SHIPPER'S AGENTS.

The paper addresses the role of the shipper's agent in today's deregulated environment. Shipper's agents are concerned mainly with intermodal traffic, most of which they forward by piggyback. Although shipper's agents existed well before piggyback, it was piggyback and deregulated railroad piggyback rates that gave them new opportunities to promote intermodality. Shipper's agents are the epitome of middlemen: they do whatever it takes to put together a cost-effective, quality intermodal package. They buy piggyback service from railroads on a wholesale basis and resell it to shippers at less cost than if shippers bought it directly. The agents take advantage of multiple-container or minimum quarterly rail rates by bringing in traffic from many shippers.