Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
The Freight Table, host David Garofalo sits down with an expert panel—including Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) President and CEO Ann Reinke, InTek Logistics President and Co-Founder Shelli Austin, InTek Logistics CEO and Co-Founder Rick LaGore, and transportation advisor Paul Tonsager—for a wide-ranging conversation about the evolving landscape of intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) and third-party logistics providers (3PLs).
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How partial deregulation in 1980 allowed the 3PL industry to flourish as true intermediaries
- The retail vs. wholesale dynamic
- Rising shorter-and-longer-term customer expectations
- Why the best way to resolve service delays and asset issues is for IMCs to foster direct relationships with the regional rail operating personnel, trainmasters, and superintendents who control actual day-to-day decisions
- How weekend arrival times and tight 24-hour notification windows create severe constraints for receivers that aren't open 24/7
- Why utilizing empty domestic equipment and recognizing structural pockets of capacity is the ultimate key to true organic intermodal growth and supply chain flexibility
- How emerging automated tools can improve data truth and eliminate hiding behind flawed reporting
- The amount of freight moving isn't going to decrease. The question is who will be equipped to move it.
About The Freight Table
A monthly podcast from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), connecting data, policy, and industry voices to give you a clear view of what's changing now — and what's coming next. Where intermodal comes together.
The Freight Table, host David Garofalo sits down with an expert panel—including Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) President and CEO Ann Reinke, InTek Logistics President and Co-Founder Shelli Austin, InTek Logistics CEO and Co-Founder Rick LaGore, and transportation advisor Paul Tonsager—for a wide-ranging conversation about the evolving landscape of intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) and third-party logistics providers (3PLs).
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How partial deregulation in 1980 allowed the 3PL industry to flourish as true intermediaries
- The retail vs. wholesale dynamic
- Rising shorter-and-longer-term customer expectations
- Why the best way to resolve service delays and asset issues is for IMCs to foster direct relationships with the regional rail operating personnel, trainmasters, and superintendents who control actual day-to-day decisions
- How weekend arrival times and tight 24-hour notification windows create severe constraints for receivers that aren't open 24/7
- Why utilizing empty domestic equipment and recognizing structural pockets of capacity is the ultimate key to true organic intermodal growth and supply chain flexibility
- How emerging automated tools can improve data truth and eliminate hiding behind flawed reporting
- The amount of freight moving isn't going to decrease. The question is who will be equipped to move it.
About The Freight Table
A monthly podcast from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), connecting data, policy, and industry voices to give you a clear view of what's changing now — and what's coming next. Where intermodal comes together.
