Victory for Piggybacks

Despite the all-out opposition of James Hoffa's Teamsters Union, U.S. railroads last week won a crucial battle in their campaign to regain some of the business they have lost to the trucking industry. By a vote of 10 to 1, the Interstate Commerce Commission ruled that the railroads could offer cut rates on piggybacking--the carrying of freight-loaded truck bodies on railroad flatcars--in cases where the shipper himself provides either the trailer or trailer and flatcar.

Even before the ruling, piggybacking volume had trebled since 1955. While other carloadings were declining, there were 554,000 flatcar piggyback trips last year. Barring a reversal in the courts, the new decision should enable the railroads to regain a substantial percentage of the nation's freight business. Railroad men see almost unlimited possibilities for a sensible idea with the awkward name of "containerization"--moving a sealed cargo container from door to door without any repackaging of its contents. Though the Teamsters charge that piggybacking is designed to destroy the trucking industry entirely, the railroads are already cooperating with truckers in building large piggyback terminals, can now go full speed ahead with plans for cheaper, swifter piggybacking service. On the strength of the ICC ruling, Fruehauf Trailer Co.. the largest U.S. truckmaker, last week thought that it might eventually find itself manufacturing more piggybacking equipment than conventional trucks.

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