s control. A driver who arrives on time but waits because the dock is occupied by another truck still generates detention charges after the free time expires.
How to Prevent It
Pre-load and pre-unload — have goods ready to go before the truck arrives. A driver who can begin loading immediately upon arrival has the best chance of completing within the free window.
Utilize drop pools where they are available on your lane — the driver drops an empty container and picks up a loaded one, eliminating the wait time entirely. Drop-and-hook operations eliminate detention by design, not by discipline.
Schedule appointments that give your dock team adequate preparation time before the driver’s arrival window begins.
How Jansson LLC Helps U.S. Businesses Control Intermodal Accessorial Costs
Accessorials are unexpected charges no one likes — including the intermodal provider moving the load. The work that comes with unexpected events causes delays, creates frustrations, and often damages relationships.
Working with a logistics partner who coordinates the scheduling, chassis, and drayage variables that generate these charges — before the container moves rather than after — is what keeps intermodal’s cost advantage intact on every load.
Jansson LLC is a Landstar freight agent with access to a nationwide carrier network — including experienced intermodal operators who understand ramp storage protocols, chassis pool dynamics, and the scheduling coordination that prevents accessorial charges from turning a competitive intermodal rate into an expensive surprise.
Contact Jansson LLC today. Let’s make sure your intermodal freight is priced at what it actually costs — not what the accessorials turn it into.
